John Roberts v. One French Fry

[pnorman]

Beneath his black robes, what does Roberts reveal of his values as a human being?
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In chilling contrast, let us look at Bush nominee for chief justice John Roberts. When he was a judge, on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, he ruled significantly in a 2004 case, Hedgepeth ex rel. Hedgepeth v. Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. As you consider his conception of justice, would you confirm John Roberts as chief justice of the United States, now that he has been nominated by Bush?

The facts of the case are detailed by constitutionalist John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, which helped provide a lawyer to the mother of the plaintiff: "On October 23, 2000, 12-year-old Ansche Hedgepeth . . . arrived at a Washington, D.C., Metro station to catch the train home." She put one of the french fries she'd bought in her mouth.

"Immediately, a police officer demanded she put down her french fries and remove her backpack. Although Ansche never resisted or failed to cooperate with the officer, she was told to place her hands behind her back and she was handcuffed." Ansche was informed she had broken the law against eating in a subway station, and her shoestrings were removed by a policeman, who searched her.

"Led to a police car," she was "taken to the police station, where she was interrogated, booked, fingerprinted and finally released into her mother's custody after being detained for several hours."
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That's the fourth paragraph, and as far as I can quote as "Fair Usage". Read the rest of the article here: http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0537,hentoff,67717,6.html

pnorman

[BlueEyedSon]

1. K&R (kicked and recommended)

[cornermouse]

2. I heard it said recently on NPR that Roberts' positions are

very much like Bork. The only real difference is that Roberts is better looking and that this is an indication of how thoroughly dependent our political system has become on visual appearances, not actual policies. I think he is right.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. There are many things wrong with this decision but especially:

Roberts gave his explanation in his decision. Ansche Hedgepeth was a delinquent! She and her parents must be taught a lesson about our immutable rule of law. "The question before us," Roberts wrote for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, "is not whether these policies were a bad idea but whether they violated" the Constitution. "We conclude they did not."

What I don't understand is the basic criminal defense theory of minimis infraction is not addressed. When de minimis is applied, you have a situation where the violation is so minimal, so trivial that it rises to no more than a technical violation and that the protected class of the criminal statutes wasn't harmed and that the public at large wasn't harmed by the act.

For instance, here we have one French Fry, not eating a a bag of burgers and tossing the half-eaten entree onto the Metro tracks with the garbage.

In New Jersey, there is a famous case where an 18 year old boy was arrested for underage drinking beer at a charity night. He was acquitted on de minimis because it turned out to be one sip. Another case acquitted a youngster charged with stealing because it was three pieces of bubblegum at one cent apiece.

And to have Roberts not address that makes him suspect in my eyes as a municipal judge, let alone Chief Effin' Justice of the Federal Supreme Court.

[theHandpuppet]

4. Yet another warning to those coming for the Sept 24th protests

Young Ansche isn't, unfortunately, the first or last person to be treated in this manner for having committed the grave crime of being spotted with a morsel of food in her mouth at a D.C. Metro Station.

Whatever you do, do not -- and I repeat, DO NOT eat anything anywhere around a DC Metro station. Not a morsel, not a bite, not a crumb. Do not even look as if you are chewing or swallowing anything. No licking of lips, no belching, no flossing. Never give any outward sign that you are hungry or thirsty. When reaching for change or a token in your pocket, make sure some random wrapper or forgotten chicklet doesn't fall out; if it does, look aghast and click your tongue at the person nearest to you. Check your soles before you even enter a D.C. Metro Station, lest your shoes may have unknowingly carried some offending molecule of digestible material into the station.

Should you fail to heed this friendly warning, be aware that you are most likely to spend Sept 24th handcuffed and in jail for offending D.C. Metro's Food Eradication Police, which is not the anecdotal retelling you wish to share with family and friends upon your return from the nation's capital. No doubt the Cud Crusaders will be out in full force that weekend, hoping to launch a pre-emptive strike on the Trail Mix Insurgency, the Granola Bar Grannies, the Campaign for Fresher Fruits and the "Walking With Water" America-haters.

This is not a drill.

And you think I'm kidding... NOT.

[displacedtexan]

5. And be prepared for Union Station guards to hassle you...

about protest signs.

This happened to me during the big winter anti-war protest. The guards informed us that the Union Station building was owned by private citizens (I had always thought it was either federal or district owned). Many of us DUers had to keep our protest signs down and out of sight while walking through the building.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

[mntleo2]

6. Is Impeachment An Option?

Just wondering how many people we can impeach as soon as the Dems become a majority. We impeached a president for a blow job, soooo, couldn't we find something that would make this guy go away?

Another idea I have is to limit SCOTUS appointments and and no longer allow it to be for life.

...Personally I am hoping for a few legal Saturday Night Massacres....



Cat In Seattle

[elehhhhna]

7. uh oh ! Painting of a young roberts in drag surfaces!