A rather unusual case is making its way to the Supreme Court. Injustice will be done even if the four Justices are joined by one or more of the five Injustices in the better decision. The case involves a man who was falsely arrested in 2006 for having the audacity to criticize a war criminal, ChickenHawk Cheney. (I refuse to call him Dick, lest I be accosted by a gang of angry male body parts.)
The US Supreme Court agreed on Monday to examine whether two Secret Service agents can be sued for arresting a Colorado man who criticized US policy in Iraq during a public appearance by Vice President Dick Cheney at a shopping center in 2006.
Secret Service agents arrested the man, Steven Howards, in part because they did not like what he said to Mr. Cheney. They later justified the arrest by claiming Mr. Howards lied to them about whether he “touched” the vice president during the brief encounter.
At issue in Reichle v. Howards is whether the two agents must face a civil trial – and a Colorado jury – over allegations that they conducted a false arrest and violated Howards’s First Amendment right to express his political opinion in public to an elected official.
The agents claim the actions they took against Howards were part of their job protecting the vice president. They say they are immune from Howards’s civil lawsuit and that it should be dismissed.
A federal judge and a federal appeals court panel disagreed, ruling that Howards’s lawsuit against the two agents could move forward. The Supreme Court is being asked to reverse those decisions.
In recent years, the high court has made it significantly easier for government officials to defend themselves from allegations that they violated someone’s constitutional rights. Many of the cases have arisen in the context of the war on terror and threats to national security… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Christian Science Monitor>
The greatest injustice that could occur would be for Howard to get no relief. The agents said the arrest was justified, because they heard him say on his cell phone that he intended to ask Cheney “how many kids he’s killed today”. However rude, the question was certainly valid.
The problem is that the wrong people are on trial. Secret Service Agents are fanatic about protecting their charges. They have to be fanatic to be willing to step in and take a bullet. That is a good thing, even when the official being protected is a monster. They were acting under Cheney’s authority and according to Cheney’s instructions.
Cheney is the one who should be sued.
11 Responses to “Injustice Guaranteed”
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The exterminator strikes again – between fabricated wars and fracking – he’s determined that no being out-lives him, and with all the machines supporting his existence – he may go on like an ever-ready battery, perpetrating evil at every turn – the “Joker” – and this is where our tax money goes –
Agree with you Tom ; this seems to be a pretty important case-
Thanks, Phyllis.
To me at least, Mr. Howards’ First Amendment rights were clearly violated. Should the EXTREME COURT find otherwise, they should be indicted on conspiracy to deprive a citizen of his civil rights charges, be convicted, and then, along with ChickenHawk Cheney, receive life sentences at hard labor without parole. I have a zero tolerance policy on cases of this nature!
As much as I’d love to see it, who could indict SCROTUS?
Why that wanking bastard war criminal is still alive is beyond me. He should be hung by his balls if you can find them!
Welcome Comtessa! 🙂
I guess he safe from the hanging, then. 😉
Too bad Howard couldn’t make a citizen’s arrest of ChicknHawk Cheney and deliver him to the ICC to stand trial as a war criminal!
The Secret Service has a difficult job — agents have to protect the president or vice president, taking a bullet if necessary, even though they may not ‘like’ the individual. And I agree that many such decisions are split second affording no time for debate. Is it the protectee that sets the form of protection or is it the protector that does. If Cheney said “arrest this idiot for asking that question” then for sure Cheney should be the one charged, not the agents. But even if Cheney did say that, nobody would ever get him to admit it. His teflon suit will protect him for now.
Even though Howard was arrested and charges dropped, he still has his 1st amendment rights which were curtailed by the agents. Those rights are sacrosanct and someone needs to account. Personally, I don’t find his question rude, just very direct and completely understandable in the context.
I am afraid that justice will never be done when it involves Cheney.
What a lovely fantasy!
It will protect him, and I have no doubt that’s what happened. I believe campaign staff would have done it without orders, but not Secret Service Agents.
I agree, but I’ll still keep calling for it as long as one of us is alive.
They had no “probable cause” for arresting him. They were acting under Cheney’s authority and according to Cheney’s instructions.
Exactly!