ANTIWAR ACTIVISTS TAKE THE RESISTANCE INTO THE COURTROOM

By Max Obuszewski

Resistance against the war and occupation of Iraq has been intensifying around the country. On May 11, for example, eight resisters, in good conscience, informed Judge Rufus King III, chief judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, they would not pay the $50 assessment fee he ordered at two trials on February 16 and March 14, 2007. So he found the resisters in criminal contempt and was prepared to send them to jail. However, Mark Goldstone, a renowned First Amendment attorney, stopped the judge in his tracks by patiently explaining the law.

Many peace advocates believe the war will only end when Congress cuts off the funding. So on Sept. 26 & 27, 2006, activists from around the country came to Washington, D.C. to join protests organized by the Declaration of Peace aimed at urging Congress to vote no more for war funding. The U.S. Capitol Police arrested 71 of them on Sept. 26 and charged them with either “crossing a police line” or “unlawful assembly.” The following day, 26 citizens were arrested outside the Rayburn House Office Building and were charged with “unlawful assembly.” Some of the arrested posted $50 and forfeited their right to trial. Remarkably, though, more than fifty peace people went to trial, and all but one were found guilty by Judge King and ordered to pay $50.

Eleven of us wrote to the judge explaining why we would not accede to the sentence. So King ordered us to appear at a show cause hearing.

Three of the refusniks, Maria Allwine, Philip Runkel and Kay Warren, did not appear. King issued warrants for Allwine and Warren and re-scheduled Runkel’s show cause hearing.

Those of us present expected the judge to send us to jail. But first we addressed the court.

Johnny Barber, from Florida, bringing up the recent reports that Iraq's child mortality rates have soared, explained, “I cannot continue to pay into a system that perpetuates the injustice of our government's policies under the guise of the rule of law.” Joan Nicholson from Philadelphia who is to soon celebrate her 55th high school reunion pointed out the excesses of the military budget and how $1.8 billion are being spent each week in Iraq.

Mike Dorn and Elizabeth McAlister are members of Baltimore’s Jonah House. Dorn talked of his community’s efforts at feeding the poor in West Baltimore and how he sent $50 instead to two small charities. McAlister, whose anti-war activities go back to the Vietnam War, urged the judge to recognize the Nuremberg Principles, which enshrined in international law that citizens must take action when the government breaks the law.

I joined with McAlister in calling on the court to recognize our Nuremberg obligation. I also argued that the police denied us our First Amendment right on Sept. 26 when my affinity group was not permitted to take a commemorative coffin to the U.S. Capitol. And I described a similar situation which unfolded on March 20, 2006 when more than fifty peace activists were arrested while trying to carry a coffin to the Pentagon. After being convicted for disobeying a lawful order, I appealed the case. On May 3, 2007 during oral arguments in Alexandria, Virginia, the judge expressed great concern that my First Amendment right may have been violated during the Pentagon protest. Thus, on May 10 the government dismissed the Pentagon conviction.

Michelle Grise, from Virginia, observed that the Nuremberg Principles were not given proper recognition at trial, but will be part of the appeal. She gave the judge a copy of the Principles.

Rev. Bill Wylie-Kellerman remarked this was his third trip from Detroit to deal with this matter and it was another opportunity to speak out. Though he was scheduled to officiate in a wedding on May 12, he said he was prepared to go to jail.

Jerry Zawada, a Franciscan, said his reason for nonpayment was his trip to Iraq during the U.S. invasion when he witnessed first-hand the devastation suffered by the Iraqi people. In lieu of the judge’s order, he sent $100 to a group which assists torture victims.

Jeffrey Shapiro, the prosecutor, was upset at our “veiled comparison of the U.S. government to that of Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany.” He said our actions were similar to those who want to violate the District of Columbia’s strict gun laws. The judge felt that “the Nuremberg analogy was stretched.” It was evident they did not comprehend civil resistance, the principle conceived at Nuremberg in which citizens challenge a government engaged in illegal activity. The prosecutor later told us he received an “A” in his international law course and would like to debate us.

The judge found us in criminal contempt and intended to sentence us to jail. But Mark Goldstone very firmly explained that the defendants were to have a trial. The judge went to his chambers to study the law and returned to confirm Goldstone’s understanding of the law. Since we are facing one year in jail for criminal contempt, we are eligible for a jury trial. The only witness for the prosecution would be the judge. There is a status hearing on June 1 at which a trial date would be determined.

However, King does not want to be on the witness stand in a trial. So he called for a compromise. One possibility would be for those held in contempt to make donations of more than $100 to nonprofit groups. Receipts would be included in a motion to have the contempt charge dismissed. Goldstone thinks some important legal issues could be raised at a contempt trial, so

Barber, Grise and Obuszewski are willing to argue their case before a jury.

What began as mere protest in September 2006 has evolved into a situation where the Superior Court’s chief judge may be cross-examined by pro se defendants in a contempt trial. Shapiro mentioned this was the longest show cause hearing he ever witnessed

After the hearing, King found the McCain Four guilty of a Feb. 5, 2007 sit-in at the senator’s D.C. office. He sentenced Ellen Barfield, Jeff Leys and Zawada to seven days incarceration, suspended, four months of unsupervised probation and a $50 assessment fee. Eve Tetaz was given a similar sentence, but because of past arrests will be on probation for six months.

During the trial, several members of Code Pink showed up in support. Two of them had just been released from custody after being arrested on May 10 during a Congressional hearing. Many of the people in Judge King’s courtroom will join the Swarm on Congress from May 14 through July 31. One of them, Kathy Boylan, was wearing a tee shirt which said, “You can jail the resisters, but you can’t jail the resistance.”

Max Obuszewski is a member of the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore and the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance