In the midst of President Obama's
State Of The Union Address, and the following day of House Speaker
Boehner breaking government protocol and endangering crucial Iranian arms negotiations, something great happened at the U.S. Supreme Court.
On the anniversary of the SCOTUS's decision to vote in favor of Citizens United, eight protestors managed their way into making a First Amendment scene inside the Supreme Courtroom. The courageous eight began voicing their discontent with phrases that included:
"One person, one vote!"
"We are the 99 percent!"
"Money is not speech!"
"Overturn Citizens United!"
In the short video below posted by
UnderCurrent, you will see and hear some of the chaos that erupted in the SCOTUS courtroom on the morning of January 21, 2015. All eight protestors were arrested and charged. The video is described in detail by
Lauren Windsor, in her story with Huffington Post. Windsor also interviewed
99%Rise co-founder Kai Newkirk and asked Newkirk what inspired the protest.
"We did this act of nonviolent civil disobedience to send two messages. First, to the Supreme Court justices whose Citizens United ruling betrayed democracy - and every government leader who enables corruption - that they face a determined and growing resistance. And second, to the American people who want a government that represents not just the 1%, but all of us, that there is hope for change and it is time to stand up and demand it."
Citizens United (a misleading name, which should be called GRCU1%
'Greedy Rich & Corrupt United 1%) is a constitutional amendment that allows GRCU1% (like the
Koch brothers) to essentially buy government elections, lawmakers, and laws - ultimately at the expense and detriment to the American people (the 99%). The amendment has been protested ever since its inception five years ago, and all protests have been ignored by the five Right Wing Supreme Court justices who pretty much own the highest court in the nation. Those Conservative justices who have majority are John Roberts, Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Anthony Kennedy.
Chief Justice Roberts
reportedly ho-hummed and dissed the first protestors, but then became annoyed as more protestors began yelling.
One of the protestors, Ryan Clayton, recorded the event with a hidden camera, even though cameras have not been allowed into the Supreme Court since 1946. After being released from jail, Clayton made this statement:
Our Constitution has been interpreted for a century to protect the freedom of the press to publish as well as recognize people's freedom of speech, while at the same time permitting common sense limitations upon electoral activity so that our government represents the citizens of the country. The Founding Fathers would outright reject the notion that bribing politicians and corrupting our government is a form of free speech, and they would consider that claim an insult to both the freedom of speech enshrined in the First Amendment and the right to self-government enshrined in the United States Constitution.
Cheers to the courageous 99%Rise protestors, to Lauren Windsor/UnderCurrent, to Mike Damanskis/Brave New Films, and to all the people desperately fighting for American democracy.
To learn more about 99%Rise, you can visit their website here.