[lbo-talk] Lynne Stewart speaks

andie nachgeborenen andie_nachgeborenen at yahoo.com
Mon Feb 21 20:53:39 PST 2005


In fact, I agree that her
> sentence is way too harsh.

But you don't objhect to convicting her of seditious conspiracy to levey wat against the United States?!!!

We don't know her sentence, btw, she won't be sentenced till July.

But I
> > wish she'd admit she blew it and speak openly and
> rationally about how the
> > left opposes terrorism and respects just laws.

Like 18 USC 2384, the seditioous conspiracy statute? Or 18 USC 2385, which allows for 20 years for "advocating the overthrow" of the US Government? (The CP leaders were jailed for violation of thsi Act, and the Debs case, upholding their conviction, has never been overturned.)

I wish you'd get with the progarma nd stop attacking a woamn who has done heroic service in defending our civil rights and libertyies,a nd who has been shamefully misused to make a politiacl point. Whether you agree with her views or her legal strategies or her actions is, from a liberal point of view, beside the fucking point.


> >
> > Most of you LBOers see creeping fascism and a
> police state as the main
> > danger for the left right now. I simply disagree.
> I see left self-sabotage
> > as the main danger.

But the danger posed by the Stewart case is creeping fascism -- the transformation of a minor technical violation that, as I emphasize is, is wholly standard practice for lawyers, into a major political crime.

Churchill should not be fired
> and probably won't be.

Agreed.


> > Stewart should get something like Martha Stewart's
> prison sentence, and also
> > lose her law license.

She loses it automatically in NYC on conviction. She's not a lawyer any more. But is it actually your view that lawyer who violates a gag order should be disbarred?! The normal penalty is not a criminal conviction. It is not a fine. It is not losing your right to practice law. It is normally a stern talking to, maybe a citation for contempt and a minor fine or a weekend in jail. Why should Stewart get more than that?

Why are you advocating criminal conviction, jail time, and disbarment --drastic escalations -- for lawyers who commit standard minor acts of civil disobedience?

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