Blogger Aaron Walker, one of the targets of convicted bomber and vexatious litigant/harasser Brett Kimberlin, was arrested last week in a Montgomery County, Md., district courtroom. At the time, the reasons for his arrest were somewhat confusing. Someone who attended the hearing taped the proceedings and made the audio available on the Internet. You can listen to it for yourself at the link in the above tweet or at Lee Stranahan’s website.
The audio reveals that at one point in the hearing, Walker told Judge C.J. Vaughey, “I did not incite within the Brandenburg standard.” This was a reference to Brandenburg v Ohio, a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling based on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Essentially, Walker was saying (correctly) that his blog posts about Brett Kimberlin are constitutionally protected.
Judge Vaughey responded, “Well, forget Brandenburg. Let’s go with Vaughey right now, and common sense out in the world.”
Forget Brandenburg? Ignore a key U.S. Supreme Court precedent? Really?
Blogger Patterico concluded: “This is a clear-cut case of a First Amendment violation — about as clear-cut as you’ll ever hear.”
Under the judge's reasoning in the Walker hearing, I could be arrested for my own blogging today. http://t.co/Nj5fCrK4
— Patterico (@Patterico) June 3, 2012
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Changed my Twitter avatar to reflect how Aaron Walker's arrest jeopardizes the free speech rights of every American. http://t.co/Nj5fCrK4
— Patterico (@Patterico) June 3, 2012
Go to Patterico’s site and help him transcribe the rest of the audio.
Reminder: Help support the targets of Brett Kimberlin here.
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