Aaron Walker Fights Back

Via the stalwart Michelle Malkin, David Hogberg of IBD reports some good news.

Aaron Walker has retained the services of attorney Reginald Bours to fight the peace order. Uploaded here is a letter Bours has sent to Kimberlin. Bours does not mince words:

This is a complex case, and, as a lawyer, I try to see both sides of an issue. However, based on my review of the facts, I do not believe you have had a proper basis to file either of the peace orders you have presented to District Court Commissioners, usually late at night on weekends.

The attached motion addressed every citizen’s right to free speech. If you truly respect that right, you should withdraw this peace order.

The motion Bours refers to is an emergency motion he has filed for a partial stay or a modification of Kimberlin’s peace order that would in effect lift the peace order until the Appeals Court hears the case on July 5th.

She also links and quotes Curt Levey's op-ed on Fox, The Left Can Protest All It Wants, But It Can't Use Government to Silence Critics.

“There is a growing threat to political speech in America,” warned Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell in a speech in Washington, DC last week. “Sadly, a growing number of people on the left … appear to have concluded that they can’t win on the merits. So they’ve resorted to bullying and intimidation instead.”

McConnell focused on “an [Obama] administration that has shown an alarming willingness itself to use the powers of government to silence [conservative] groups.” I focus here on the other half of the threat, intimidation and harassment by private groups on the left.

Some people dismiss the threat from outside organizations as beyond the scope of the First Amendment, which applies to actions by government. Indeed, some unsavory intimidation tactics – such as shouting down speakers or strong-arming companies to drop their sponsorship of conservative broadcasters – actually enjoy First Amendment protection. However, the Constitution affords no protection to criminal acts, which the left is increasingly turning to to silence conservatives.

Most importantly from a constitutional perspective, groups on the left are increasingly enlisting the coercive power of government in their intimidation and harassment campaigns. When they do, they threaten the First Amendment’s guarantee that government shall not abridge the freedom of speech.

Levey expressly connects this to the George Soros-funded catspaw Brett Kimberlin.

Why Isn't Rush Talking About This? As Stace McCain reports, the StopRush campaign is itself astroturf, and part of the (non-criminal but also non-ethical) effort of the left to shut up conservative voices in advance of the 2012 elections.

And that effort is also linked to Kimberlin, through his "security" expert Neil Rauhauser. When the organizers of the protest suspected they had a mole or some other interloper, they turned to Rauhauser for his help.

The StopRush effort may be, in bold strokes, itself non-criminal and protected by the First Amendment (though why the astroturf?), but it is interesting that a host of a supposed news organization (Krystal Ball on MSNBC) is coordinating with the effort.

posted by Ace at 02:21 PM

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