In America, Helping People Who Protest the Actions of the State/Federal Government Is A Crime.

 It's illegal to give food and water to people waiting in line to vote, so why not arrest people who are providing bail and legal help for Cop City protestors? 

Attorneys representing an activist arrested while protesting against the building of “Cop City” in Georgia have launched a legal challenge to the use of a state domestic terrorism statute against protests, claiming an “act of free speech” is being unconstitutionally targeted, the Guardian can reveal.

The move comes amid the unprecedented arrests of organizers at a bail and legal defense fund that has helped some of the people arrested while protesting against the multimillion-dollar police and fire department training center planned for a forest south-east of Atlanta.

Cop City came to global attention after police shot dead an environmental protester in a raid on the forest and its defenders on 18 January – the first incident of its kind in US history.

Police staged a Swat-style raid on Wednesday on the Atlanta Solidarity Fund (ASF), arresting three of its members. The fund, operating in Atlanta since 2017, has helped some of the 42 protesters so far facing charges linked to protests against Cop City, nearly all of whom have been bailed out.

The legal challenge was filed by Stanley L Cohen, a New York lawyer, together with local co-counsel. Exclusively obtained by the Guardian, the writ of habeas corpus filed in DeKalb county superior court on behalf of Ariel Ebaugh, arrested on 13 December, challenges the constitutionality of the 2017 domestic terrorism statute that has been used against activists and their supporters.

The petition argues that “attempting by word or expressive action to alter, change, or coerce government policy is a quintessential act of free speech”, and that Ebaugh’s protest against Cop City was constitutionally protected. It calls the statute “unconstitutionally vague” and “overbroad”.

The veteran attorney, who has represented clients ranging from members of Hamas to Native American activists, told the Guardian: “I have not come across a more fundamentally unconstitutional statute limiting speech and assembly in 40 years of legal practice, at the state, federal or international level.”

If successful, the petition could “ultimately mean that charges for [Ebaugh and] the other defendants would be dismissed”, said Alex Joseph, an Atlanta-area former federal prosecutor who has been involved in efforts to stop the training center.

Bottom Line: it was a power move to disrupt the Stop Cop City movement. This is why while I think non-electoral moves like mutual aid and protests are more effective means of invoking change than the standard, "Vote for politician who mostly says things I like," without keeping an eye on the legislation (which is managed by politicians), laws can be changed to essentially force people to vote (and only vote) in a rigged two-party system. 

People need to use the "outside power" as much as possible before these tactics become outright illegal.  

UPDATE: Jimmy Dore has a video on this...