Voting Rights Advocate Held At Gunpoint By SWAT Team With No Warrant
Last Monday, attorney Barbara Arnwine was rudely awakened by the sounds of a police raid on her home. Arnwine is not really the type you'd expect SWAT teams to be targeting. She's the Executive Director for the Lawyers' Committee on Civil Rights and is actively challenging Voter ID laws around the country, as depicted in the video at the top.
Via Politics on Point:
While Arnwine and members of the Lawyers Committee are calling for the Department of Justice to stop what she, and others call ‘assaults’ on voters, she found her and own family under assault.
She, her son, and nephew were all held at gun point while the officers raided her home.
The reason has yet to be determined.
According to Arnwine, it appears that they were randomly fishing, possibly as an intimidation tactic. Here's audio of an interview she did with a local radio station:
Barbara Arnwine by politicsonpoint
Arnwine said the officers even went as far as to demean her education asking her in derogatory fashion, where did she go to school and the year she graduated as to suggest she wasn’t properly credentialed. When she told the officers that their actions weren’t warranted and she knew her constitutional rights she was met with ‘they don’t apply here today’.
The officers, with guns drawn, challenged Arnwine and her family, suggesting that if they made one wrong move, she and her family would be met with a unfavorable-like fate.
“Don’t make me hurt you” seemed to be the order of the day, recounted Arnwine.
Arnwine later said after the police failed to produce a warrant, and acted as though they didn’t know who she was, misspelling her name, that she thinks the swat team had the wrong house. She called the ordeal a “fishing exposition”.
The timing certainly seems suspect:
On November 16, Arwine testified at a voter voter suppression summit to House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), CBC Chair Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and several other members of Congress alongside ACLU Legislative Director Laura Murphy. On June 13, Arnwine appeared with other civil rights leaders, including Wade Henderson and Rev. Jackson, at the National Press Club on voter suppression. On July 13, she appeared with Rev. Jackson Jr, and eight members of Congress on issues surrounding new Voter ID laws passed in several states. Reps. Marcia Fudge (D-OH), Hank Johnson (D-GA), Betty Sutton (D-OH), Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Maxine Waters (D-CA) spoke at the press conference along with Arnwine.
Arwine informed Rev. Sharpton that one of the members of the Prince George’s County Police Department was “taken aback” when she informed them she was an attorney and of basic fourth 4th Amendment rights. Arnwine claims the officer responded that “the fourth Amendment doesn’t apply here.” She also said they didn’t believe she was an attorney and asked what school she attended and what year she graduated. Arnwine is a graduate of Duke University School of Law.
These tactics aren't new. They're used routinely, especially with people of color. But they are egregious, particularly when Arnwine's line of work is taken into account. It does appear to be what she says: An effort to intimidate and demean her.
They've got good reason to be afraid of Ms. Arnwine. She is well-known on Capitol Hill, has testified at many Congressional hearings, and is a fierce advocate for civil rights and economic justice. This year she was awarded the Gruber International Justice Prize for her work promoting equal justice.
The police may have chosen the wrong woman to harass and intimidate. Evidently they're claiming they had the wrong address, an excuse that sounds laughable and ridiculous. At the very least, it makes them look like buffoons and fools, which I suppose might be better than looking like evil thugs. I'm sure we haven't heard the last of this. I'll update with any information available.
Why am I not surprised this was in Prince George's county? Their police department is a disgrace,
It's like they're practicing to be the stormtroopers and death squads that their Republican masters want them to be.
Their masters aren't Republicans today. And if you really think either party is above these tactics, you're hopelessly naive.
It's time to demand the courts hold these thugs accountable. And since they probably won't, it's time to start stockpiling guns in case you're next!
More POS cops. This is what happens when you hire ignorant, sadistic, violent, hillbillies for the Police force. Seems they need to go back to school to find out about this "warrent thing", the lawyer was trying to explain to these ignorant POS hillbillies.
Get 'em counsel.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
and gone to the wrong address. They didn't have a warrant. Presumably they had a warrant for the right address. That's a public document isn't it? I'd like to see that warrant. What Ricky said: Get 'em counsel.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
...and what made them think the Fourth didn't apply to the other house?
Goons. They should be deported to Somalia.
and can make that rabbit fiver speak for him.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
That's what I meant to say. Not magician. Cept you don't see many ventrilly quists with talking rabbits and fiver and I were discussing magical fruit and numbers on anothe thread so this mistake was like shooting barrels in a bush.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Easy mistake to make though. Fiver said something reasonable. :)
Hasa Diga Eebowai
till fiver imagined he had me for lunch.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
and very soon they may not apply at all.
Senators Demand the Military Lock Up American Citizens in a “Battlefield” They Define as Being Right Outside Your Window
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/se...
why am i not surprised?
So which address did they have a warrant for?
You need a warrant for that information.
Well, if we're going to look like a third world banana repulic we might as well act like one too. Voters rights? They don't apply here.
I'm afraid that we are all witnessing the disintegration of this particular experiment in democracy. All systems run down, but we seem to be picking up steam as we plummet into fascism.
"From the Pharaohs through to warlords, kings and queens, generalissimos, barbarians, emperors, chairmen, führers, shoguns, sheiks, tsars, presidents, prime ministers and the rest of the dirty rotten scoundrels, nobody could say we humans didn’t give “The State” a fair go.
Statism exists in many forms. All, I will argue, are inherently evil. All end in eventual and painful demise."
http://dailyreckoning.com/freedom-the-new-and...
"loss of control"
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
...that this lawyer, clearly a charlatan as she attended Duke University Law School, hadn't been on the Metro when it passed under the Occupy DC protests? That would have put her in the vicinity of a crime and eligible, like a lottery winner, to be pepper sprayed. That she wasn't sprayed, nor was she tased, speaks to the professionalism of the SWAT team that held her at gun point.
We all can agree that the Fourth Amendment only applies when the police say it does. Come on, people! Remember, 9/11 changed everything.
anyone who thinks the U.S. govt is any better than homegrown terrist militia groups in the mountains of Montanistan has another thing coming!!!
(god help us all)
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
have you seen the equipment our guys get?
even in a bad economy?
Saying you made a mistake does not prevent you from being sued.
Suing because of mistakes is what suing is all about.
Maybe firing a few yahoo's and cutting the SWAT budget will motivate them to triple check before kicking in doors...
.. they had the wrong house ..
Bad enough, nor does it excuse their behavior.
But if she doesn't think their harassment was connected to her Voter Protection activities why should we?
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Might be a reason why she does not suspect Prince George's County officials were not targeting her for her politics related to Voting Rights.
http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/Governme...
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
What happened to who what where when? Maybe its on the audio but the story never gives the basic info of where this took place. Typical "inside the beltway" thinking?
...the Federal jurisdiction of the "District of Columbia"
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
the district under federal jurisdication since, I don't know, maybe 1790?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
...anything but a county in Maryland.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
It's never been part of DC, ever. It's always been Maryland.
...the federal govt ever wants to come to my house without a proper warrant that my local Sheriff puts his foot down and says no.
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
team to go to this persons house and intimidate her. Not having any document would indicate that this was not really authorized by the court. She and the police were set up. Although there must be a procedure for invading a house that was not followed so someone on the Swat team had to be cooperating outside of the law. There needs to be an investigation and find out who initiated this and who coordinated this.
the fucking gop/teabaggers are trying to turn this
country into a militarized police state to do their
bidding. open your eyes, they only want the
govt to follow the extremist gop/teabagger's
fucking made up new laws of total invasive
coercion. the constitution is only for them
not those who refuse to fall over the cliff
of teabagger illusions.
So "her constitutional rights she was met with ‘they don’t apply here today’." This is the legacy of the George W. Bush administration: totalitarian-styled thuggery to intimidate citizens to try and suppress free speech, free thought, and civil liberties. We are sliding further and further into fascism, and there are not nearly enough people paying attention.
I should have said state-sanctioned, totalitarian-styled thuggery.
We are sliding further and further into fascism, and there are not nearly enough people paying attention.
You said it all.
I am really getting tired of the mamby pamby assholes who know they are getting screwed royally, know who is doing the screwing, but yet they passively sit back and take this shit.
Like they think some magic day the GOP/bluedog fascits' are going to stop, and eveything will be like........just super duper again!
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
with the Constitution. And the current president went along with it. Cough, cough, Constitutional lawyer with no respect for it. Meanwhile as the police become more militarized and citizens held and pepper-sprayed with impunity the Gulag USA reality is sinking in.
"To protect and to serve"...
To protect and serve who?
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
Evil Thugs... or Knuckle-headed Buffoons? I'm betting both.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
With an African-American county executive and a majority African-American county council. The opinion voiced in the post is just that, an opinion with little basis in fact.
The PG County police and sheriff's department have a well-deserved reputation of over-reaction and making mistakes. A few years ago the Sheriff's Department SWAT team burst into the home of the mayor of one of the towns in the county and shot the couple's dog dead in their house. The house had been used as a drop point for drug dealers without the residents knowledge. And this is not the first time PG law enforcement has made a dangerous mistake like this. Until blogs exercise some sort of rigor in their reporting and analysis, they will still look like Fox News. This post is a discredit to C&L.
And you said it much better than I.No political schemes in action. Just a totally inept and arrogant P.D.Years and years of dealing with bad guys has lead them to believe the whole county is nothing but bad guys.
to have in their possession at the time, how would they know they had the "wrong address"? i smell the odor of prosecutor juris doctor wafting through the air, as one scrambles to produce a back-dated warrant. it'll be interesting to see which county judge they get to sign off on such a warrant, since even the most corrupt has a highly developed sense of self preservation.
but, this being P.G. County, i expect the police/prosecutor stonewalling will have begun about 10 seconds after these nimrods left the premises. P.G. County has a long and odious history of police dept. incompetence/miscondut/racism. at one point, i think it held the record for the highest number of police brutality claims, per capita, of any jurisdiction in the country. that's not of similar population mind you, that's period. not exactly something you want to yell out "we're number 1!" over.
Every member of that SWAT team and the entire chain of command above them needs to LOSE THEIR JOB AT ONCE. Civil rights apply everywhere and at all times, that's what makes them "rights" rather than "priveleges". Cops MUST have a warrant. Warrantless searches are by definition a violation of American civil rights as defined by the US Constitution, in those Amendments referred to as the "Bill of Rights".
Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The violators need to be prosecuted, just as current and former Chief Executives need to be prosecuted for arbitrarily deciding to make exceptions to those rights defined in the Constitution. Suspending habeas corpus, indefinite detention, torture, extra-judicial killings, spying on American citizens, etc., it's no wonder that ordinary cops decide that civil rights don't apply whenever they find them to be inconvenient. If the President says civil rights don't count, then it must be OK, right?
The lefter I go, the righter I get...
someone in the house was subsequently arrested for a violent crime. stay tuned. sometimes the police are actually doing their jobs and protecting the public...
I'd like to know why someone in the house was subsequently arrested instead of at the time of the raid, and why the arrest warrant wasn't shown at the time.
Was the subsequently arrested person not there at the time?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPwrodxghrw
me-oww!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbjiKIKzY3c
Corruption favors the wealthy.
'barbara arnwine swat.' If you have info, a few of us here would like to see a news source for your info.
me-oww!
Where does this end? What good is it to say things like, "oh that kind of behavior is no surprise here in -fill in-the-blank" county.
Its NOT JUST one county or municipality or another. You can't just dismiss this as a "rogue" officer or rogue law enforcement agency.
Its a GROWING TREND. To say otherwise is to be dangerously in denial.
It is just a matter of time before authorities of one form or another are kicking in doors here as a matter of course. Welcome to the Tea Party/GOP neo-fascist world. Accountable to no one but those who write their checks and lead their Churches and to hell with secular Constitutional law.
Today's Christian GOP. A well financed agenda to erase the entire 20th century.
none that i read stated or implied that this kind of event was somehow unique to P.G. County, MD. however, having grown up in the DC area, and being very familiar with the history of P.G. County law enforcement (as i assume several other posters are as well), then no, it came as no surprise whatever that it happened there. i assume that people in other areas of the country, have similar familiarities with government/law enforcement in their localities, and similar types of events would not strike them as surprising either. that said, we're talking about P.G. County, not those other areas.
Based on the story, I assume this was a federal raid. I hate to break this to you, but the president of the United States is named Barrack Obama, a Democrat. The Attorney General (head of the Justice Department) is Eric Holder, also a Democrat.
If I am mistaken and this was a state or local raid, I would also like to point out that Maryland is a heavily Democratic state while Prince George's county is even more heavily Democratic.
So wat exactly does the GOP or Tea Party have to do with this??
First, when the FBI raids an address, they're almost always named as the FBI. SWAT teams, generally speaking, are from local police or sheriffs' departments.
Second, if you're assuming it's the Feds because of the attorney's involvement in fighting voter i.d. laws, think again: Those laws are being made at the state level, and when states have been passing them, the Democrats all over the country have been fighting them.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
OK fine, maybe it was a local raid. Which is why in the second paragraph I said -- "If I am mistaken and this was a state or local raid, I would also like to point out that Maryland is a heavily Democratic state while Prince George's county is even more heavily Democratic."
My point was that someone seems to think this is the fault of the GOP and Tea Party. If the feds, state and local authorities involved are all Demcrats (and Maryland is heavily democratic and PG county is extremely heavily Democratic -- why is the original poster complaining about the Tea Party?
...but if they employed a political litmus test in their hiring policies, well....Let's just say that there'd be a few wingnuts not employed as cops there, but still collecting checks from the cities or the county that applied that litmus test.
And, unfortunately, I think that the majority of cops or would-be cops lean more towards authoritarian conservatism than libertarian progressivism.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
The 4th amendment has been nullified by multiple dilutions via the courts and of course by the Patriot Act. It is absurdly easy to brush it aside - a warrantless entry and search may be done if the police believe that evidence may be in the process of being destroyed - such evidence could be noise - of people rushing to destroy evidence, or the smell something being burned, or the sound of a toilet flushing, or the sight through a window of a person at a computer who may be deleting files, or the suspicious lack of noise as perps silently destroy evidence. In addition, at least in Indiana, people may not resist police even during an illegal entry and search under any circumstances, and of course lack of resistance is evidence of compliance - thus granting permission for warrantless entry and search. FISA warrants can be issued after the fact, a process so easy and so much a rubber stamp that the DOJ simply neglected to follow through and actually go to the FISA court in thousands of incidents since the metaphoric hand waving of 4th Amendment compliance was replaced with actual hand waving.
When attorney Barbara Arnwine was told that her 4th Amendment rights "don't apply here today", she was simply being told that "here" is today's America.
There's no way an attorney, even Blue Devil trained, used a non-existent phrase - "fishing exposition."
So would a law school.So would the US Supreme Court.
It's quite common, especially in a discovery or probable cause context.
Oops. I just got your point.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Heavens to Betsy any liberal wacko would EVER suggest we live in a fascist police state.
JP
http://giveusthisdayourdailtydread.blogspot.com
They told me this would happen if I voted for McCain. I wish I had listened.
Well, it's pretty clear now that the police are the new private army of the top one percenters against the rest of us.
It's taught the vast majority of people to keep silent when their rights are being violently abused...all for the kiddie's sakes, of course.
This is also what you get when milquetoasty 'progressives' don't fight when the drug laws that are used to commit these atrocities are allowed to remain on the books. So long as it was only the 'bad people', the 'druggies', then who cared if their civil rights were abridged? It won't ever come around to where the good people live, oh no! The police told them so!
Allow for marginalization and oppression of any one group in society and the rights of all will eventually arrive on the chopping block. Forget that, and this happens.
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