2005 - Activist Elena Sassower annoyed congress, her trial judge, and defenders of free speech—all the way to jail
Two days before Christmas, Elena Sassower walked out of the Washington, D.C., jail where she'd just finished serving a sentence that should frighten anyone inclined to protest in the halls of power.
For reading a 24-word request to testify at a judicial appointment hearing on Capitol Hill, an act that qualified as "disruption of Congress," Sassower was hit with six months' incarceration—the maximum allowed by law. Despite the grave constitutional implications of her case, not one of the dozen civil rights organizations she'd asked for help came to her assistance: not the ACLU, not Public Citizen, not People for the American Way, not Common Cause.
Her real crime, it seems, was her penchant for being a pest. Reached by the Voice, attorneys from three such organizations refused to comment or spoke only off the record. One attorney privately told the Voice that his group's unwillingness to lend Sassower a hand had "nothing to do with the merits of her claims" and "everything to do with her being a very difficult person." Sassower ended up acting as her own lawyer, doing herself no favors in the trial.
Full Article and Source:
The Scourge of Her Conviction
Two days before Christmas, Elena Sassower walked out of the Washington, D.C., jail where she'd just finished serving a sentence that should frighten anyone inclined to protest in the halls of power.
For reading a 24-word request to testify at a judicial appointment hearing on Capitol Hill, an act that qualified as "disruption of Congress," Sassower was hit with six months' incarceration—the maximum allowed by law. Despite the grave constitutional implications of her case, not one of the dozen civil rights organizations she'd asked for help came to her assistance: not the ACLU, not Public Citizen, not People for the American Way, not Common Cause.
Her real crime, it seems, was her penchant for being a pest. Reached by the Voice, attorneys from three such organizations refused to comment or spoke only off the record. One attorney privately told the Voice that his group's unwillingness to lend Sassower a hand had "nothing to do with the merits of her claims" and "everything to do with her being a very difficult person." Sassower ended up acting as her own lawyer, doing herself no favors in the trial.
Full Article and Source:
The Scourge of Her Conviction
6 comments:
This is a great story and I am pleased NASGA dug it up. Elena Sassower is a marvel and she sets an example for all advocates!
Six months for speaking up?
Now that should have been embarrassing for anyone involved with that farce -- except Elena Sassower.
She asked to testify so they locked her up?!
And no one was outraged in the Congress?
Pitiful!
Notice Elena Sassower got the MAXIMUM allowed by law.
No break for her by golly.
They should be ashamed.
What guts!
Good for you Elena Sassower!
Boy, what she went through as an advocate is really something.
Thank goodness there are people like Elena Sassower in this world to advocate for what's right.
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