Don't Touch the King

By @KYYellowDog

This shit is exactly why the founders rejected a monarchy and aristocracy. The president and vice-president need and get protection from actual violence, but they have no right to royal privilege that treats citizens as peasants.

Kevin Gosztola at Firedoglake.

A man who confronted then-Vice President Dick Cheney over the Iraq War and was arrested by Secret Service agents for “assaulting” Cheney had his appeal to the Supreme Court unanimously rejected. The man, Steve Howards, had filed a lawsuit asserting the agents had violated his First Amendment right to free speech by arresting him for his political views on the war.

The lawsuit brought by Howards centered on an incident that occurred on June 16. Fatalities in the Iraq War had just reached 2,500. He was taking his kids to piano camp in Beaver Creek, Colorado. And, according to Matthew Rothschild of The Progressive, who interviewed Howards about the incident, he could not in “good conscience” let an opportunity to confront Cheney pass by. He approached Cheney and said, “Your policies in Iraq are reprehensible.” After that, he turned around and walked away.

Moments later, he was walking through the mall with his son when a Secret Service agent appeared to ask if he had just assaulted the Vice President. Howards says he told the agent, “No, but I did tell Mr. Cheney the way I felt about the war in Iraq, and if Mr. Cheney wants to be shielded from public criticism, he should avoid public places. If exercising my constitutional rights to free speech is against the law, then you should arrest me.” Secret Service agent Virgil D. “Gus” Reichle Jr., who Howards specifically sued, proceeded to grab him and cuff his hands. He was told he would be charged with felony assault of the president (a charge that was later dropped).

Howards filed a suit alleging his First and Fourth Amendment rights were violated. A Court of Appeals found the agents enjoyed “qualified immunity” with respect to the claim of violating his Fourth Amendment rights, as he had “falsely denied touching the Vice President.” The Court did not, however, grant the agents “immunity” with respect to his First Amendment claim. The case was allowed to move onward to the Supreme Court.