Women Convicted After Laughing At US Attorney General Jeff Sessions — Go Figure (TWEET)


Three women with the activist group Code Pink were found guilty of disruption charges this week for protesting Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ confirmation hearings in January. One woman in particular, Desiree Fairooz, was charged with disruptive and disorderly conduct after she laughed at an assertion made about Sessions. During the hearing, Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said that Jeff Sessions had a record of treating all Americans equally under the law. Fairooz couldn’t help but laugh.

Understandable, considering this is the man who voted against civil rights protections for LGBTQ protections, saying:

“Today, I’m not sure women or people with different sexual orientations face that kind of discrimination. I just don’t see it.”

I’d probably giggle, too Desiree.

But federal prosecutors said that Fairooz’s laughing was enough to disrupt attention from the hearing, and when security moved to remove her from the building her protestations caused further disturbance. HuffPost‘s Ryan J. Reilly was at the hearing and recorded Fairooz’s removal:

Today, Fairooz was found guilty of both counts levied against her. Jurors interviewed after the trial’s conclusion said that the law was written so broadly that they had no choice but to convict. They also said that the decision was based on Fairooz’s actions after being asked to leave, not her laugh:

“She did not get convicted for laughing. It was her actions as she was being asked to leave. We did not agree that she should have been removed for laughing.”

Rather, they said that once she was asked to leave by a US Capitol Police officer, she did not quietly cooperate, and that caused her conviction.

Fairooz now faces a $500 fine and up to six months in jail. Her two fellow protestors were also convicted in separate proceedings and also face jail time.

Liberty and justice for all, right Jeff? Ridiculous.

 

Featured image from Gage Skidmore via Flickr under CC BY-SA 2.0.