I was denied my First Amendment Right yesterday by a Federal Marshal overseeing the public electronic colonoscopy station at the local Federal District Court.
I had again voluntarily waived my Fourth Amendment Right and allowed an electromagnetic search of my person while my personal effects were X-rayed on a conveyor belt. I had presented my valid drivers license to verify my 'existence'(?) and was actively putting my effects back into order so that I could go take care of my business at the clerks office.

 A young and chiseled featured armed trooper of the Federal Marshals then told me I needed to remove my ball cap. I took it off and offered it for yet further inspection. The Marshal said "No! I don't need to inspect it; you cannot wear it in the building." I looked at him curiously and asked him "why not? I'm only going to the clerks office and I've never been stopped from wearing this style of hat before" The Federal Marshal merely repeated that "THAT" hat cannot be worn in the facility. Needing to get my work accomplished I tucked the hat into my vest and proceeded on. While at the Clerk’s window I queried her on this new "No hat" policy. she was totally unaware of such a policy. I then went to the Bankruptcy clerk across the hall solely to inquire about this new rule. The clerks there were also unaware of such a rule.
I put my hat back on, finished my business and left the courthouse again passing the security(?) station and the several dark suited Gestapo guards without incident.

 As stated earlier I have often worn a ball-cap to such courthouses and other State & Federal buildings in my daily toil. Usually the ball cap is one that loudly displays the name of a hugely successful strip club “Scores” on the front. Yesterday however I was wearing a different cap, this one merely said “Impeach Cheney?” Obviously this particular badge’d, gun toting Neocon feel that quiet and polite freedom of expression is no loner allowable in a government facility that my tax dollars went to build & maintain.

I doubt it had anything to do with a "neocon". "We can't get enough government", knee-jerk, do-good meddling liberals is why we are drowning in government. Badge toting, beauracrat, gestapo, doughnut munching, morons are out of control and will only get worse until the people of this country decide they have had enough of this crap and do something about it. Government is getting so paranoid about the plebians that they insist on creating an impersonal fortress around them. All beauracrats should be taken out behind the barn and given a strong lesson in humility and be made to recognize that it is NOT: "People, of, by, and for the government."

You may be predisposed to acquiescing to every command from a usurping authoritarian; but I was born of a more rebellious blood that holds our Bill of Rights and my liberties therein as sacred.

If you had any guts you would have told the Marshall you are not taking your hat off.. If they had roughed you up and cracked your head you would have a good settlement coming..Now all you got to show for the whole thing is cowardice.Soldiers die to protect ALL Americans Freedoms including anti Cheney dim wits. Freaking chicken sheet liberals ..

I had commercial business to conduct for people who had contracted me to get it done. If I not had that responsibility to others and their legal deadlines I would have surely taken the Hitler youth to task.

BTW I'm not a liberal, nor am I a Conservative; I'm a Libertarian.

Everyone knows the court houses belong to the people and the people who work there are civil servants who are hired to serve the public.  However, we also know that these same people tend to lose sight of the fact that they were hired by the tax payers to serve the public and the court house is not their private property.  This Barney Fife type might have been a real Bushite who felt insulted by your hat.  That’s too bad he is there to protect the court house not pass judgment on the people pass through the building.  It is entirely possible there was no official order prohibiting the wearing of hats in the court building, and he just felt like telling you to take it off.  By law, he had no right to tell you to remove your hat.  But in reality if you had refused to remove your hat you could have ended up being arrested for some other trumped charge.  

It’s the same thing when dealing with the police.  You should be able to say anything you wish to say short of challenging the police to fight. However, in reality if you shoot your mouth off to the cops you could get your ass kicked and end up in jail on some bogus charge.

You handled the situation the best way you could under the circumstances.  The ACLU advises everyone to cooperate with the police and if they have done something wrong you handle it through the courts.  The ACLU specifically states on their website to not get into an argument with the police.  Be polite but firm and do as you are told.  If the police overstep their authority then action can be taken to remedy the situation.  There are people who have devoted their lives to questioning authority.  The stupid ones end up being arrested and beaten over and over and nothing much happens to change the system. On the other hand the intelligent ones use the courts to seek change.  In my opinion, the gadflies who are constantly challenging the system in the right way are as important to our freedom and the preservation of our Constitutional Rights as the shoulders who risk their lives fighting for this country.  I support the police because I believe in the rule of law.  I also support the ACLU for the same reason I support the police.  The ACLU supports the law; they just want to make sure the police obey the law, not just enforce it.  

If the police wish to question someone pursuant to an arrest they are required by law to advised that person of their right to remain silent.  If the police disregard the law and question the person without advising them of their right to remain silent, then they have broken the law. The Miranda Admonishment is not a technicality, it’s the law.  

hat when under cover i.e. building roof but then that's me. I do not expect any one else to follow suit, it is after all a free country unless your in the military.

I do admit it does bother me ( alot) when during the playing of the National Anthem, guys do not remove their hats and are talking. It has happened in the last MLB baseball and NBA basketball games I have attended. I know it's a free country but where is the respect for our flag, our country.

To me the playing of the National Anthem is best part of the whole sports event. I get goose bumps every time I hear it.

Sadly, I agree with Breaker that there has been a breakdown in comon sense civility (see my other posting about Harryj ) But the US Supreme Court ruled In 1971, that offensive speech is protected by the 1st Amendment, unless it is speech that is "inherently likely to cause violent reaction."

I have saved and copied the link, and will carry it with me should a repeat of this incident occure (which in today's authoritarian climate I'm sure it will).

you'd be dangerous.

Taking a hat off indoors is a standard cultural protocol.  It may be necessary in some situations, like if they thought he was hiding a bomb, or they needed to be a Nazi, as judges must be to run a courtroom, or fathers must be to run a family.  (For example, if it were YOU wearing a cap, I'd have to check the protocol for "dud ordnance".  If it were BSD, of course you'd call the county psych hospital for the boys with the nets.)

Otherwise, it's classic 1st amendment expression, which we have pissed away with our anxieties, hiring rentacop bullyboys to check our drawers.

But grownups solve the problem.  They take their fucking hats off, go about their business, carry out their obligations, and don't delude themselves into thinking they can start a fight with the marshal.  (Do you really think they'd do anything except tell him to stay out?  They'd make him start the fight, you FUCKING IDIOT!)

Then they vote out the panicked little girls and assholes who did this, ie, the Republicans.  (Drawing clear distinctions among the women who graciously provide, and the little girls who are our daughters who will grow up to be Presidents, and the helpless whining little Republican girls who forgot their meds.) They vote with their feet and their wallets and everything else.

He did the right thing, except for coming here to kvetch about it, if he expected an intelligent response.  Fucking pathetic, but that's what we should expect.

We know how you and every other Republican asshole survives  - you're blowhards who egg others on with advice you wouldn't dare to follow yourself - then you steal their shit from their widows when they kill themselves following your lunatic advice.

see my other post, and don't be thinking you're gonna discuss constitutional law with some rentacop!

Lean on the politicians.  Study law at night.  Don't get mad, get even.

not just singing about them.

Breaker, do me a personal favor here, and try not to confuse form and substance so much - do we have a deal?

Form is OK sometimes.  But substance trumps it, every time.

and what's more, you can bet that they'd hand you different facts.

The scenario is a security check at a govt bldg, after repeated terrorist attacks - not just tooling around, you know?

You are probably aware that most judges won't let people wear hats in their courtroom, barring a religious issue.

So it's not all that clearcut anymore.  When that case went up in 1971, it most certainly wasn't.

More importantly, people have lives to live.  You don't go to the Supreme Court over a GD hat unless you have a couple of years to dick around.  RR did the absolute right thing, even if I probably would have hated his ugly-assed hat.

dubious

I'm transported to my youth at "beautiful Ft. Bliss. I think of all who sacrificed their lives that made this nation the greatest country on earth. I am blessed and yes I thank God.

Come on admit it you love this country too? Stand tall and be proud.

I love the nude beaches and the naked hot springs, and the rare specimen of average or better female body therein.

-- Modified on 10/18/2007 9:27:28 PM

Tell me when you have some lezzies you need converted, then we'll have common ground!