SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Desiree Fairooz (left), seen on May 10, 2017, just days after she was convicted of disorderly and disruptive conduct during Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearing. (Photo: Susan Melkisethian/flickr/cc)
"Vindictive": CODEPINK Activist Who Laughed During Jeff Sessions' Hearing to Face New Trial
"I still cannot believe the government refuses to drop this," said Desiree Fairooz
Sep 02, 2017
CODEPINK activist Desiree Fairooz, who was arrested after laughing during Attorney General Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearing, will face a second trial this fall after she rejected a plea deal on Friday.
"I still cannot believe the government refuses to drop this. Vindictive!" she wrote on Twitter, while CODEPINK called it "ridiculous."
As Common Dreams reported, she was convicted in May of disorderly and disruptive conduct during the hearing. While Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) argued that Sessions' record of "treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented," Fairooz, who was in the hearing room, laughed. She held up a sign that read "Support Civil Rights; Stop Sessions" as she was placed under arrest and taken out of the room.
You can hear her laughter in video below, around the 1:20 mark:
FAirooz described the noise she made as "spontaneous. It was an immediate rejection of what I considered an outright lie or pure ignorance." Civil liberties advocates have also strongly rejected such an characterization of Sessions' record.
Her conviction was thrown out in July and a hearing set for Sept. 1. At the hearing, CNN reports: "According to court records, Fairooz rejected a deal offered by prosecutors that would have required her to plead guilty in exchange for a recommended sentence of time served."
HuffPo explains:
This time around, the government will have to be more careful if it wants the jury verdict to stand. Because they cannot argue that laughter was enough to sustain a conviction, government lawyers essentially have to concede to the jury that Officer Katherine Coronado, the rookie cop who approached Fairooz, made a mistake. They'll have to argue that, even if the officer was wrong to arrest Fairooz, she didn't have the right to loudly object to her treatment, or at least didn't have the right to make political statements that briefly interrupted Senate proceedings.
In a May interview with Jezebel, Fairooz said, "I'm just an average citizen. I'm no spokesperson. I'm no paid protester. I am a retired children's librarian, former teacher who is speaking for people like my former students and their families or those who are not able to do this. That if you do not stand up to the injustices that are being imposed on us--I mean, I see our democracy crumbling every day."
"It was bad under Bush. It was definitely imperfect under Obama. And now every day, I ask myself, is it fascism now? And so if we don't stand up while we still have some modicum of democracy, it'll be too late. So if anything, I hope others feel inspired to do likewise," she said.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
CODEPINK activist Desiree Fairooz, who was arrested after laughing during Attorney General Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearing, will face a second trial this fall after she rejected a plea deal on Friday.
"I still cannot believe the government refuses to drop this. Vindictive!" she wrote on Twitter, while CODEPINK called it "ridiculous."
As Common Dreams reported, she was convicted in May of disorderly and disruptive conduct during the hearing. While Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) argued that Sessions' record of "treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented," Fairooz, who was in the hearing room, laughed. She held up a sign that read "Support Civil Rights; Stop Sessions" as she was placed under arrest and taken out of the room.
You can hear her laughter in video below, around the 1:20 mark:
FAirooz described the noise she made as "spontaneous. It was an immediate rejection of what I considered an outright lie or pure ignorance." Civil liberties advocates have also strongly rejected such an characterization of Sessions' record.
Her conviction was thrown out in July and a hearing set for Sept. 1. At the hearing, CNN reports: "According to court records, Fairooz rejected a deal offered by prosecutors that would have required her to plead guilty in exchange for a recommended sentence of time served."
HuffPo explains:
This time around, the government will have to be more careful if it wants the jury verdict to stand. Because they cannot argue that laughter was enough to sustain a conviction, government lawyers essentially have to concede to the jury that Officer Katherine Coronado, the rookie cop who approached Fairooz, made a mistake. They'll have to argue that, even if the officer was wrong to arrest Fairooz, she didn't have the right to loudly object to her treatment, or at least didn't have the right to make political statements that briefly interrupted Senate proceedings.
In a May interview with Jezebel, Fairooz said, "I'm just an average citizen. I'm no spokesperson. I'm no paid protester. I am a retired children's librarian, former teacher who is speaking for people like my former students and their families or those who are not able to do this. That if you do not stand up to the injustices that are being imposed on us--I mean, I see our democracy crumbling every day."
"It was bad under Bush. It was definitely imperfect under Obama. And now every day, I ask myself, is it fascism now? And so if we don't stand up while we still have some modicum of democracy, it'll be too late. So if anything, I hope others feel inspired to do likewise," she said.
CODEPINK activist Desiree Fairooz, who was arrested after laughing during Attorney General Jeff Sessions' confirmation hearing, will face a second trial this fall after she rejected a plea deal on Friday.
"I still cannot believe the government refuses to drop this. Vindictive!" she wrote on Twitter, while CODEPINK called it "ridiculous."
As Common Dreams reported, she was convicted in May of disorderly and disruptive conduct during the hearing. While Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) argued that Sessions' record of "treating all Americans equally under the law is clear and well-documented," Fairooz, who was in the hearing room, laughed. She held up a sign that read "Support Civil Rights; Stop Sessions" as she was placed under arrest and taken out of the room.
You can hear her laughter in video below, around the 1:20 mark:
FAirooz described the noise she made as "spontaneous. It was an immediate rejection of what I considered an outright lie or pure ignorance." Civil liberties advocates have also strongly rejected such an characterization of Sessions' record.
Her conviction was thrown out in July and a hearing set for Sept. 1. At the hearing, CNN reports: "According to court records, Fairooz rejected a deal offered by prosecutors that would have required her to plead guilty in exchange for a recommended sentence of time served."
HuffPo explains:
This time around, the government will have to be more careful if it wants the jury verdict to stand. Because they cannot argue that laughter was enough to sustain a conviction, government lawyers essentially have to concede to the jury that Officer Katherine Coronado, the rookie cop who approached Fairooz, made a mistake. They'll have to argue that, even if the officer was wrong to arrest Fairooz, she didn't have the right to loudly object to her treatment, or at least didn't have the right to make political statements that briefly interrupted Senate proceedings.
In a May interview with Jezebel, Fairooz said, "I'm just an average citizen. I'm no spokesperson. I'm no paid protester. I am a retired children's librarian, former teacher who is speaking for people like my former students and their families or those who are not able to do this. That if you do not stand up to the injustices that are being imposed on us--I mean, I see our democracy crumbling every day."
"It was bad under Bush. It was definitely imperfect under Obama. And now every day, I ask myself, is it fascism now? And so if we don't stand up while we still have some modicum of democracy, it'll be too late. So if anything, I hope others feel inspired to do likewise," she said.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.