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For Immediate Release
October, 14 2016, 12:45pm EDT
Contact:
Email:,communications@nlg.org
Law Enforcement Arrest 29 Water Protectors on Indigenous Peoples' Day, Continue to Target Journalists Covering DAPL
Attorneys with the Red Owl Legal Collective (ROLC) of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) call on North Dakota law enforcement to respect freedom of press and the First Amendment rights of Water Protectors resisting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). This comes as officers from the Morton County Sheriff's Department unlawfully confiscated a reporter's video equipment, and then deployed riot police on Indigenous Peoples' Day, arresting 29 Water Protectors during a prayer gathering.
MORTON COUNTY, ND.
Attorneys with the Red Owl Legal Collective (ROLC) of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) call on North Dakota law enforcement to respect freedom of press and the First Amendment rights of Water Protectors resisting construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). This comes as officers from the Morton County Sheriff's Department unlawfully confiscated a reporter's video equipment, and then deployed riot police on Indigenous Peoples' Day, arresting 29 Water Protectors during a prayer gathering.
On October 8, Morton County police detained Myron Dewey, a reporter for Digital Smoke Signals, and seized a video-equipped drone owned by the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN) he was using to capture footage of the ongoing DAPL construction. Mr. Dewey was not arrested at the time, but officers stated that he would be charged with harassment of DAPL workers. This follows the issuance of an arrest warrant by North Dakota authorities for journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, and the arrest of a reporter with the independent news organization Unicorn Riot covering the DAPL.
"Law enforcement's confiscation of Mr. Dewey's video equipment and threat to charge him with harassment are intimidation tactics attempting to chill reporting on Standing Rock," said NLG attorney Robin Martinez working with the ROLC.
In a letter to the Morton County Sheriff's Department, the NLG and ROLC called upon them to return the seized video drone, issue a public apology to Mr. Dewey, make a strong public commitment to protect First Amendment rights of journalists, and refrain from further actions targeting members of the press.
On October 10--Indigenous Peoples' Day--hundreds assembled at the construction site where they performed religious ceremonies. They were suddenly surrounded by dozens of local and out-of-state police wielding rifles, riot gear, and a police dog. As the crowd attempted to disperse, 29 Water Protectors, including a journalist, were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing and rioting. Those participating in the prayer gathering had acted peacefully, did not endanger anyone's safety, or interfere with any legitimate police activity.
"The peaceful struggle against this fracked crude oil pipeline is a sacred duty we are bound to uphold as Oceti Sakowin people. We are holding the line against the DAPL and its sordid attempt to put our communities and water at risk of contamination," said Tom BK Goldtooth, IEN Executive Director and recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award. "With this duty in mind, it is deplorable that not only must we fear physical harm by the excessive use of force and inflated actions of law enforcement, we now face persecution for enacting our First Amendment rights to document the destruction of our sacred sites, record police arrests, and hold oil corporations accountable for their actions. We demand an apology for the clear disregard of those rights."
A confluence of hundreds of Tribal representatives and allies have descended on Standing Rock, joining in efforts to resist construction of the $3.8 billion, 1,100-mile pipeline. Approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the pipeline is planned to run under the Missouri River just upstream of the Standing Rock reservation and the Tribe's water supply. An oil spill would threaten Tribe's culture and way of life, and endanger the 28 million other people who rely on the Missouri River for their water needs.
For democracy to work, the people must be informed by a free press and empowered to assemble. "We continue to monitor police overreach and misconduct in response to water protection activities. We are committed to assisting people who are asserting their treaty rights to determine what kind of development occurs in their territory," said ROLC attorney Angela Bibens.
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) works to promote human rights and the rights of ecosystems over property interests. It was founded in 1937 as the first national, racially-integrated bar association in the U.S.
(212) 679-5100LATEST NEWS
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Seven Nobel laureates on Monday published an op-ed advocating for "a minimum tax for the ultrarich, expressed as a percentage of their wealth," in the French newspaper Le Monde.
"They have never been so wealthy and yet contribute very little to the public coffers: From Bernard Arnault to Elon Musk, billionaires have significantly lower tax rates than the average taxpayer," wrote Daron Acemoglu, George Akerlof, Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Simon Johnson, Paul Krugman, and Joseph Stiglitz.
Citing pioneering research from the E.U. Tax Observatory, the renowned economists noted that "ultrawealthy individuals pay around 0% to 0.6% of their wealth in income tax. In a country like the United States, their effective tax rate is around 0.6%, while in a country like France, it is closer to 0.1%."
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💡 "One of the most promising avenues is to introduce a minimum tax for the ultra-rich, expressed as a percentage of their wealth."Seven Nobel laureates in economics advocate for the Zucman tax in their latest op-ed.Read the full @lemonde.fr article 👇www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...
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— EU Tax Observatory (@taxobservatory.bsky.social) July 7, 2025 at 8:05 AM
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That's according to a June 2024 report that French economist and E.U. Tax Observatory director Gabriel Zucman prepared for the Group of 20's Brazilian presidency—which was followed by G20 leaders' November commitment to taxing the rich and last month's related proposal from the governments of Brazil, South Africa, and Spain.
"The international movement is underway," the economists declared Monday, also pointing to recent developments on the "Zucman tax" in France. The French National Assembly voted in favor of a 2% minimum tax on wealth exceeding €100 million, or $117 million, in February—but the Senate rejected the measure last month.
The economists urged the European country to keep working at it, writing that "at a time of ballooning public deficits and exploding extreme wealth, the French government must seize the initiative approved by the National Assembly. There is no reason to wait for an international agreement to be finalized—on the contrary, France should lead by example, as it has done in the past," when it was the first country to introduce a value-added tax (VAT).
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Though hundreds of cases have been filed against the Trump administration since January, this is one of very few that has reached the trial phase.
The case was filed in March by Columbia University's Knight First Amendment Institute on behalf of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP); AAUP's Harvard, NYU, and Rutgers campus chapters; and the Middle East Studies Association.
It is one of half a dozen other lawsuits filed following the arrest of Columbia graduate student and protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, who was abducted in the dead of night by plainclothes ICE officers and shipped to a detention center for nearly three months.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the defendant in this case, has acknowledged stripping the legal status of hundreds of student protesters based on their speech.
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In a pre-trial brief, the group argued that this "ideological deportation policy" illegally discriminates against students and faculty based on their pro-Palestinian viewpoints.
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They cited examples of professors scrubbing their social media accounts to remove commentary on the Israel-Palestine conflict, abandoning research on the Middle East that could prove too "nuanced" for the administration's liking, and even cancelling international travel for academic opportunities for fear of being disallowed entry back into the country.
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