Protesters disrupted Supreme Court proceedings on Wednesday for the
second time this year with shouted criticism of the court's previous
rulings on campaign finance.
Supreme Court police swiftly removed five people from the courtroom
after they rose, one after another, to interrupt the start of the
court's session.
The advocacy group 99rise, which opposes the influence of money in
elections, took responsibility for the protest, as it did for similar
episodes in January and last year. The group said in a statement that
six of its members took part Wednesday, though court spokeswoman Kathy
Arberg said only five people were arrested.
Arberg said all five have been charged under a law that prohibits making
"a harangue or oration" or uttering "loud, threatening or abusive
language" in the Supreme Court Building. They also were charged with
conspiracy-related offenses and sent to a holding cell at Washington,
D.C., police headquarters.
The first protester rose from his seat among spectators in the courtroom
just after the justices took the bench at 10 a.m. "I rise to claim our
democracy, one person, one vote," he said.
Chief Justice John Roberts initially joked that he didn't think the
court's scheduled arguments in bankruptcy cases "would attract such
attention." But Roberts turned serious as the protests continued and
warned that anyone disrupting proceedings could be charged with criminal
contempt.
In the two previous protests, at least one person from 99rise carried a
camera and recorded the disruption in violation of the court's ban on
cameras in the courtroom. The surreptitiously recorded video was later
posted online.
The group said in a statement that the protest was tied to the one-year
anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in McCutcheon v. FEC, in which
the justices struck down the overall federal limit on individual
campaign contributions. The anniversary is on Thursday, when the court
will not be in session.
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