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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAmmon Bundy is an 'originalist' just like Antonin Scalia, says defense
Source: The Guardian
Motion to dismiss charges against Oregon standoff leader call him a
peaceful protester sharing constitutional views with the late supreme
court justice
Sam Levin in San Francisco
Monday 9 May 2016 20.06 BST
Oregon standoff leader Ammon Bundy was a peaceful protester advocating the constitutional beliefs of US supreme court justices Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia, according to the jailed activists formal defense filed on Monday.
Bundys motion to dismiss the federal charges that he led a violent conspiracy against the government with an armed occupation of a wildlife refuge lays the groundwork for a trial that could have a lasting impact on the controversial land-use movement in the west.
On 2 January, Bundy, 40, led a group of activists into the Malheur national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon to protest the federal governments treatment of local ranchers. The protesters, some of whom were heavily armed, took over a number of public buildings at the refuge headquarters, launching a standoff with federal authorities that dragged on for 41 days.
Bundy and two-dozen other activists were eventually arrested and now face serious felony charges for using force and threats to impede the government, which could lead some of them to spend decades behind bars.
Contrasted with shallow and uninformed media portrayals and government hyperbole, Ammon is not an extremist and is not a member of any militia, patriot group, or political land protest organization, Bundys attorneys wrote in the filing. Mr Bundy is not a ... so-called sovereign citizen, and he does not hold anti-government views.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/may/09/ammon-bundy-oregon-militia-standoff-antonin-scalia
Ohio Joe
(21,761 posts)Lock the fucker up and let us never hear his bullshit again.
0rganism
(23,967 posts)i knew all the talk about Judge Judy was premature
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)I don't think it's a very good strategy, waving Justice Scalia's name around. But you go with the whackos you have, not the whackos you want. Also, claiming that Ammon Bundy and his gang aren't extremists or anti-government is just plain lying. It's not clear from the story whether this filing was in the Oregon or the Nevada case, but Judge Brown in Oregon isn't going to like it very much. I hope the next time Mr. Bundy's lawyers appear before her they've packed a toothbrush in case they need to spend a night in lock-up for being such lying liars.
catnhatnh
(8,976 posts)with an occluded overbite, he needs to answer for his actions, not his proclivities.