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"Disruption of Congress" Case
CHAMPIONING BASIC CITIZEN RIGHTS,
THE VITAL IMPORTANCE OF CITIZEN
PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL JUDICIAL SELECTION
-- & JUDICIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
"The elementary proposition to be championed in the case...is that
a citizen's respectful request to testify at a congressional
committee's public hearing
is not -- and must never be deemed to be
-'disruption of Congress'".
--
CJA's
June 16, 2003 memo to Ralph Nader, Public
Citizen, & Common Cause,
at p. 3
"Mr. Chairman, there's citizen
opposition to Judge Wesley
based on his documented corruption as a
New York Court of Appeals judge.
May I testify?"
FEATURING:
The
"CELLULOID DNA":
Videotape
& Still-Frame Analysis
of US Senate Judiciary Committee's May 22, 2003 hearing
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Letters to the Editor:
ROLL CALL
(May 10, 2004): "Correcting
the Record"
--
PAPER TRAIL (TO JAIL)
--
Analysis of Video & Transcript
NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL
(May 19, 2004): "Portrayal
in News Item Found Denigrating"
--
PAPER TRAIL (TO JAIL)
--
CJA's March 26, 2003 written statement
VILLAGE VOICE
(February 16, 2005) "Activists,
Judges"
--
PAPER TRAIL (TO JAIL)
--
CJA's March 26, 2003 written statement
SEE
What the Media Did --
Bringing
accountability to The New York Times
-- & other media that has suppressed,
obscured, and falsified the "disruption of
Congress" case
CJA's July 29, 2005 letter to New York
Times Executive Editor Bill Keller
with
accompanying analysis of the knowingly false, defamatory, &
cover-up NYT column,
"WHEN THE JUDGE
SLEDGEHAMMERED THE GADFLY"
(Front Page, Westchester Section, November
7, 2004)
--
SEE:
Press Suppression -
The New York Times
SEE:
Suing the New York
Times
CJA's August 9, 2005 memo to Legal Times,
New York Law Journal, Roll Call,
The Philadelphia Inquirer, with
copies to The Washington Post
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PAPER
TRAIL TO JAIL
Documenting the corruption of federal
judicial selection and the bogus & malicious
"disruption of Congress" case it spawned,
covered up by the congressionally-funded
D.C. Superior Court and D.C. Court of
Appeals
See, in particular:
CJA's June 16, 2003 memo to Ralph Nader, Public
Citizen, & Common Cause as
to the significance and potential of the
case -- as well as CJA's
June 8, 2004 and
June 9, 2004 memos to Mr.
Nader and the panoply of "public interest"
organizations, left, right, and
"non-partisan" which purport to promote
citizen participation and/or to involve
themselves with issues of judicial
selection.
--
CJA's June 10, 2004 draft memo of law to Mr. Nader
& the organizations on the
unconstitutionality of the "disruption of
Congress" statute, as written & as applied
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Elena is free -- free at last!
Citizen Activist CJA Founder & Coordinator
is released on December 23, 2004 from D.C.
jail, after serving 179 days for
respectfully requesting to testify at a U.S.
Senate Judiciary Committee Public Hearing.
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Ms. Sassower Goes to Washington
As coordinator of the Center for
Judicial Accountability, Inc.
(CJA), New Yorker Elena Sassower
went to Washington, D.C. to
attend the U.S. Senate Judiciary
Committee's public hearing to
confirm President Bush's
nomination of New York Court of
Appeals Judge Richard Wesley to
the Second Circuit Court of
Appeals.
The presiding chairman
was Senator Saxby Chambliss. At
the conclusion of the hearing,
he announced:
"if there are no
further questions or
participation from anyone on
the Committee, we will stand
adjourned. Thank you very
much."
Only then did Elena rise
from her seat in the back row of
the hearing room and state:
"Mr. Chairman,
there's citizen opposition
to Judge Wesley based on his
documented corruption as a
New York Court of Appeals
judge. May I testify?"
Senator Chambliss did
not answer this question. He
replied instead:
"I will issue a
warning that we will have
order. The Committee will
stand in recess until the
police can restore order.
Everyone remain seated."
Elena
then responded: "Are you
directing that I be arrested?"
Again, Senator Chambliss
did not answer-- and so, a
second time, Elena asked, " Are
you directing that I be
arrested?"
Senator Chambliss' only
reply was: "I am directing that
the police restore order."
Elena then asked a third
time, " Are you directing that I
be arrested?"
Again, Senator Chambliss
would not answer this question
-- and Capitol Police removed
Elena from the hearing room.
Thereupon, Senator Chambliss --
who had put on reading glasses
-- read from a prepared
statement:
"Outside
witnesses are welcome to
submit letters supporting or
opposing nominees for the
Committee's consideration,
but it is not our usual
procedure to invite outside
witnesses to testify either
in support or in opposition
to the nomination. I realize
that this lady is
disappointed that she is not
able to make any statement
this afternoon, but her
disappointment in no way
condones any disruption of
this hearing. Again, we
will stand adjourned. Thank
you very much."
Upon being taken into
the hallway, Elena was arrested
and put in handcuffs. Moments
later, Senator Chambliss exited
from the back door of the
hearing room and walked past
her. Once more, Elena asked,
"Do you wish me to be arrested?
Are you directing me to be
arrested?". Senator Chambliss
would not respond.
Elena was incarcerated
for 21 hours until her
arraignment the next day for
"disruption of Congress". The
police report she received
purported that Senator Chambliss
was the "complainant". However,
at trial, the prosecution did
NOT call Senator Chambliss to
testify -- and Elena's subpoena
for his testimony was quashed by
Judge Holeman.
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"The elementary proposition to be championed in the case...is that
a citizen's respectful request to testify at a congressional
committee's public hearing is not -- and must never be deemed to be
-'disruption of Congress'".
Page 698 of
Elena Sassower's opening statement at trial, April 14, 2004 - halted
after the words, "The elementary proposition", by D.C. Superior
Court Judge Brian
Holeman, who had previously called in a marshal and threatened to lock her up
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Miscellaneous
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