While the Supreme Court allows audio of arguments to be released, no video has ever been released of inside the chamber while the court is in session. That is until now. A video capturing a protester’s outburst has surfaced on the web.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the video includes footage from two different occasions. The first is an October 2013 outburst from a protester who demanded that the controversial 2010 Citizens United decision be overturned. That ruling struck down campaign finance laws that had limited corporate spending during political campaigns.
The protester appears in the second incident, which was taped just this Wednesday. It isn’t clear what device was used to take the video or how it made it out of the chamber.
The protester is Noah Kai Newkirk, 33, of Los Angeles. He was charged with a federal offence against making “a harangue or oration” in the Supreme Court. He pleaded not guilty in district court Thursday and could face a fine and 60 days in prison.
“I arise on behalf of the vast majority of the people of the United States who believe that money is not speech,” Newkirk yells in the video, reports The Washington Post. “Corporations are not people and that our democracy should not be for sale to the highest bidder.”
Activist group 99Rise said it was responsible for Newkirk’s outburst.
image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
