Minnesota Lawyer Blog

Here’s an idea for your next office pool: How many protesters will be arrested at the Republican National Convention in September?

There seems to be some disagreement among various parties with an interest in such disparate topics as maintaining law and order and maintaining citizens’ rights to protest. The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota predicts 800 arrests during the four-day convention, while the St. Paul Police Department thinks the figure will be a fraction of that.

Meanwhile, however, Ramsey County Sherriff Bob Fletcher said the ACLU’s projection might be more accurate. Complicating matters is the recent history of GOP conventions: 1,800 were arrested at the 2004 RNC in New York City, while the 2000 convention in Philadelphia saw only about 600 arrests. (Chicago ’68 notwithstanding, Democratic conventions tend to be much more peaceful affairs.)

We’re not bookmakers, but if we were to devise an “over/under” figure, it would lean closer to the Philadelphia total. After crunching the numbers, our official prediction: 755 arrests, or about one for every three Republican delegates in attendance.

Local lawyers will have the opportunity to hone their Constitutional law skills during an ACLU-sponsored seminar to give volunteer attorneys the information required to effectively represent arrested protestors during the 2008 Republican National Convention.

The session will be held on Aug. 19 from 9:00 a.m. to noon at Fredrikson & Byron in Minneapolis. Speakers iclude ACLU President Nadine Strossen, two District Court judges and several attorneys.

“Now more than ever, we need skilled attorneys to ensure that freedom of speech is protected during the Convention and that arrestees receive immediate and effective representation so their rights are not curtailed,” said Chuck Samuelson, executive director of the ACLU-MN in a press release.

For more info, click here.

In what can only be described as a case of very strange bedfellows, the American Civil Liberties Union has filed a brief supporting Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig’s petition to withdraw his guilty plea.

The ACLU argues that “[c]onvicting someone of a crime on the basis of conduct which may not be made a crime is a manifest injustice if anything is.” The senator should be allowed to withdraw his plea to correct this injustice, the ACLU says.