The American Bar Association (ABA) is soliciting nominations for its 2011 list of Top 100 Law Blawgs. It would be an honor if UndeniableRuth.com was on this list.
During the last 20 months, I have written about a variety of legal topics:
The ABA has a rule that you cannot nominate yourself, a blog you have written for, or your company’s blog, so I can’t sit on my computer all day nominating myself. I need your help to make this happen. Also, the ABA doesn’t want to receive nominations from spouses, which I think they’ll probably extend to anyone the ABA thinks is a family member who is not otherwise employed in the legal profession (sorry Mom).  The nomination page can be found here.
Nominations will be accepted through September 9, 2011.
Today is my last day of Sponsor A Law Kid!! My final sponsor of this adventure is David E. Mills of The Mills Law Office.   His recent claim to fame is being among the few lawyers who have had the privilege of arguing a case before the United States Supreme Court. He obtained a 9-0 decision in Ortiz v. Jordan earlier this year. I love that he’s done so much, and yet he’s still a down-to-earth person who works out of his apartment in Cleveland, Ohio. He asked me to relay the story behind him becoming my final sponsor.
David E. Mills, courtesy of Mills Law Office
I announced Sponsor A Law Kid on November 16, 2010. The idea came to me somewhat on a whim, and I had no idea if it would work. My friend in the blogging world told me to “put out a blog post and see what happens.â€Â At that time, I had been blogging for less than a year and I was happy to have a few dozen people visit my site a day. It took a few days, but Above the Law and the ABA Journal websites each ran a story about my endeavor and my numbers started to climb rapidly.
And then the comments started. People who didn’t know me and wouldn’t know me from Adam, visited my site and left comments claiming that they were embarrassed for me and that I was lazy, undedicated, and begging for money.   It was hard to approve those mean-spirited comments. I did not expect that level of negative backlash from the legal community.
I had over 3,000 hits in the first 10 days after I announced the program, including David. He saw the post about Sponsor A Law Kid on Above the Law. He thought my idea was interesting, and he was curious to see what people’s reactions were.  David had no intention of buying a day. However, when he visited my site, he was so appalled by the unwarranted insults towards me and was so impressed with the way I calmly responded to them, that he offered to buy my most expensive day.
I’m so grateful for all the support I’ve received for this program. Now that Sponsor A Law Kid is over, we need to find new endeavors to support, like the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. Cleveland has a very special place in my heart, and this is a fantastic organization that provides a wide variety of legal resources for people who can’t otherwise afford legal representation. It is staffed by wonderful people who work tirelessly for their clients. They embody what the practice of law is supposed to be.
Sponsor A Law Kid was my endeavor to pay for my last semester of law school. Today’s sponsor is David E. Mills. For more information about Sponsor A Law Kid, visit my Sponsor A Law Kid page.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. In accordance with ABA policy, this blog should not be viewed as legal advice. It is simply my experiences, opinions, and information I looked up on the internet.
At 11:45pm on April 12, 2008, Mary Oberwetter and 17 friends engaged in silent dancing inside the Jefferson Memorial while listening to music on their headphones to celebrate Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. The Park Police arrested her when she refused their order to stop. Oberwetter was charged with interfering with an agency function and demonstrating without a permit, which violates the National Park Service Regulations. She responded by filing a lawsuit claiming that the police violated her First and Fourth Amendment rights. On May 17, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the judgement that she was lawfully arrested and upheld the dismissal of her claims.
After the ruling came down, five more protesters were arrested for dancing in the Jefferson Memorial over Memorial Day weekend. The group, led by Adam Kokesh and Edward Dickey, referred to their behavior as civil danceobedience.
Many people, including Elie Mystal from Above the Law, found the ban on dancing in memorials disgusting. In response to the court ruling and the subsequent arrests, groups all over the world staged dancing events at memorials. It was reported that as many as 38 countries participated in the event, including demonstrations at the Jefferson Memorial and in Phoenix, Arizona. I could not find any reports of any arrests at any of the events.
Photo by Adam Nollmeyer
Unfortunately the problem here is the law is clear that any demonstration at a memorial won’t be tolerated. It’s sad, but that’s what it is. This event made me wonder, on what grounds might someone be arrested for dancing in public and what can people to prevent it?
Assault: Assault requires intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing any physical injury to another person or placing them in reasonable apprehension of imminent physical injury. So as long as you keep your body at a sufficient distance from other people, I don’t think dancing constitutes assault.
Trespass: Trespass requires knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on any real property after a reasonable request to leave by the owner or any other person having lawful control over such property, or reasonable notice prohibiting entry. Public property, like parks containing memorials, are open to everyone so as long as no person with proper authority, dance on!
Unlawful Assembly orRiot: These crimes require two or more people acting together with force or violence or threats of force that disturb the public peace. As long as you and your friends can dance without threatening anyone, then it’s ok.
Disorderly Conduct: This is a catch-all crime for general bad behavior; however, the law requires the intent to disturb the peace with unreasonable noise or violent or seriously disruptive behavior. I’m guessing you have to be a really bad dancer to rise to the level of seriously disruptive behavior.
Obstructing a Thoroughfare: To obstruct a thoroughfare, you have to recklessly interfere with the passage of a thoroughfare by creating an unreasonable inconvenience or hazard without a legal privilege to do so. Thus, dancing on the grass, away from the sidewalk or otherwise not interfering with other people’s ability to use the sidewalk because of your dancing appears to be permissible.
Bolin Park Rules by Ruth Carter
It’s important to note when you’re dancing at a memorial to look for any signage that indicated whether you are permitted to be on the memorial itself. In Bolin Park in Phoenix, there are over a dozen memorials and statutes. I was surprised that each one did not have a “Do Not Climb†plaque until someone pointed out that this notice was on the posted signs with all the rules regarding permitted behaviors in the park.
We had a great time at the dance event in Phoenix. There was another rally going on and there was lots of police and security present. At one point we went over to their area and started dancing on the lawn when they started to play music. The police looked at us strangely and smiled.
Thank you to Phoenix commercial photographer Adam Nollmeyer for shooting such awesome footage at the Phoenix Dance for Liberty Flash Mob.
The legalities of flash mobs and pranks
