Leftist Lawyers for Lynne Stewart

Two pillars of the radical Left are sponsoring protests in support of convicted terrorist enabler Lynne Stewart. The National Lawyers Guild and International ANSWER have dubbed tomorrow, February 17, "A National Day of Outrage!" The NLG, to which Stewart belongs, hopes its members across the country will take the opportunity to state that the Constitution is under siege by the Bush administration -- or at "a very minimum...organize a press conference/rally at the local federal courthouse or federal building."

ANSWER provides an example of what such a press release might look like. "The government wants to stop civil rights lawyers - those who stand between persons targeted and their incarceration or execution - from asserting the legal rights and defenses of those the government charges with crimes in connection with the so-called war on terror," the Stalinists warn. "The government has worked to eviscerate attorney-client privilege."

NLG hopes to enroll law students in their efforts to politicize the classroom tomorrow. Its website lists such "[f]urther ideas for law students" as:

• Day of Silence: Announce that NLG members will not speak in class on February 17th. You can email your professors and tell them that, to the contrary of being disrespectful, this is being done out of respect for the legal profession. Announce: “one of our own has been silenced” and build off the idea that they are trying to silence zealous advocates. You could even wear tape over your mouth that says something like “another advocate silenced.”
• Have a table with information about Lynne Stewart (see lynnestewart.org/), have people sign the “Pledge of Resolve,” and collect money for her defense team (see lynnestewart.org/ for information on donating)
• Hang a banner at the law school announcing your outrage
• Media work: hold a press conference with lawyers in your community, write an op-ed, write an article in your law school’s paper
• Organize a roundtable discussion with professors (ie: ask Professional Responsibility professors to discuss ethical issues involved, or focus on the issue of attorney-client privilege)

Before her conviction, one could at least argue, "Lynne Stewart deserves the benefit of a fair trial." She's since been convicted of facilitating terror and faces 20 years in the slammer (not "up to 30 years," as ANSWER claims). To protest the conviction of a felon exposes these rallies for what they are: the latest front in the War on America.