Federal Case Against Bush Protester Delayed

By: Matthew Rothschild

On October 24, Brett A. Bursey went to the airport in Columbia, South Carolina, to protest a visit by President Bush. Bursey was on public property holding a sign that said "No War for Oil".

Airport security insisted that he go to "a protest area on the verge of a highway, a good half mile from the hangar where the President would be speaking", the New York Times reported on April 27.

But Bursey wanted to be closer so the President or his entourage might actually see the sign. Airport security told him "to go the free speech zone". Bursey said: "I was in it: the United States of America", the Times reported.

Eventually, "an airport policeman told him he had to put down his sign... or leave", the story said. "You mean, it's the content of my sign?" Bursey asked. The policeman said: "Yes, sir, it's the content of your sign", Bursey recalled to the Times reporter.

Bursey was arrested and charged with trespassing, a charge that was later dropped.

But then in March, "the local United States attorney, J. Strom Thurmond Jr., brought federal charges against Mr. Bursey under a seldom-used statute that allows the Secret Service to restrict access to areas the President is visiting. He faces six months in jail and a $5,000 fine", the Times noted.

On June 25, Bursey's trial was postponed as the judge asked lawyers for both sides to prepare briefs on a technical question. "We're briefing an issue involving the interpretation of the statute, which hinges on whether a colon in the statute was meant to be a colon or a semicolon or a period", says Rauch Wise, one of Bursey's co-counsels. Rauch says Bursey "was standing on the edge of a road, and though he was told it was a secure area, there was traffic moving back and forth. A 26-year-old guy with a short haircut driving a Ryder Truck could have driven up", but Bursey couldn't hold his sign, he asks?

In the courtroom on June 25, "about six supporters wore T-shirts that had an outline of the United States with the words 'Free Speech Zone' across the front", according to an article in The State newspaper.

Bursey's case has drawn the attention of members of Congress.

On May 27, Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, wrote a letter, signed by ten other House members, to Attorney General John Ashcroft, saying that Ashcroft's persecution of Bursey "is in fact a threat to the freedom of expression we should all be defending".

The letter says: "There is no plausible argument that can be made that Mr. Bursey was threatening the President by holding a sign which the President found politically offensive... Being politically annoying to the President of the United States is not a criminal offense. This prosecution smacks of the use of the Sedition Acts 200 years ago to protect the President from political discomfort. It was wrong then, and it is wrong now."

The letter was also signed by Ron Paul, Republican of Texas, and Democrats John Conyers of Michigan, James R. Langevin of Rhode Island, Loretta Sanchez of California, Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, Howard L. Berman of California, William D. Delahunt of Massachusetts, Zoe Lofgren of California, Jerrold Nadler of New York, and Melvin Watt of North Carolina.

As of June 30, Ashcroft had not responded to Frank's letter.

When the court case was postponed, Bursey said he was disappointed the judge didn't toss out the case. "I'm looking forward to my day in court", he told The State newspaper. "America is a free-speech zone."