Peter Watts convicted

[nancylebov]

In case you were wondering, Peter Watts is a science fiction author. His fiction-- Starfish, Maelstrom, Behemoth (spelled with a beta), and Blindsight is extremely intelligent, cynical, and fraught. He's a very good guy and has a lot of friends, which is why this story may be all over your friendslist, or at least why you're hearing about it from me. Ghu knows how often this kind of thing happens to people who aren't as socially connected.

He wasn't perfectly convenient for US border guards when he was returning to Canada, and/or some guards were just in the mood to attack. Peter Watts has not yet been sentenced, so it could be anything from suspended sentence (but he might not be able to travel to the US again ever [1]) to two years in prison.

Contra preconceptions-- Watts is white. One of the violent guards is a woman.

From james_nicoll, just the facts:

Toronto author Peter Watts has been found guilty of assaulting, resisting and obstructing a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer.

Jurors returned the verdict today in St. Clair County Circuit Judge James Adair’s courtroom. He faces up to two years in prison when sentenced April 26.

From coffeeem: Mostly about jury nullification, the inadequately publicized right of juries to acquit regardless of the law.

Jury nullification is one of those ambiguous things, but I believe it's valuable because it means the government will not be worse than the public.

From pecunium:
Big roundup with context and explanations of why the police are getting away with too much.

At this point, the conviction has been announced way down in an open thread at Making Light. I expect that there will be extensive further discussion there [2] or at a new top level post.

[1] Of course, he might not want to.
[2] The thread is almost entirely jokes, starting with bar jokes and spreading into knock knock jokes, elephant jokes, etc.

Comments

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

And?

The sad and pathetic racist history of the *use* of the right of jury nullification in some cases does not change that the *right* of jury nullification exists.

Put another way, the fact that "states rights" in the USA is a code word for "racism" and that every single "states rights" issue is blatantly racist does not change that the States do have rights, and that it is theoretically possible for the US Federal Government to infringe on the rights of states in a way that a sane person might object rather than celebrate.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

Medical marijuana and decriminalization/legalization are the obvious current examples.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

And yet, nobody says "states rights" when discussing "right to die"[1] legislation.

"States' Rights" is a code word even when the States actually do have the right in questeion.

[1]: To add another one to your list.

[nancylebov.livejournal.com]

So, is there a better term? "Federal overreach" doesn't have quite the same meaning.

[uplinktruck.livejournal.com]

The problem is that states got into bed with the feds accepting money that came with an incredible number of strings attached to it. The states got hooked on the money. When the feds came down with unpopular edicts like the 55 mile an hour speed limit of the 1970s, the states had no choice but to go along or loose their federal funding.

Now the federal government comes down to the states with mandates (mostly unfunded or partially funded, almost never fully funded) like Medicaid, social programs, seat belt laws, minimum drinking ages, tamper resistant driver's licenses, conservation laws, etc. etc. No, technically the federal government cannot infringe upon the sovereignty of the state and force these matters. But the federal government can darn sure take back all that free federal money for roads, schools, airports, health care, open spaces, wilderness preservation, etc, etc, etc.

If you look at the legislation for all these federal mandates on the states, you will find that each one is tied to some federal handout. With only a hand full of exceptions, the states go along with the program every time. Like every other junkie, the states just have to have that next fix and they will do anything to get it.

[avram]

"Federalism" is the usual term.