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"the worst first amendment case I've ever seen" just had a good ending! You can read his summary (CEO of FIRE who lead the case) or mine.
A while back, a retired police officer Larry Bushart posted a political meme on Facebook mocking conservatives over the concept of not caring about kids who get shot in schools while cancelling people for not caring about Charlie Kirk's death.
In response, Perry County officials where he lived had him arrested and held in jail for 37 days, setting his bond at 2 million dollars. He lost his job from this disruption and missed his granddaughter's birth and his wedding anniversary.
This arrest was obvious bullshit, another case where corrupt abusive officials utilize the legal system itself as punishment. No one would have seriously expected this case to go through, but the process itself is often meant as the attack.
It ends with good news though, as part of the settlement Bushart is getting almost a million dollars. Bad news, like most abuse by officials it gets paid for by the taxpayers and nothing is likely to happen to the corrupt scumbags who were in charge.
But this is a great lesson at least. In the US, you can just be a random guy, upset the most powerful government organizations and draw their ire, and win against them. America is a country where David can take down Goliath, whether it be your local officials or federal ones. Bushart refused to accept the abuse, he stood up to the bullies, and he won.
+$835,000 and having a good excuse to skip his wedding anniversary? Bro needs to stop hogging all the luck.
There is an interesting question here on whether he should just get his damages plus a nice reward or they should get outsized rewards because it’s difficult to challenge every small abuse so outsize rewards are good to discourage abuse
Judges can do all kinds of stuff right? Could a judge require the government to try to develop a time machine to bring him back to the missed events? What about investment in longevity tech to give him the lifespan back?
Obviously I'm less interested in the actual case here than I am in being whimsical, but I do wonder.
Hell yeah it should! Also under consideration: “microstamping” ammo regardless if it is technologically possible or not, and of course, sentencing the police chief to be his butler.
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Sounds like a job for a sci-fi short story.
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