In March 2012, President Obama signed into law HR 347, the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. The law specifies as criminal offenses the acts of entering or remaining in areas defined as “restricted.” Although pundits have debated to what extent the new law restricts First Amendment rights or criminalizes Occupy protests, it does make it easier for the Secret Service to overuse or misuse existing laws to arrest lawful protesters by lowering the requirement of intent in the prosecution of criminal activity.
Censored News Cluster: The Police State and Civil Liberties
Danny Weil, “Many Forms of Occupy Protests Subjected to New Bill Making Protests Illegal,” TheDaily Censored (blog), March 5, 2012, http://dailycensored.com/2012/03/05/many-forms-of-occupy-protests-subjected-to-new-bill-making-protests-illegal.
Oskar Mosquito, “Enacting the NDAA: Limiting Protesters’ Rights,” Media Roots, March 5, 2012, http://mediaroots.org/enacting-the-ndaa-limiting-protesters-rights.
Brian Doherty, “Bill Passes House: Protests Near Secret Service Protected Folk Effectively Outlawed,” Reason (blog), March 1, 2012, http://reason.com/blog/2012/03/01/bill-passes-house-protests-near-secret-s.
http://www.mediafreedominternational.org/2012/03/08/h-r-347-would-make-many-forms-of-nonviolent-protest-illegal/
Student Researcher: Eric Humphrey (College of Marin)
Faculty Evaluator:Susan Rahman (College of Marin)