The U.S. Supreme Court was disrupted by a protester inside the courtroom who stood up and shouted out his view of campaign finance laws right in the middle of oral arguments.
“Money is not speech,” said the man, later identified as Noah Newkirk of Los Angeles, in the middle of a case over attorney fees in patent cases, CNN reported. He rose from the back of the courtroom, where he was seated, and continued: “Overturn ’Citizens United!’ “
Citizens United was a 2010 case before the Supreme Court that weakened a 100-year-old federal law that limited corporate spending.
Mr. Newkirk was quickly led from the courtroom by police, CNN reported.
He was charged with violating a federal law that prohibits haranguing, or using “loud, threatening or abusive language in the Supreme Court building,” CNN reported.
The justices, for their part, ignored the outburst.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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