Wonkette Operative Is Legal Hero At Wall Street Occupation

Here's a quick report from the Occupy Wall Street camp before your correspondent takes a shower break in Brooklyn: Veteran Wonkette commenter and former executive director of the National Lawyer's Guild Riverside68 is fighting the cops, in court! We met with him at the "legal table" in Zuccotti Park, to discuss what he and his lawyer pals are plotting. (Proving he was truly a veteran Wonkette commenter, he even gave us a bottle of tasty Wolaver's Pale Ale Vermont beer!)

Anyway, here's what's up:

"We're filing a summary judgment motion to whether or not the NYPD can close off a block and arrest every single person on that block. And that's what they did in 2004 [at the GOP convention here], and that's what they're doing now, and we're saying that's unconstitutional -- and our part of that motion will be filed on Monday."

But what is a "summary judgment motion"? We asked a friend whose dad represented people in the Watts Demonstrations. Here is what he reported back, on Gchat:

It means you walk in with overwhelming evidence so that the judge says, 'Oh, there's no question, we don't need to go to a trial.'"

There is some specific technical standard for establishing that there is no question: Summary judgement means everyone agrees to the facts. There's no controversy and the court should grant the relief sought. The protesters are saying, 'it's clear. here are the facts: they arrested everybody...' Compare with the People's Park arrests in Berkeley in the early 70s. They said it was an illegal gathering and then started arresting people. That doesn't mean the arrests are lawful...

Go Riverside68!