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-Caveat Lector- If McKinney is indicted and jailed, it will set a precedent that cuts both ways: Republicans will start looking for pretexts to arrest "liberal" senators and congressmen in order to prevent them from doing the people's business, and the next Democratic president can haul GOP asses right out of their seats on Capitol Hill and throw 'em all in jail ...
Why has NO ONE in the national media, amidst all their "tsk-tsk" coverage, even mentioned the fact that "Congressional immunity" EXISTS?
http://www.answers.com/topic/breach-of-the-peace
Quoting Wikipedia:
Constitutional law
In the United States, Article One of the United States Constitution provides that members of Congress shall be immune from arrest in going to and departing from sessions and while Congress is in session except for cases of "Treason, Felony, and Breach of the Peace".
Section 6. Clause 1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.A similar protection applies to members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom during a session of Parliament and 40 days to either side of a session. This protection also extends to Peers of the United Kingdom at all times, although it's only been used twice since 1945.The first two are somewhat self-explanatory; it has been suggested that the third is deliberately somewhat vague. The doctrine thus established is called Congressional immunity; it arose out of the necessity to prevent a vengeful executive from arresting members of the legislative branch on a pretext to prevent them from taking actions that the executive might find to be displeasing. In recent years, this doctrine has been used to prevent members from being stopped and held for speeding on their way to sessions; this apparently is not a "breach of the peace", where as perhaps another misdemeanor such as "drunk and disorderly" might be construed to be such.
Most states of the United States and most other English-speaking jurisdictions have extended this privilege to members of their legislatures on the theory outlined above.
Public order
The concept of a "breach of the peace" is more widely used in English law, however. Theoretically all criminal offences cognizable by English law involve "a breach of the King's (or Queen's) Peace, and all indictments whether for offences against the Common law or by Statute conclude "against the Peace of our Lord the King, his Crown and Dignity" or "against the Peace of our Lady the Queen, her Crown and Dignity" as appropriate.
Historically this phrase, now legally superfluous, represents the last trace of the process by which the royal courts assume jurisdiction over all offences, and gradually extruded the jurisdiction of the sheriff and of lords of manors and franchises, making crime a matter of national concern as distinguished from civil wrongs or infractions of the rights of local magnates. The Peace of the King was sworn on his accession or full recognition, and the jurisdiction of his courts to punish all violations of that peace was gradually asserted. The completion of this process is marked by the institution of the office of Justice of the Peace.
In modern times, the _expression_ "breach of the peace" is usually limited to offences involving actual tumult, disturbances or disorder. This is by far the most familiar usage of the term among non-lawyers in England. As regards such offences, although they do not fall into the class of grave crimes described as felonies, officers of police and even private persons have larger powers and duties, as to immediate arrest without waiting for judicial warrant, than they possess as to other minor offences. Justices of the peace have under early statutes and the commission of the peace power to take sureties of the peace from persons who are threatening to commit a breach of the peace, and it is within the power of any court on conviction of any misdemeanour and of many felonies to require the offender to enter into a recognizance to keep the peace.
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Wayne Madsen Repoort, March 31, 2006
Despite those on the right-wing and the neo-con press, like the fatally-flawed neo-con Atlanta Journal-Constitution, who are reporting that Georgia Democratic Representative Cynthia McKinney will be arrested next week for an altercation with a Capitol Hill cop, McKinney cannot be arrested, unless the US Constitution has been suspended.
The immunity clause -- Article 1, Section 6, of the U.S. Constitution -- protects members of Congress from harassment by law enforcement as they travel to and from Congress in the conduct of the business of either legislative chamber. Although the language is arcane, it appears the Capitol Hill cop was the first to breach the peace as a result of his incompetence in failing to properly identify a member of Congress. Most of these cops just stand around all day, the least they can do is study the provided photographs and learn the names of the members. Every lobbyist and journalist worth a salt in Washington is capable of no less. Hey, mainstream media, for once, could you please get it right?
Section 6. Clause 1. The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
In 1998, 84 Representatives and Senators were released after being stopped by police for driving while intoxicated, clear breaches of peace and felonies. All the members claimed congressional immunity. Congressional immunity is so well protected that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is not even permitted to inspect congressional buildings or offices for workplace hazards.
Note: with the Ford sentencing and the physical abuse of McKinney, is there any doubt that the GOP has been in charge of Washington for so long now, the days of Jim Crow have now re-emerged in the nation's capital? There's a disturbing smell in this town these days -- one of freshly laundered white sheets and pillow cases.
[In Hillary Clinton's words, "It's like a plantation. (You know what I mean)."]
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