Argument ensued regarding basis of warrant/arrest for Gary Hunt of California issued by Judge Brown. Basically, G. Hunt had somehow acquired copy of FBI reports and discovery, of a current active case, which normally is considered confidential and not for disbursement. In this case, confidential informants were named. Gary Hunt placed the information on his blog for public reading. The court asserts issues regarding his use of the restricted information and his refusal to remove the information.
-- This entry of opinion is in support of G. Hunt's use of the information and his refusal to remove said content. Opinion of C.A.S. follows as -- U.S. District Judge has no respect for 1st Amendment when she had Hunt arrested for refusing to remove truthful information from his blog. Hunt was given the discovery information in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge protest case. While Judge Brown had issued a protective order in the case, the order appears to not be applicable to Hunt because he is not a party to the criminal case itself. Also, in this opinion, Hunt's and others decisions to exercise First Amendment Rights are not subject to prohibition on publishing true facts. Also, exposing so called snitches, seems deserving for their being subjected to the same scrutiny and criticism as any defendant. This author had the privilege recently of meeting one of the leaders of the Malheur protest. I felt we had quite a lot in common with legal issues about free speech rights. After speaking with him, I was impressed with his intelligence and knowledge of law combined with his perseverance. He has been locked up for over a year because, despite being acquitted in the Oregon case, he was awaiting trial in Nevada and back in Portland to testify in defense of his fellow protesters in a separate trial. I spoke with him one day at federal court and he gave me an education about the Bureau of Land Management (BLM.) I began to understand how landowners could be driven to the point of resorting to armed protests. He began to sound like an Indian in that his family has been ranching on that land for 140 years and how their rights to that land were by state law but the federal government refuses to recognize those rights by any excuse they can think of. I told him his story sounds a lot like what happened to Native Americans' Rights. Ryan Bundy responded by saying, "Cattle ranchers are the new Native Americans."