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Cuffed Marine plans appeal to Supremes
Posted By -NO AUTHOR- On 05/03/2015 @ 12:04 am In Front Page,Politics,U.S. | No Comments
Former Marine Brandon Raub served several tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq and his attorney describes him as a “loyal American.”
A legal team working on behalf of a Marine who was cuffed and stuffed into a mental hospital for a week over “controversial song lyrics” and political views he posted on his own Facebook page says it is planning an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after an appeals court found the “unlawfulness” of a mental health screener’s actions were “not clearly established.”
The case involves Marine Brandon Raub, who served several tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was two years ago that his home was swarmed by federal agents, he was handcuffed and whisked away to a psychiatric ward.
That was after state and federal prosecutors found there were no grounds for criminal charges for his actions, and after a week behind locked doors, a judge found there was no reason to confine him and he was released.
He subsequently sued, but the district and now appellate courts have found that the mental health screener on whose recommendation Raub was confined has immunity.
Attorneys with the Rutherford Institute say they are waiting for a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from another case with some similar circumstances, the case of Elonis v. United States, where a Pennsylvania man was jailed for “making unlawful threats” after he posted allusions to popular song lyrics and comedy routines online.
“Today’s court ruling is part of a recent trend toward granting government officials – be they police officers or health care workers – ‘qualified immunity’ in lawsuits over alleged constitutional violations,” said John Whitehead the chief of the institute.
“Unfortunately, such rulings prevent American citizens from gaining true justice while incentivizing government officials to violate constitutional rights without fear of repercussion.”
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Raub’s request that his lawsuit be reinstated, “We hold that [the mental health screener] is entitled to qualified immunity on the ground that the unlawfulness (if any) of his conduct was not clearly established at the time he recommended Raub’s seizure.”
What about that free speech in America? Read “Shut Up America!: The End of Free Speech” by Brad O’Leary and find out what’s happening.
Rutherford explained the background of the case: “Brandon Raub, a decorated Marine who has served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, uses his Facebook page to post song lyrics and air his political opinions. On Aug.16, 2012, Chesterfield police, Secret Service and FBI agents arrived at Raub’s home, asked to speak with him about his Facebook posts, and without providing any explanation, levying any charges against Raub or reading him his rights, handcuffed Raub and transported him to police headquarters, then to a medical facility, where he was held against his will for psychological evaluation and treatment.”
The legal team explained just a week later, “Circuit Court Judge Allan Sharrett ordered Raub’s immediate release, stating that the government’s case was ‘so devoid of any factual allegations that it could not be reasonably expected to give rise to a case or controversy.’”
The case claimed the screener, Michael Campbell, failed to exercise reasonable professional judgment in interviewing and in wrongly determining Raub was mentally ill and dangerous, thereby violating Raub’s rights under the 4th Amendment.
“They were concerned about me calling for the arrest of government officials,” Raub told the Richmond Times Dispatch in a phone call from his hospital bed. Raub accused the government of lying about 9/11 and spoke of “starting a Revolution,” mere words he had taken no steps toward carrying out, according to his attorneys. Raub said he doesn’t even own a gun.
He was highly critical of President Bush, posting, “W, you’ll be one of the first people dragged out of your house and arrested” and “Daddy Bush, too.”
The appellate court noted Raub never threatened violence, and he was detained on orders from Campbell after only an interview between Campbell and officers who had talked with Raub.
“Whether it’s a Marine arrested for criticizing the government on Facebook or an ex-husband jailed for expressing his frustrations through rap lyrics on Facebook, the end result is the same – the criminalization of free speech,” said John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute and author of “A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State.”
Rutherford said there is a clear difference between speech that is controversial and that which is criminal. The former is protected by the First Amendment, no matter how unpopular or even hateful it might be.
“While social media and the Internet have become critical forums for individuals to freely share information and express their ideas, they have unfortunately also become tools for the government to monitor, control and punish the populace for behavior and speech that may be controversial but are far from criminal,” he said.
Whitehead said multiple surveys indicate about half of Americans now worry about what they post online. And for good reason.
“If you say the wrong word, or when adults start using the first letter of a word instead of the word itself, you know something has happened,” Whitehead recently told WND. “They do this because they know there are certain trigger words that could get you in trouble.”
Whitehead said the Rutherford Institute, based in Charlottesville, Virginia, routinely gets calls from people who are visited by police for using certain words online or voicing criticisms considered off limits.
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