A Minnesota judge ruled that criminalizing Enbridge Line 3 water protectors would be a crime.
by Alleen Brown, Exposed by CMD
In a remarkable ruling last Thursday, a Minnesota judge summarily dismissed misdemeanor charges against three Anishinaabe water protectors who had protested at a pipeline construction site in an effort to stop the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline. “To criminalize their behavior would be the crime,” she concluded.
Judge Leslie Metzen relied on a rarely used Minnesota statute that allows a judge to dismiss a case if doing so furthers “justice.” She assessed that in this case justice meant throwing out charges against Anishinaabe people committed to preserving their treaty lands. “The court finds that it is within the furtherance of justice to protect the defendants peacefully protesting to protect the land and water,” she wrote.
“I’ve never seen a judge dismiss a case in the name of justice,” said Claire Glenn, a staff attorney at the Climate Defense Project, who was part of the defense team for the water protectors. She said that research undertaken by the legal team found very few cases where the statute had been cited previously.
Recent Posts
Presidential Debates And Taxing The Rich, Then And Now
Take Action Now Some unasked questions might have helped prevent the last half-century’s massive concentration of income and wealth By Sam…
‘An Act Of Terror’: Israel Behind Pager Explosions That Killed 11, Wounded Thousands
Take Action Now “Israeli intelligence services planned to use the booby-trapped pagers it managed to ‘plant’ in Hezbollah’s…
Cal State Professors Targeted For Exposing School’s Ties To Israel’s Genocide In Gaza
Take Action Now The professors, whose supporters are calling “the CSU-5,” appear to have been targeted, not because they amplified their voices at a…
Secret Plans Make Western Australia Vital For Fighting U.S. Wars
Take Action Now The public has not been told that these US military facilities have made Western Australian locations targets for attack in the event…