The Elevator Nine Get Their Day in Court

The Elevator Nine will finally have their day in court on Thursday, September 6, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The court: U.S. District Court, in the 6th floor courtroom at 421 Gold Street SE. The proceedings begin at 9 a.m., and are likely to continue all day.

If you aren’t familiar with the Elevator Nine, you are no doubt in good company—indeed, in my company until a few days ago, when I met one member of the Elevator Nine.

What brings these alleged desperadoes of New Mexico before a federal court judge?

Follow the dusty trail to the other side of the arroyo for more:

Last September 26, nine people went to the federal building in Santa Fe, with a petition in hand: the Declaration of Peace. They wanted to show the petition to Senator Pete Domenici, and then ask him to sign it.

The peace activists stepped into the elevator, but they were foiled in their attempt to reach the office of their elected representative: an official shut down the elevator. It stopped right there on the ground floor, doors open. The activists were to remain in that elevator for the next five or six hours.

One member of the team,  John Dear, a Jesuit priest, had brought along lists of names of both Americans and Iraqis killed in the war. The peace activists took turns reading the names aloud. Their voices were heard by the law enforcement personnel who stood nearby.

And, judging by the accounts of those present that day, there were plenty of law enforcement personnel summoned to cope with the high drama of nine people in an unmoving elevator:  Santa Fe police officers (SWAT, too); Homeland Security; the FBI; and federal Marshals. (Bear in mind, though, that one of the Elevator Nine is a retired librarian—and we all know what Michael Moore says about librarians and barricades.)

This judge will be called on to consider the exercise of basic democratic rights—the right of peaceful assembly, to petition, and to speak.

If you will be in Albuquerque on Thursday, go listen to the proceedings if you have a chance. The Elevator Nine will appreciate your interest and support.  And, who knows? It might turn out to be a case that makes history.

This is a mighty band of peace activists. Speaking with just one member of the Elevator Nine elevated my spirits.  I can’t be in Albuquerque with them on Thursday, but I’ll be there in spirit as they speak their truth in open court.

No doubt there are any number of New Mexican Kossacks who are more familiar with this case than I am. Please add your knowledge and insight through comments and diaries.

More reading:

Democracy for New Mexico has an account of the events and a nice photo of a couple members of the Elevator Nine getting handcuffed
Democracy for New Mexico also has a photo of several of the Elevator Nine standing or sitting in the alleged scene-of-the-crime elevator itself. One person is shown reading, others appear to be listening: is this a crime in progress, or no?

John Dear's account of the event is here, in Common Dreams.

And Pax Christi New Mexico has blogged about the event and trial.  

•  I Wish Some of them Had -

  Taken the stairs!

  The peace activists stepped into the elevator, but they were foiled in their attempt to reach the office of their elected representative: an official shut down the elevator. It stopped right there on the ground floor, doors open. The activists were to remain in that elevator for the next five or six hours.

  Pete Domenici

  is a squivering worm. That's all it took for me to rec this.

  Worm - meet fish hook. Where I'm from it's called, 'bait'.

  by Unique Material on Tue Sep 04, 2007 at 09:18:56 PM PDT

•  We're going to see a bunch more of this

  during September. The Declaration of Peace has called for a nationwide week of direct action called the Days of Decision, starting on the 14th and culminating on the first Iraq Moratorium Day, September 21.

  by lao hong han on Tue Sep 04, 2007 at 09:28:00 PM PDT

  •  Good news about the national effort

    The trial of the Elevator Nine is scheduled for a good time, then. The Santa Fe group was participating in a similar nation-wide effort by peace groups last September when they went to Sen. Domenici's office with the Declaration of Peace. All of the efforts to get the trial started earlier failed for one reason or another--so, here they are, almost a year later, with the trial finally about to take place. They're looking forward to having their say and getting the decision of the judge.

    I hope that the news of their day in court will inspire others during the upcoming Days of Decision.

    by True North on Tue Sep 04, 2007 at 11:21:13 PM PDT

•  Taking the stairs

  From what I was told--the powers-that-be on lobby duty had already determined that the peace activists were persona non grata. Somebody would probably have headed them off at the staircase if they appeared to be moseying in that direction.

  Aside from the legal issues about whether an elected official should be free to screen out any constituents he wants on the basis of their opinions not being the same as his, I was quite astonished by the treatment of these individuals. Surely most people who hold high elected office employ staff members who can cordially greet every constituent who comes to the office, take messages, receive petitions, and convey all of the incoming data to the office-holder.

  Perhaps the evidence presented by the prosecutor on Thursday will suggest that the priest or the teen-ager or the retired librarian or one of the others said or did something quite shocking.

  If not--if their only fault (in Sen. Domenici's eyes) was to disagree with him on the war in Iraq--it is terrible that he or his staffers would not even allow them to step over the threshold of his office.

  by True North on Tue Sep 04, 2007 at 09:33:17 PM PDT

  •  Agreed. Wonder if the staff thought there would

    be a "sit-in" if the group were allowed into the office?  Even so, removing people from an office after several hours would have made better PR sense than preventing their even approaching the "great one."

    by gfv6800 on Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 05:21:58 AM PDT

    •  Right about the PR

      Even so, removing people from an office after several hours would have made better PR sense

      I agree entirely. Even if this group had decided to sit in the waiting room for a while, hoping to catch the Senator if he had a few moments free before the end of the day, they would probably have left voluntarily at closing time. If not, the staff can bring in the law enforcement option at that point--and they, and their Senator, would look like reasonable people. But trying to turn the group back, and shut them out, the moment someone became aware that they had opinions that were different from the Senator's? Tsk-tsk.

      by True North on Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 10:37:44 AM PDT

•  Nice job

  on this. I wanted to add an irony. The trial is being held in the old federal courthouse in Albuquerque for whatever reason. The newer federal courthouse (1998) is named -- get this -- for Pete V. Domenici.

  by barbwire on Tue Sep 04, 2007 at 11:10:20 PM PDT

  •  For whatever reason.

    Yeah.

    TPTB aren't entirely dead to the possibilities of irony.

    Trying them in the Pete V. Domenici Courthouse might have gotten some interesting spins.

    by ogre on Tue Sep 04, 2007 at 11:22:03 PM PDT

    •  My guess is fear of a tainted jury

      Holding this trial in a building named after one person involved might well be grounds for appeal later.

      They'll probably bend over backwards during jury selection to not name the building, either.

      by sdgeek on Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 02:37:08 AM PDT

  •  Now that's fabulous irony

    For "whatever reason..." Hmmmmmm. Could it be that someone thought it might seem a little more fair this way?  Thanks so much for this note--I had no idea! (I'm not a resident of New Mexico, just a visitor.)

    by True North on Tue Sep 04, 2007 at 11:23:34 PM PDT

•  hmm...maybe my Congress Critter

  is doing it wrong.

  Aside from the legal issues about whether an elected official should be free to screen out any constituents he wants on the basis of their opinions not being the same as his, I was quite astonished by the treatment of these individuals.

  Since he will meet with any  constituent ... you know ... that's his JOB.

  But maybe it's just a Democratic thing and (-R)epublicans don't do that.

  by Unique Material on Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 04:37:49 AM PDT

  •  Part of the job description

    You have a good Congress Critter, who is doing the job he was hired by the people to do.

    Constituents who arrive without an appointment are taking their chances on getting to see the person that day. Fair enough. That's why staff are available to be the intermediary, whenever necessary.

    by True North on Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 10:23:38 AM PDT

•  speaking of Librarians and Peaceable Assembly...

  I have recommended here many times before that people get to know their local public library. In my small town, when something happens, the news often spreads to and through us. When the power is out somewhere, or a person's computer is down and they need to know if everyone else's is too, they come use ours and commune with their neighbors. (And some of you might really need support someday when the FBI carries your computer away against your will. Librarians in Connecticut have gone to prison rather than release your info without reasonable cause and a real warrant.) We have waterfountains and bathrooms and most important, public meeting areas where people can get together for whatever reason or group or club they may have. Claim your right to Freedom of Information under the Law here, along with your Bill of Rights, and look for it in hard copy here, even when there's no electricity. Please pardon the paranoid rant this morning, but I can easily imagine some kind of last stand for Truth happening at a library door, coming soon to political theater nearby.

  by peaceloveandkucinich on Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 05:18:07 AM PDT