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Jason has been following up on Josh’s Bikes Against Bush arrest.

Some interesting posts on /.:

• From the article (see also the video):
  

  Kinberg cooperated fully with the officers as he was being handcuffed, only asking, “can I ask what I’m being arrested for?” to which no one provided an answer. As of 11:00 PM Saturday evening, he was still in custody without being charged with anything.

• Supreme court would find no probable cause (Score:5, Informative)
  

  Have you read Houston v. Hill [findlaw.com] Recently. You’re a texas guy.
  
  And GULLIFORD v PIERCE COUNTY [findlaw.com] …Relying, inter alia, on the Supreme Court’s decision in Hill, we ruled in Mackinney v. Nielsen that expressive conduct such as writing with chalk on the sidewalk does not itself create probable cause for arrest …
  
  He should be released ASAP, and the state should pay for his pains, plus reimburse the lost opportunity costs.
  
  (All this said – i believe the first amendment protectes those who disagree with protected speech and their right to “clean up the mess” personally i prefer to collect litter on a stick – and have been arrested for that so – it cuts both ways.
  
  AIK
  

• Re:I would have busted him, too… (Score:5, Informative)
  

  I do so all the time, both on my home sidewalk and formerly on my business sidewalk.

  That’s
  really my only option (that, and I’m not an asshole), because drawing
  on a sidewalk with chalk was declared not to be vandalism 100 years ago.

  That’s why the sidewalk artists work in the medium and chalk explicitly for the purpose is sold throughout NYC.

  It’s perfectly legal to track dirt onto my sidewalk too, because I can just wash it off.

  KFG

• Re:I would have busted him, too… (Score:5, Insightful)
  

  IANAL, but writing stuff all over the sidewalk (over an extended area) – even in chalk – has to be against some local laws.

  Yes, this may be in violation of some local ordinance. What
  concerns me is that the arresting officers and their superiors are not
  sure what ordinance it violates, so they confiscate his property and
  arrest him anyway.

  A free society dies when law enforcement can begin arresting
  people and look for an illegal act later. If proffesionals are no
  longer sure of what is legal, how is an ordinary citizen able to stay
  within the law?

• This is pretty typical. (Score:3, Informative) – this is very true, see r2klegal for lots more legal information
  

  At protests around the U.S. in the last six years, the police
  have been actively employing preemptive arrest tactics, which have
  almost always have resulted in dismissals or “not guilty” decisions.

  Not always of course, but much of the time (comparing numbers arrested against numbers inidicted and then convicted.)

  Americans
  say they’re for freedom of speech, but anytime a large, public act of
  communication takes place (mainly demonstrations for this point, but
  the implications are similar for pirate radio imo), there’s always a
  government entity duly empowered to curb that expression, so that it
  doesn’t have quite so strong the impact its creators put into it. For
  example, the FCC, appointed by the Executive, and the police and FBI,
  appointed by that jurisdiction’s executive, or, in some cases, elected
  by the public (yet still a single human with much power over many.)

  It’s
  the imperfect, political humans controlling those speech-altering
  government entities who have the power, here, not the citizens. Too
  much power in the hands of too few. The U.S. is no longer a good model
  of a participative democracy. Look toward northern Europe for better
  examples of directly-involved citizens.