American Bar Association brands protestors’ actions as ‘criminal conduct’
Lawyers have condemned the violent riots in Washington after an angry mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building.
The shocking incident took place yesterday after President Donald Trump — who refuses to accept his November election defeat and has repeatedly made unsupported claims of electoral fraud — vowed to “never concede” at a gathering of his supporters in Washington. Four people have reportedly died as hoards of protestors charged the debating chambers and clashed with armed police.
America ! will you see this #Capitolhill #CapitolRiots #US pic.twitter.com/WYYMjZF5Zj
— Javed Nayab Laghari (@JavedNLaghari) January 7, 2021
Adam Wagner, a human rights barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, tweeted that he watched the riots in “horror and sadness”.
Not even sure what to tweet about the US. I'm watching in horror and sadness. Trump is a terrible president and politician but a consummate rabble rouser. Those who have enabled him knew who he was and what he represented. I just hope this ends soon and democracy prevails.
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) January 6, 2021
In another tweet, Wagner also stressed the importance the rule of law in democratic societies, which maintains “that rules matter, that power is peacefully transferred, that power is ultimately subject to the law”. He continued:
The rule of law is the air we breath in democracies. It is often invisible but emerges from institutions and norms. It dissipates slowly as they are attacked by people like Trump who care more for power than democracy. We are *all* responsible for keeping it alive
— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) January 6, 2021
Lawyer and legal commentator David Allen Green went as far as describing the attack as an “attempted coup”.
And to those fussing about whether this should have the word 'attempted coup':
– the essential constitutional stage for a peaceful transfer of power has been been disrupted
– by violent partisans
– at the behest of the losing candidate
– leaving the 20 Jan inauguration uncertain— davidallengreen (@davidallengreen) January 6, 2021
Green went on to comment on the calls among lawmakers and media outlets for Vice-President Mike Pence and cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment which would oust Donald Trump from office.
Constitutional law should *never* be this exciting. https://t.co/qNHZRvnCHG
— davidallengreen (@davidallengreen) January 6, 2021
Also weighing into the impeachment debate was anonymous bar blogger The Secret Barrister.
I’m no US constitutional lawyer, but if inciting a coup isn’t an impeachable offence, I’d say there’s something wrong with your system.
— The Secret Barrister (@BarristerSecret) January 6, 2021
Former barrister and now legal journalist Catherine Baksi questioned how protestors even made it into the Capitol building “so easily”.
Looking at the news from the US, I may be focussing on the wrong thing, but how on earth did the cops allow folk to get inside the capitol so easily? I always find the security at Westminster a pain, but I’m sure they wouldn’t allow hordes of people to barge in & roam around.
— Catherine Baksi (@legalhackette) January 6, 2021
The American Bar Association condemned the assault “in the strongest terms” and described attempts to disrupt the certification of President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice-President Elect Kamala Harris as not a “peaceful protest” but instead “criminal conduct”. It continued:
“The peaceful transition of power from one elected president to the next is a revered American tradition going back more than two centuries and serves as a model to the rest of the world. All elected officials and others in positions of civic responsibility must now uphold their oath to defend the Constitution, support a peaceful transition of power, and thereby protect the rule of law.”
