Monthly Archive for April, 2018

U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal Agree: Facts about Nuclear Weapons Can be Kept from Juries in Protest Cases

Judicial Protection Racket Keeps the Bomb Behind a Wall of Silence

by John LaForge, Nukewatch

(Originally published in the Nuclear Resister #187, March 14, 2018. This version has been corrected by the author.)

If you were thinking that protest and resistance against the Bomb will be easier in the United States now that the United Nations General Assembly, on July 7, 2017, overwhelmingly approved a treaty outlawing the possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons (voting 122 to 1), think again.

Between 1980 and 2005, seven U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal have ruled that federal district courts may (in one case must) prevent juries from hearing a defense of necessity or any expert testimony about international treaty law, etc. in nuclear weapons protest cases.[i]

Nevada Desert Experience photo

The 24th annual Sacred Peace Walk, organized by the Nevada Desert Experience, took place from March 24-30. The group of peace walkers began in Las Vegas and concluded a week and 60 miles later at the Nevada National Security Site (formerly known as the Nevada Test Site).

From the Nevada Desert Experience website: “We walk in the footsteps of a long legacy of peace walkers and spiritual leaders to draw attention to the nuclear dangers that continue to threaten our planet, and the violent robots (RPAs or drones) continuing to kill people monthly, damaging the community of life in the desert. We also focus on the threats of nuclear waste to the Sacred Yucca Mountain.” 

Early in the morning of March 28, the Peace Walkers held signs and banners at Creech drone base in Indian Springs. Darcy Ike and Robert Majors were arrested for blockading the entrance road into the base.  (See video of action here.)