The Decriminalization of Dissent

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In a rare "directed verdict" issued less than three days into the trial, the environmental group Greenpeace was found not guilty of the 19th century crime of "sailor mongering." A Miami federal judge found that activists who boarded a ship six miles from the Port of Miami-Dade did not break the 1872 law, which requires the ship be "about to arrive." The ship was carrying some 70 tons of mahogany from the Brazilian rain forest. One lawyer remarked that the case brought against Greenpeace by the U.S. Department of Justice "must be woefully inadequate." Greenpeace director John Passacantando called the ruling "a victory for the American tradition of peaceful protest" but warned the case "showed the extent to which the government will go to criminalize free speech."