D.C. Justice & Solidarity Collective

September 2002

On this page:

The September 2002 Legal Team
Class action suit for those arrested at Vermont & K on 9/27/2002
Class action suit for those arrested at Pershing Park on 9/27/2002

The September 2002 Legal Team

The D.C. September action legal team was composed of a variety of organizations. The D.C. Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) coordinated with criminal defense, civil and immigration attorneys to provide a broad range of support before, during, and after the actions. NLG lawyers did their best to provide legal support in the courtroom when necessary, and to work on constitutional rights issues, including those related to: harassment and stops and searches by the police, police misconduct during the actions, distribution of flyers and postering, and protection of meeting spaces from police raids, permits for and access to public spaces.

The D.C. Justice and Solidarity Collective (the local activist law collective), along with other law collectives and volunteers, helped coordinate legal trainings, staffed a 24 hour phone bank during the actions, facilitated jail and court solidarity, and worked with the criminal defense lawyers as needed.

There were collective volunteers with armbands (that said JS Legal) on the street to hand out Know Your Rights information, make sure that all folks had the phone bank hotline numbers, keep track of who has been arrested, and keep lawyers and the office aware of "hot spots", or areas where police misconduct, arrests, or standoffs between demonstrators and police or counter demonstrators are occurring. Unfortunately, many of our volunteers were arrested and spent some portion of the weekend locked up.

There were two phone numbers available for the September 2002 demonstrations. One for those in trouble (in jail or on the streets), and one for friends, family, or others seeking information about loved ones who may have been arrested, or for general legal updates.

Our preliminary numbers showed 649 arrests on Friday, and 5 on Saturday. The three women who spent the week in jail had their charges dropped. Initial court dates were held from October through January. We worked as members of a legal team with the D.C. Chapter of the ACLU and other law firms on a class action law suit.

Initial court dates for September 2002 arrestees were held from October 4 to January 7. Many of the defendants had their charges dropped.

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Class action suit for those arrested at Vermont & K on 9/27/2002

update coming soon!

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Class action suit for those arrested at Pershing Park on 9/27/2002

update coming soon!