Aaron Walker was arrested today at the conclusion of the hearing over the “peace order” (restraining order) filed against him by convicted Speedway Bomber Brett Kimberlin.
There is some dispute here over whether the arrest had to do with the peace order itself—over speech, that is, which would be unconstitutional—or whether it was in connection with the bogus criminal charges filed against Aaron Walker for snatching Kimberlin’s iPad away in the courthouse, in response to a perceived threat by Kimberlin, who is a violent felon. It’s also possible that it had to do with “contempt,” as some present felt that Walker antagonized the judge with too many interruptions. A few blawggers have opined that Walker was “too close” to this case, and ought to have had counsel representing him, rather than attempting to do it himself—particularly given the level of expertise in “lawfare” that Kimberlin and his own attorney brought to the table. Was Walker tripped up by his own righteous indignation? If that’s what happened, we chip in financially, to ensure that he no longer has to represent himself. (The link goes to the National Bloggers’ Club fund for Kimberlin victims; unfortunately, Walker doesn’t have a Paypal button on his site, so we can’t give to Walker directly.)
Ken at Popehat reminds us that this isn’t a partisan issue, but rather a speech issue: you should be concerned about this whether or not you agree with the political writings of Aaron Walker (and Patterico, and Robert Stacy McCain).
UPDATE: Stacy McCain’s headline was changed; apparently, Walker has been released—so thank goodness for small favors.
UPDATE II: Professor Volokh has joined the fray, which may make it less feasible for the mainstream media to ignore this issue. Naturally, at this point he has more questions than answers. I’m hoping that what he calls “the fog of litigation” will clear somewhat by this evening.
UPDATE III: Here is the Memeorandum meta-thread; the people at Meme-O have been very good about getting this issue out in front of news-junkies of all political stripes. I know that they are electronic curators more than meme-authors, but they have kept the threads coherent so that people can follow along to some degree if they’ve got the time.
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