Judge Frank Easterbrook took the stand today in the case against Hal Turner.
Turner really wanted to be Glenn Beck, but all he ever amounted to was a guy with a small cancelled radio show and a website he used to convey his views about white supremacy. He was a Holocaust denier who acted for a time as an informant for the FBI against his own kind.
It turns out that Turner was just a bit miffed at Easterbrook’s decision in NRA v. Chicago last June, and his reaction was quite intemperate:
Let me be the first to say this plainly: These judges deserve to be killed. Their blood will replenish the tree of liberty. A small price to pay to assure freedom for millions.
He then provided the home addresses of 7th Circuit Judges Frank Easterbrook, Richard Posner and William Bauer to his readers.
Does this constitute an actual threat or conspiracy? That’s up to the jury, but it certainly wasn’t wise in any case. I, for one, am certainly sick of hearing the phrase “watering the tree of liberty” thrown around so casually.
Turner could face up to ten years in prison. Let’s hope he has to watch reruns of Space 1999 the whole time.
The “tree of liberty” phrase was originally used in a letter from Thomas Jefferson written two months before the drafting of the Constitution in 1787. The full quote reads,
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
The words are serious and not to be invoked lightly. Using it in jest only shows the speaker to be an uncivilized blowhard. We are not at a point, nor do I think we ever will be, when the murder of public officials could be considered a justifiable recourse by any decent person.