In Seattle last February, 2,000 chanting youths descended on the city's federal courthouse to protest what they regarded as the unfair conduct of U.S. District Judge Julius J. Hoffman in the Chicago Seven conspiracy trial. Prepared for the worst, Seattle police had hidden riot squads in the public library across the street. When some of the protesters foolishly hurled rocks through the court windows and splattered paint on the walls, the police swooped out of their hiding place and arrested 77 demonstrators.
Local courts soon acquitted or dismissed the charges against nearly all the defendants. But the Justice Department used the incident...
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