Lawyers, Lawyers and who cares about civil rights?

From Yahoo:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - A couple arrested at a rally after refusing to cover T-shirts that bore anti-President Bush slogans settled their lawsuit against the federal government for $80,000, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Thursday.

Nicole and Jeffery Rank of Corpus Christi, Texas, were handcuffed and removed from the July 4, 2004, rally at the state Capitol, where Bush gave a speech. A judge dismissed trespassing charges against them, and an order closing the case was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.

"This settlement is a real victory not only for our clients but for the First Amendment," said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of West Virginia. "As a result of the Ranks' courageous stand, public officials will think twice before they eject peaceful protesters from public events for exercising their right to dissent."

White House spokesman Blair Jones said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.

"The parties understand that this settlement is a compromise of disputed claims to avoid the expenses and risks of litigation and is not an admission of fault, liability, or wrongful conduct," Jones said.

In other words, the Bush admin violated the first amendment and doe snot even ahve to admit their act! This is one of the worst examples I have ever seen of the lawyer game interfering with the intent of our founders. Maybe we need law to fix law. SJ suggests:

Any willful violation of the first amendment by government agents shall be considered as treason and the perpetrators subject to the same penalties as they would receive for knowingly working with an enemy government.

On a related subject, if we were to enact such a law, how would we deal with people who promote such treason?