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Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by eddieh on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:27PM (#12719716)
I don't think I'm missing the point. You can't invoke a constitutional right for otherwise breaking the law.

EDIT: I don't want to reply to everyone, but if you could invoke the first amendment in the way you all are arguing then every murderer would just need to say the murder was their performance art.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by throwaway76543 on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:38PM (#12719790)
I think you are indeed missing the point. Of course you can invoke a constitutional right as grounds for breaking a law. If Constitutional rights didn't trump laws they wouldn't be good for much of anything, would they? That is literally their entire purpose: To be invoked as justification for violating unconstitutional law.

The salient question is whether this is a matter of restraint on speech or simply a matter of prosecuting her behavior independent of any related speech. There's a much longer discussion (or court case) to be had on this point.

But as to the question of whether you can invoke a constitutional right to justify breaking the law? Absolutely, no question about it. Yes.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by GunboatDiplomat on Sunday October 16, 2016 @02:03PM (#12719947)
Uh... no you can't. The first amendment does not protect you from trespassing charges. The second doesn't protect you from bringing a gun into a court room. And so on.
Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by throwaway76543 on Sunday October 16, 2016 @05:01PM (#12720925)
The first amendment absolutely can protect from a charge of trespassing, or from any other charge. We don't know if it will in this particular scenario, but speaking categorically? Yes, it can absolutely.

A recent high profile example of trespass law clashing with the first amendment would be free speech zones.

The Constitution constrains the construction and application of all laws. Every single one.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by thyrsus on Sunday October 16, 2016 @08:00PM (#12721809)
A quick search for "free speech zone court case" only found cases effectively upholding trespass law over free speech. To what court case or law are you referring?
Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by throwaway76543 on Monday October 17, 2016 @12:50AM (#12722760)
Some starting points here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_speech_zone#Notable_incid...

First amendment entanglements with trespass generally occur on public land where some local authority has prohibited some sort of activity involving speech. There usually aren't first amendment issues to be raised with trespass of private property, as rights are relevant with respect to government authority.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by GunboatDiplomat on Sunday October 16, 2016 @06:34PM (#12721425)
No, it cannot. Trespass is illegal. Trespassing because you want to speak on the property is still illegal.
Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by BurningFrog on Sunday October 16, 2016 @02:31PM (#12720118)
You can invoke a constitutional right to claim a law is unconstitutional. If the courts agree, the law is effectively nullified.

For individuals breaking constitutional laws, this is irrelevant.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by throwaway76543 on Sunday October 16, 2016 @04:56PM (#12720897)
Laws themselves aren't inherently Constitutional. It's their application vis a vis a particular scenario which must withstand scrutiny.

In this case, the question is whether a charge of "rioting" or "trespassing" or whichever charge is currently in play withstands this scrutiny. Generally, application of these laws pass Constitutional muster. On occasion, they do not.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by ebbv on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:36PM (#12719772)
Yes you absolutely can. That's the point of freedom of the press being part of the First Amendment. Laws that would prevent the press from fulfilling its constitutional role lose out to the first amendment.

Journalists are allowed to protect their sources, where the rest of us might be compelled in a court to testify.

It doesn't give them blanket immunity from all laws, but it does provide them certain protections. This is a clear case where the state is overreaching.

EDIT:

> EDIT: I don't want to reply to everyone, but if you could invoke the first amendment in the way you all are arguing then every murder would just need to say the murder was their performance art.

No. That is not remotely true. You're being ridiculous.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by icebraining on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:59PM (#12719925)
Journalists are allowed to protect their sources

While that's the common perception, it's not clear at all: https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/can-a-journalist-be-force...

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by stale2002 on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:37PM (#12719781)
You kind of can.

The issue in this situation is selective enforcement.

Were ALL the other protesters arrested and charge for the same crime? Or was it just her and a few others?

If it was just her, then she is being targeted by the government, not because she broke the law, but because she made them look bad.

It hinges on the motive of the arresting party.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by photogrammetry on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:33PM (#12719761)
Have you read a single Supreme Court decision? Your entire comment is factually wrong.
Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by sitkack on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:36PM (#12719773)
Laws aren't absolute, they have to be put into context. You can absolutely invoke a constitutional right for breaking "a" law. "The law" isn't a single entity.
Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by photogrammetry on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:44PM (#12719840)
Again, with your edit, you miss the point. You can invoke any amendment you want at any point in a legal defense; whether or not you win is a matter of how you justify it.

Killing a person and calling it 'performance art' is a totally different type of case than what we have here.

Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by venomsnake on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:42PM (#12719823)
Constitution is above the law.
Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by eddieh on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:44PM (#12719836)
I think the constitution is the law. Right?
Re:Amy Goodman Is Facing Prison for Reporting on the Dakota ... by photogrammetry on Sunday October 16, 2016 @01:49PM (#12719864)
Constitution is above the law because it is not the law. It cannot be changed the same way that a law can; it doesn't go into the low-level things that laws generally do. In many ways it is a repository of meta-law. It defines the boundaries of laws and rights.