Jonathan Kleiman of the Legal Intellects blog and of Queen’s University Law, recently reported a story about a number of anti-torture protesters that invaded the Supreme Court and were arrested.

Kleiman says,

Those who were arrested were charged with violating one of two federal laws. The first is a ban on speeches and “loud, threatening, or abusive language” in the Court building or on its grounds, and applies to those arrested inside the building. Those who were arrested outside were charged with the second, which is a ban on assemblages and display of flags in the building or on the grounds.

The protesters apparently transgressed the limits to freedom of speech that exist even in the U.S.

LawIsCool has done several pieces on Guantanamo Bay and the Canadian citizen held there, including an interview with his counsel and the President of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA).

(We know you people are waiting for the next episode, and promise it will be released soon).

But the limits down south appear to be rapidly expanding, especially when directed towards the government.

One of our readers cited a report from the San Francisco Chronicle called Quarantining dissent: How the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech.

The article describes how the American government cages protesters in with metal fences, often well out of sight from the President. These areas are ironically named, “Free Speech Zones.”

Violators have actually been charged with, “entering a restricted area around the president of the United States.” The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and others are suing the Secret Service, saying the protesters pose a political threat, not a physical threat.

But our reader points out the most disturbing part of the story,

…the FBI is actively conducting surveillance of antiwar demonstrators, supposedly to “blunt potential violence by extremist elements…”

Given the FBI’s expansive definition of “potential violence” in the past, this is a net that could catch almost any group or individual who falls into official disfavor.

This means that you too could be considered a violent extremist, just for peacefully dissenting with something the government of America says.