A good report but the premise if as full of it as a Christmas turkey. Gates was not arrested for simply yelling at and insulting a cop. Had they been inside the house, out of earshot of the crowd that his hysterics was drawing he would not have been arrested. That was not the case. He was outside, in full view and hearing of the gathering crowd of witnesses. He was advised at least twice that his behavior was putting him at risk for arrest. He ignored the warnings and the rest is history. Other officers at the scene, including a black officer, supported his decision to arrest Gates.
The officer talked with Gates inside the house and was in the process of leaving when Gates followed him out onto the porch and continued the diatribe. Personally I don’t expect any officer to have to ignore being yelled at and insulted. Gates should have shown the officer the respect the officer showed him.
The author tries to ignore those facts and pretends Gates was arrested in his home.
You are welcome to your personal opinion, but as Silverglate shows through case law, that isn't what the law and constitutional principles require.
While police officers frequently take the position that it is a violation of the law to criticize them, or disagree with them, their actions in those instances are not supported by the law.
Take a look at the circumstances of some of the cases Silverglate cites - they too were outside, in public, and involved much more inflammatory speech than what Gates was accused of.
While the cries of racism and racial profiling in the Gates case are nonsensical, and worthy of scorn, I am sure that even the arresting officers would, in hindsight, have rather just ignored the angry words of Gates and gone on with their day.
marktwain replies:
I think you are mistaken. Officer Crowley asked Professor Gates to continue the conversation outside. The police report states:
“when asked by Crowley to speak with him outside the residence, Gates replied, “ya, I'll speak with your mama outside.”
It seems likely to me that Crowley asked Gates to come outside specifically so that a disorderly conduct charge could be plausible. Why else ask him to come outside?