NDIANAPOLIS – More than 250 people gathered on the south lawn of the Indiana Statehouse on Wednesday to protest an Indiana Supreme Court decision that Hoosiers don't have the right to resist police officers who enter their homes illegally.
Critics of the decision called for voters to oust Supreme Court Justice Steven David, the court’s newest member who wrote the majority opinion in the case, by voting “no” on a retention question that will be on the 2012 ballot.
They also called for the court to reconsider and narrow the decision, which appears to have overturned hundreds of years of common law precedent.
“As citizens, it’s our job to be ever-vigilant against the government,” said Sean Shepard, an entrepreneur and former congressional candidate.
“A boundary has been crossed,” he told the diverse crowd. “And we’re not going to tolerate it.”
Stephen Skolnick and Emily Veno, college students from Carmel, spearheaded the rally, which was organized largely through the social networking website Facebook.
Looking out over the people gathered on the lawn, Skolnick said, “This is only a small fraction of the number who are impacted by this issue.” Organizers said about 1,000 people were watching a web stream of the rally online.
The court's 3-2 ruling came this month in a case in which a man was convicted of misdemeanor resisting law enforcement for shoving an officer who tried to enter his home without a warrant. The police were responding to a 911 call about a domestic disturbance.
The controversial decision brought Indiana law in line with most other states, but critics contend that it infringes on their constitutional rights and centuries of practice concerning homeowners' rights and the limits of police power.
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