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Government Executive Editor in Chief Tom Shoop, along with other editors and staff correspondents, look at the federal bureaucracy from the outside in.
Naked at the Checkpoint, Acquitted in Court
Remember John E. Brennan, the guy who stripped naked at Portland International Airport after being singled out for stepped-up screening because his clothes allegedly showed traces of explosive residue? Well, he's been acquitted of indecent exposure charges.
Prosecutors had alleged that Brennan had violated a city ordinance prohibiting exposing one's genitalia in front of members of the opposite sex in public. But a judge bought Brennan's argument that getting naked in front of an airport full of people is a form of protest that is protected under free speech provisions in the Oregon constitution.
"It is the speech itself that the state is seeking to punish, and that it cannot do," said Judge David Rees, according to The Oregonian .
Prosecutors had alleged that Brennan had violated a city ordinance prohibiting exposing one's genitalia in front of members of the opposite sex in public. But a judge bought Brennan's argument that getting naked in front of an airport full of people is a form of protest that is protected under free speech provisions in the Oregon constitution.
"It is the speech itself that the state is seeking to punish, and that it cannot do," said Judge David Rees, according to The Oregonian .
Tom Shoop is vice president and editor in chief at Government Executive Media Group, where he oversees both print and online editorial operations. He started as associate editor of Government Executive magazine in 1989; launched the company’s flagship website, GovExec.com, in 1996; and was named editor in chief in 2007.
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