Inherit The Windbag: Blago's First Amendment Rights

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jun 8, 2010 4:20PM

An interesting play was made by Blago's defense team as opening statements were scheduled to get underway this morning. In a last-minute, last gasp attempt to get the case thrown out, Team Blago claims that the FBI tapes that caught Blago discussing deals were just talk and that the trial is a violation of his First Amendment rights: "In this case, the defendant was engaged in political speech and expression. The government alleges that the political process in which he was engaged was criminal. This is a violation of the defendant's rights of freedom of speech and expression afforded him under the United States constitution." It's highly doubtful anything will come of it, though the Trib's Jeff Coen says we should look for Blago's lawyers to use the same line of thinking in their opening statements.