No Parking (for Common Folk)

Just in case you thought you were living in a society in which everybody is equal under the law:

Sotomayor's staff had contacted the state Department of General Services, requesting that spaces near Buddy's Crabs and Ribs be reserved for the entourage. Paper signs were posted. But the obstructed parking meters probably made the visit a little more conspicuous than the judge's security detail had hoped.

Gary Leibrich, a cashier at A.L. Goodies, said he watched as plainclothes security officers got out of the vehicles and quickly ripped off the bottom parts of the signs that said "Supreme Court."

(...)

One man with the entourage, wearing a plain gray T-shirt, dark slacks and a baseball cap, was apparently reluctant to even acknowledge that Sotomayor was in town. While throwing shopping bags in one of the vehicles and locking it, he told a reporter from The Capital that none of the justices were with them.

"Sometimes, we take the vehicles out without a justice … I don't know why they put up those signs," he said. "I hate to tell you this, but there's no one here. There's no story."

But there was.

It's good to know the government employees' lack of honesty extends to their more leisurely workdays. At least they're consistent.

Somewhat fitting I found this on the day that John Adams, an animate advocate for equality under the rule of law, declared would "be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America," namely, the day upon which the Continental Congress actually voted to declare independence from the British Empire.

(Link forwarded by Radley Balko)