During the Ferguson protests, police repeatedly turned to a convenient, versatile charge they could use to lock up protesters who otherwise didn't seem to be breaking any laws."Interfering with an Officer, Unlawful" is the catch-all section of a St. Louis County ordinance that forbids people from obstructing a police officer's work "in any manner whatsoever."
Maggie Ellinger-Locke of the National Lawyers Guild argued this morning in front the Eastern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals that the county ordinance is unconstitutional, violating the rights to free speech and due process.
"It's critical that we enshrine the right to protest," Ellinger-Locke told the three-judge panel of the state appellate court.
Hundreds of protesters have been charged under the ordinance. Yet it's written so broadly, the attorney says, that police could arrest people just for angering police.…