BUSH ADMINISTRATION ABUSES POWER BY PROSECUTING GREENPEACE: Sierra Club Seeks Amicus Status as Federal Court Hears First Arguments Friday

The Sierra Club today is filing a motion to appear as a friend of the court in opposition to the Bush administration's frivolous and politically motivated criminal prosecution of Greenpeace. On Friday, a federal judge in Miami will be hearing arguments on whether Greenpeace is entitled to a jury trial in a case in which the Bush Justice Department is invoking an obscure piracy statute to prosecute the organization for peaceful protest by its activists.

"Simply put, this is a case of the Bush administration selectively targeting an organization that opposes its policies," stated Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club. "It's an incredible abuse of power."

In April 2002, Greenpeace activists boarded a ship off the Florida coast that was transporting mahogany illegally exported from the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Their objective was to hang a banner from the ship that read: "President Bush: Stop Illegal Logging." The U.S. authorities intervened and arrested the Greenpeace activists.

After successfully prosecuting the activists, the Bush administration then decided to prosecute the entire organization under an obscure 1872 piracy statute. In contrast, the Bush administration has done nothing to address the illegal shipment of the mahogany to U.S ports.

"Our nation has a proud history of civil disobedience. Prosecuting Greenpeace for the peaceful protest of its activists is like prosecuting the NAACP when Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus," said Pope. The NAACP is among the many public interest organizations that have spoken out against the Bush administration's criminal prosecution of Greenpeace.

Adding insult to injury, the Bush administration has attempted to deny Greenpeace the right to a jury trial. The Constitution protects the rights of citizens to be heard by a jury when facing serious criminal charges. The Bush administration claims that its unprecedented charges against Greenpeace are not severe enough to warrant a jury trial, despite the fact that the prosecution and any penalties could be ruinous to the organization.

"Americans deserve greater leadership from the Bush Justice Department," continued Pope. "It's particularly troubling that the Bush administration would pursue such a frivolous lawsuit, entirely transparent in its political motivation, while refusing to enforce the law against companies that illegally pollute America's water and air."

On Tuesday, Knight Ridder Newspapers made public its own analysis of 15 years of environmental enforcement. Looking at 17 different categories of environmental action, Knight Ridder discovered that enforcement had "plummeted" since President George W. Bush took office in 2001.