LITMIR.BIZ

       Courtroom drawing of Bobby Seale, seated, bound and gagged during the Chicago conspiracy trial

      Howard Brodie, artist. 1969. Library of Congress,

      Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZC4-4870].

      The gagging of Bobby Seale, Judge Hoffman’s consistently pro-government rulings, and the ill-defined requirements for conviction on the conspiracy charge led many in the press to question the impartiality of the judicial system. Tom Wicker of the New York Times asked if the burden of proof “any longer means anything.” J. Anthony Lukas noted the many observers “who view what they regard as the excesses on both sides as damaging to the American judicial process and raising questions as to how a court can effectively dispense justice in cases which arouse such strong political passions.” The defendants were only too willing to foster these doubts about justice in the federal courts. Rennie Davis said that “Judge Hoffman presides in every court in this country.” Alternatively, the letters to the editors of Chicago newspapers indicated popular support for Judge Hoffman.

      The guilty verdict for five of the defendants brought familiar popular protests, including a crowd of 5,000 outside the Chicago courthouse and another demonstration in Washington, D.C., where more than 100 people were arrested. The several appeals that brought reversals of the convictions and a rebuke of Judge Hoffman were prominently reported by the national press, but the popular interest in the case never again rose to the levels seen during the trial phase. The proceedings in the court of appeals had none of the dramatic interest of the trial, and, perhaps more important, the protest movement evident at the Democratic convention declined following the killings at Kent State University in the spring of 1970.