Civil Disobedience on Trial: Tim DeChristopher Convicted Today,
climate activist Tim DeChristopher was found guilty on two
felony charges. His crime? Disrupting a federal auction of oil
and gas leases on public lands by bidding $1.8 million he didn't
have on more than 22,000 acres of land, an action that got the
auction results thrown out long enough for the Obama
administration to rule the process illegitimate. He now faces up
to 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. Following the
verdict, DeChristopher said, “I have no regrets. I have been
ready since I took this action to face the consequences.” The
United States, of course, has a long history of civil
disobedience. Henry David Thoreau coined the term when he wrote
about his refusal to pay a poll tax that would have supported
the United States' war against Mexico. If government, he wrote,
"is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of
injustice to another, then, I say, break the law." Thoreau
wasn't willing to comply with a law that would