A California man was hauled from the U.S. Supreme Court by police for standing up and talking loudly during oral arguments Tuesday morning.
Court officials say Noah Newkirk of Los Angeles stood near the end of arguments in a patent case and began talking about campaign finance. After a few seconds, police took him away, and he did not resist, officials say.
He's been charged with violating a federal law that makes it a crime to make "a harangue or oration, or utter loud threatening or abusive language in the Supreme Court Building."
Such outbursts in the Supreme Court are exceedingly rare. The last one was in 2006, during argument in an abortion case. Another occurred 20 years before that.
