San Francisco is the kind of town where even a man with a blue Mohawk and 27 piercings driving a steamroller draws nary a glance. But office workers enjoying their lunches beneath a bright noonday sun at San Francisco’s Justin Herman Plaza on Tuesday, Aug. 2, couldn’t help but stare at dozens of young teenagers outfitted in kelly green Camp Newman T-shirts putting on a guerrilla theater production calling for an impartial judiciary.
While a troupe of campers ages 13 to 15 put on the play, scores of others handed out fliers or waved banners imploring the crowd to drop its gazpacho and cable a message to its congressional representative urging a vote for an impartial, moderate replacement for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Later that day, the campers met with representatives of Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein to do just that.
The day of action capped two weeks of education at the Santa Rosa-based Reform-affiliated camp surrounding judicial nominations and the American judiciary.
“When I started, I knew there were nine judges on the Supreme Court, and that’s about it,” said 14-year-old Daniel Crankshaw of Menlo Park.
Later that day, he would help make the presentations to the senators’ aides — and it’s safe to say he knew a bit more at that point.