Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "Apparently this is a normal practice, and people don’t bat an eye. The first few people in line are guaranteed a seat in a given hearing. This was the hearing for marijuana banking laws. Lobbyists and those who can afford it pay people to hold their spot so they get in 1st." / Twitter

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Apparently this is a normal practice, and people don’t bat an eye. The first few people in line are guaranteed a seat in a given hearing. This was the hearing for marijuana banking laws. Lobbyists and those who can afford it pay people to hold their spot so they get in 1st.

7:19 PM · Feb 13, 2019

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Isn’t this free enterprise though? I don’t understand what is inherently morally wrong about paying someone to hold a space in line...

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its a mutually beneficial transaction people pay others to wait in line for them to buy iphones what's there to be shocked about

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Maybe it's the fact that congressmen and women walk past all those homeless people every day and never think to do something about the homeless?

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Congresswoman: The Supreme Court changed its rules three years ago to prohibit this exact practice, at least for members of the #SCOTUS Bar: washingtonpost.com/politics/court Maybe Congress should follow suit?

washingtonpost.com

Supreme Court tells lawyers: Stand in line yourselves. You can’t pay others to hold a spot.

Lawyers cannot pay someone to hold a spot for them when the court has a big argument.

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Frequent occurrence at SCOTUS too (and those folks wait in line outside, sometimes overnight for big cases).

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Yep. Been going on as long as I’ve covered Congress

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When I started (‘08) it was often bike messengers who were standing in line.

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Defenseless Unhoused guinea pig #

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That's another reason we should give the homeless and others #UBI, so they're not treated like economic pawns.

@scottsantens

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So true. I originally meant to write an article about that right after what happened here in New Orleans when Entergy paid actors to support their power plant, but I didn't get around to it. I should still write something along these lines. thelensnola.org/2018/05/04/act

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