The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Mark Rylance: William Kunstler

Photos 

Quotes 

• William Kunstler : Do you know why you're on trial here?

  Abbie Hoffman : We carried certain ideas across state lines. Not machine guns or drugs or little girls. Ideas. When we crossed from New York to New Jersey to Pennsylvania to Ohio to Illinois, we had certain ideas. And for that, we were gassed, beaten, arrested, and put on trial.

• Abbie Hoffman : In 1861, Lincoln said in his inaugural address: 'When the people shall grow weary of their constitutional right to amend their government, they shall exert their revolutionary right to dismember and overthrow that government.' And if Lincoln had given that speech in Lincoln Park last summer, he'd be put on trial with the rest of us.

  William Kunstler : So, how do you overthrow or dismember, as you say, your government peacefully?

  Abbie Hoffman : In this country, we do it every four years.

• William Kunstler : We've dealt with jury tampering, wiretapping, a defendant that was literally gagged, and a judge who's been handing down rulings from the bench that would be considered wrong in Honduras, so I'm a little less interested in the law than I was when this trial began.

• William Kunstler : Maybe you don't want to call it the Conspiracy Office.

  Bernadine : They understand the irony, and appreciate the humour.

  William Kunstler : I wouldn't count on it.

  Bernadine : Most people are smart, Bill.

  William Kunstler : Well, if you believe that, you'll get your heart broken every day of your life.

• William Kunstler : Of course, because you took that black guy and you made him a sympathetic character.

  Judge Julius Hoffman : Mr. Kunstler, I have lived a a very long time, sir, and you're the first person ever to suggest that I have discriminated against a black man!

  Leonard Weinglass : Then let the record show that I am the second.

• Ramsey Clark : I'm in private practice now, and if John Mitchell wants to cut me in half, he can and he will.

  Tom Hayden : You have to find some... Sir, you have to find some courage now.

  Ramsey Clark : Find some courage? Yeah.

  Tom Hayden : Yes. You have to find some courage, and...

  Leonard Weinglass : [silencing him]  Tom.

  Ramsey Clark : [points at Kelly and Ackerman]  That's what those two men came to tell me, that if John Mitchell wants to cut me in half, he can and he will. So I wanted them in the room when I said 'When do you want me in court?'

  Howard Ackerman : [standing in surprise]  Mr. Clark?

  William Kunstler : I'm sorry?

  Ramsey Clark : Swear me in, Bill.

  Howard Ackerman : It is against the law for you to testify, Ramsey. It is as simple as that.

  Ramsey Clark : It's General Clark. And arrest me or shut the fuck up.

  Ramsey Clark : [turns to Hayden]  Found some.

• [after being informed of Fred Hampton's murder] 

  Bobby Seale : [to Tom Hayden]  You've all got the same father, right? 'Cut your hair, don't be a fag, respect authority, respect America - respect me.' Your life, it's a 'fuck-you' to your father, right? A little?

  Tom Hayden : Maybe.

  Bobby Seale : Maybe. And you can see how that's different from a rope on a tree?

  Tom Hayden : [quietly]  Yeah.

  Bobby Seale : Yeah. He was shot in the shoulder first. You can't aim a gun if you've been shot in the shoulder, you can't squeeze the trigger. Second shot was in his head. Fred was executed. Anything else?

  William Kunstler : No.

  [Bobby leaves the room without another word] 

• Abbie Hoffman : This is a political trial that was already decided for us. Ignoring that reality is just weird to me.

  William Kunstler : There are civil trials, and there are criminal trials. There's no such thing as a political trial.

  Abbie Hoffman : [scoffs]  Okay...

• Jerry Rubin : Did they manipulate the jury pool? How come there's no one that looks like me?

  William Kunstler : Okay raise your hands if any of you have ever shown up for jury duty.

  [pause] 

  William Kunstler : No? Then shut the fuck up.

• William Kunstler : Your friends shouldn't sit together. The jury's not going to like that.

  Bobby Seale : This isn't my jury, and if they don't like it...

  Fred Hampton : No, he's right.

  [to the group of Panthers] 

  Fred Hampton : Spread out, okay? In pairs.

  William Kunstler : And Fred?

  [Gestures to head] 

  Bobby Seale : No, they're dressed just fine.

  Fred Hampton : It's alright.

  [to Panthers, sarcastically] 

  Fred Hampton : And take your very scary hats off.