Photo by thisisbossi.

Fifteen of the 41 people that were arrested during an April 11 protest for D.C. autonomy on Capitol Hill will appear in court tomorrow, where they’ll enter pleas for misdemeanor charges of “Unlawful Assembly – Blocking Passage.” (The remaining protesters, including Mayor Vince Gray, opted to pay $50 that day and not appear in court.) Three other activists arrested during a related protest only days later will also appear.

From what we’re hearing, the protest won’t end at the courthouse doors, with some of those arrested planning on taking a stand — or at least making a good scene. Adam Eidinger, a longtime voting rights activist who is no stranger to the city’s courts, said he planned on not only pleading not guilty, but also challenging the authority of the court. Should he go to trial, he said he’ll call “dozens of witnesses” to attest as to why he sat down on Constitution Avenue during an April 15 protest, where he was arrested alongside two others.

One of those, D.C. Shadow Senator Michael Brown, has said to have chosen himself a lawyer — and it’s his fellow shadow senator, Paul Strauss. (We put in a call to Brown, but have yet to hear back. If we do, we’ll update.)

Those arrested so far may well be joined by others — another rally, this one focused on women, will take place today at 5:30 p.m. A number of voting rights advocates will be joined by Councilmembers Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) and Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3). Both Alexander and Bowser were arrested on April 11; Cheh wasn’t able to attend that protest. As to whether she’d join her colleagues in engaging in civil disobedience, Cheh’s staff said there were no definite plans one way or another. (TBD’s Amanda Hess has a thoughtful piece on the role women have played in recent protests and the larger movement for voting rights, self-determination and statehood.)

In related news, the D.C. Council sent a letter to Congress yesterday objecting to the federal budget provision that would ban the District — and only the District — from using its local funds on abortions. Today, Gray followed suit, complaining of the “unprecedented affront to the sovereignty of a local and state government.”

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