The Daily Sentinel: What happened in Marion, Kansas, is a reminder of just how effectively America is hard-wired against government thuggery.

Two years after police raided a small weekly newspaper on the flimsiest of pretexts, the first legal settlement — $3.1 million from Marion County — is a victory for the newspaper, the country, the First Amendment and press freedom.

Marion County sheriff’s officers were involved in the raid on the Marion County Record and helped draft search warrants used by Marion city police to enter the newspaper’s offices, the publisher’s home and the home of a local city council member.

“They intentionally wanted to harass us for reporting the news, and you’re not supposed to do that in a democracy,” the editor and publisher, Eric Meyer, said Tuesday. He added he hoped the payment was large enough to discourage similar actions against other news organizations in the future.

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