Power of Language -- Banning 'Code of Silence'

Banned.

When a pair of Chicago Police officers try to make the case that they were ostracized for reporting wrongdoing by fellow cops, city lawyers don’t want jurors to hear the words “code of silence” uttered in the courtroom. -- Sun-Times

They also want Judge Gary Feinerman to bar: "Thin blue line", "Blue veil", and "rats."

Officers Shannon Spalding and Daniel Echeverria filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the department in 2012. This was well before Mayor Rahm Emanuel acknowledged the existence of a “code of silence” in the department in a speech to the City Council in December 2015, after protests erupted across the city following the release of the video of Laquan McDonald being fatally shot by a Chicago police officer.

When Spalding and Echeverria reported fellow officers who were stealing cash from drug dealers, their supervisor told them:

“I’d hate to one of these days have to be the one to knock on your door and tell your daughter you’re coming home in a box.”

Apparently the phrase, "Coming home in a box" has not yet been banned.

Rumor has it...City lawyers also want Judge Feinerman to bar: Simon & Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence," the movie, "Silence of the Lambs,"the horse-in-the-bed scene from "The Godfather," and any references to the words, "thin," "blue," or "line." Also to consider: Elvis's "Blue Hawaii," "Blue Suede Shoes," or any mention of B.B. King.