Federal Court: D.C. ‘Selectively’ Enforced Law to Arrest Pro-Lifers but Not BLM Protesters; Judges Say Lawsuit Against D.C. For Arrest Of Anti-Abortion Protesters Who Chalked Sidewalk Can Proceed; D.C. Circuit Revives Viewpoint Discrimination Suit Against District of Columbia

Federal Court: D.C. ‘Selectively’ Enforced Law to Arrest Pro-Lifers but Not BLM Protesters:

A federal appeals court delivered a major free speech victory on Tuesday, ruling that Washington, D.C., officials “selectively” enforced a statute to arrest pro-life activists but not Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.

In the summer of 2020, thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters flooded D.C., and over several weeks, they covered the streets, sidewalks, and storefronts with paint and chalk. While these markings violated the District’s defacement ordinance, no protesters were arrested. However, district police officers were quick to arrest two pro-life advocates in a smaller protest for chalking “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” on a public sidewalk outside of a D.C. Planned Parenthood facility.

“The government may not enforce the laws in a manner that picks winners and losers in public debates,” reads the D.C. Circuit opinion penned by Judge Neomi Rao, reversing a lower court’s decision. “It would undermine the First Amendment’s protections for free speech if the government could enact a content-neutral law and then discriminate against disfavored viewpoints under the cover of prosecutorial discretion.”

“The First Amendment prohibits discrimination on the basis of viewpoint irrespective of the government’s motive,” the three-judge panel ruled:

We hold the Foundation has plausibly alleged the District discriminated on the basis of viewpoint in the selective enforcement of its defacement ordinance. We therefore reverse the dismissal of the Foundation’s First Amendment claim and remand for further proceedings.

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed the lawsuit on behalf of members of the Frederick Douglass Foundation and Students for Life of America. The three-judge panel was comprised of circuit judges Robert Wilkins, Neomi Rao, and Michelle Childs. —>READ MORE HERE

Judges Say Lawsuit Against D.C. For Arrest Of Anti-Abortion Protesters Who Chalked Sidewalk Can Proceed:

A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. on Tuesday allowed a case to move forward that alleges the city violated the U.S. Constitution in the summer of 2020 when police arrested two anti-abortion activists for chalking pro-life messages on the sidewalk in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic. The anti-abortion activists allege that they were arrested while racial justice protesters who wrote “Black Lives Matter” on public spaces elsewhere faced no such consequences.

In the unanimous decision, the three judges — Trump appointee Neomi Rao, Obama appointee Robert Wilkins, and Biden appointee Michelle Childs — reversed a decision by a lower court to dismiss a lawsuit that was brought by pro-life protesters in late 2020.

The judges instead found that while D.C.’s law prohibiting the defacement of public or private property is constitutional, the anti-abortion protesters can now attempt to prove that the law was unconstitutionally enforced when they were arrested in August 2020 for chalking “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” outside the clinic in NoMa. The decision was based on allegations by the pro-life protesters and will now return to the trial court so evidence can be taken. The court did not determine whether the District’s actions were constitutional.

“The District permitted individuals expressing the ‘Black Lives Matter’ message to violate the defacement ordinance, as evidenced by the widespread painting, graffiti, and other defacement on public sidewalks, streets, and buildings, and on private property. By making no arrests, the police effectively exempted advocates of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ message from the requirements of the ordinance,” wrote Rao for the majority, citing the racial justice protests that exploded across D.C. in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd. “In contrast, the police showed up in force to the [pro-life] rally and arrested individuals who chalked ‘Black Pro-Born Lives Matter’ on the sidewalk.” —>READ MORE HERE

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+++++D.C. Circuit Revives Viewpoint Discrimination Suit Against District of Columbia+++++

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