The Department of Justice recently lambasted California for its double standards when it comes to lockdown restrictions enforced by Gov. Gavin Newsom and local authorities amid the protests taking place across the state after George Floyd’s death. In an amicus brief filed in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the DOJ argued on behalf of two Californians who wanted to hold protests at the California Capitol Building in April but were denied a permit citing COVID-19 restrictions, then sued Newsom alleging his order violated their First Amendment rights to assemble.
Now, in light of the protests following the death of Floyd, the DOJ is pointing out the obvious double standard, arguing California really shouldn’t treat them differently since protests filled the streets in Los Angeles. It’s good to see this legal double standard reach a court of law so quickly. There are people whose rights have been blatantly violated because the government didn’t like their protest, while others have been free to protest as they wish without consequence.
In the brief, the DOJ argued that petitioning the state government at the state Capitol isn’t just a right but an example of when “First Amendment protection is at its apex” and that the lower court erred when evaluating whether the plaintiffs who wanted to protest could do so. It’s worth pointing out that Ron Givens, one of the two plaintiffs, is a firearms instructor and the director of training at the Sacramento Gun Club and had been “seeking to hold a protest on the State Capitol Building grounds objecting to the State’s delay, purportedly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in conducting background checks for gun purchasers.”
It’s a bit ironic that rioters filled the streets brandishing weapons and burning private property, but just two months prior, a firearms instructor was not only banned from carrying out his duties on the job but also banned from protesting about the right to help people get background checks to purchase a firearm.
The plaintiffs and the state of California had no way of knowing what chaos was about to unfold in May and June. The DOJ has the good fortune of arguing with this knowledge and wasted no time in pointing out California’s egregious double standard: Denying permits because of lockdown restrictions to those who wanted to assemble peacefully but allowing (and praising) Black Lives Matter protests is not an equal application of the First Amendment.
The DOJ brief reads:
Of course, everyone with eyes and a bit of common sense could see the double standard affects almost every state, from Minnesota (which remained on lockdown when protests and riots first erupted) to Dallas (where a woman was essentially jailed for opening her salon, and yet, protesters filled the streets a few weeks later).
Still, it’s refreshing to see the DOJ slap California on the wrist for an error so many states made and is now so widespread that it can never be undone. It’s one thing to observe the shifting of the goal posts firsthand but another for state officials to be called out on it in a court of law. While a brief like this can’t undo the many ways people’s rights have been unduly violated during COVID-19, it can serve as a commonsense frame of reference for similar situations that might occur in the future.
Nicole Russell (@russell_nm) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota.
