Judge Issues Ruling Allowing Reps Matt Gaetz & Marjorie Taylor Greene To Sue Two California Cities for Canceling Rallies
Jose Nino
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A lawsuit from Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz and Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene against the California cities of Anaheim and Riverside, which accused the cities of unjustly canceling their rallies in 2021, can proceed, a federal judge recently ruled.
The ruling throws out the cities’ moves to be dismissed from the case. It does allow political advocacy organizations that were also sued to be dismissed.
Judge Hernan D. Vera issued his ruling on March 22. He threw out the lawsuit’s assertion that the nonprofit organizations colluded with the cities to cancel the rallies and wrote in the ruling that “the effect of Plaintiffs’ unprecedented and stunningly deficient pleading — hauling nine civil rights groups into federal court for speaking out against an event — should shock in equal measure civic members from across the political spectrum.”
The organizations included are California LULAC, a Hispanic civil rights organization, AntiRacist Riverside, the NAACP, League of Women Voters Riverside, Occupy Democrats, Riverside County Democratic Party, and Riverside Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Gaetz and Greene praised the ruling vowing to go back to California to hold the rallies.
We will win these important Free Speech cases against California cities Riverside and Anaheim and the insane left,” Greene said in a post on X, the social media formerly known as Twitter. “Then we will return to CA and hold America First rallies, inviting everyone in California that hates what the Democrats have done to their state and our country!
Mike Lyster, a spokesperson for Anaheim said the following:
While we disagree with the decision, it isn’t unusual to see a claim move forward at this early stage, regardless of the court’s initial thoughts on the strengths of the case. We sought to challenge the allegations being made at the first chance possible and remain confident in the city’s position.
The two filed the lawsuit back in July. Gaetz and Greene initially scheduled a rally at a Laguna Hills venue in July 2021, which was canceled when the venue’s general manager found out more about the two Republican members of Congress.
The elected officials subsequently booked the Riverside Convention Center, which the city owned. However, the center, which is managed by a private company, would end up canceling the two representative’s event after backlash from the community and several city leaders.
Plans for Gaetz and Greene to hold their rally at The Grand Theater in Anaheim were also scrapped, which prompted them to hold a brief, impromptu “free speech” rally on July 17, 2021 outside Riverside City Hall.
America is becoming polarized on partisan lines. Blue states are where fundamental freedoms go to die while in red states people can still nominally exercise their freedoms.
At this point, red states are the only places where freedom lovers can live in peace and harmony. That’s the reality of a hyper politicized country.
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