Conservatives have just scored a major win on the free speech front as well as the pro-life front.
Of all courts, the DC Circuit Court ruled that officials were selectively enforcing a statute to arrest pro-lifers.
At the same time, they ignored this statute when it came to the Black Lives Matter protesters who were literally setting streets on fire during what has been called “mostly peaceful protests.”
A shocking decision was handed down by a Democrat-dominated appeals court panel, ruling that DC officials were selectively enforcing statutes, reported the Washington Post.
Guilty!
The summer of 2020 was an absolute disgrace in this country.
As usually happens, the liberal horde took up the case of a criminal they deemed to be wronged to try to make a martyr out of him.
The killing of George Floyd was horrible, but the rioter could have cared less about Floyd. Their only interest was looting and destroying property. We saw too few arrests around the country during these riots, especially in Democrat-run cities like DC.
Judge Neomi Rao, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote, “The government may not enforce the laws in a manner that picks winners and losers in public debates.
“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 three-judge panel reversed the ruling from the lower court, stating, “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,” reported Breitbart.
By the way, the other two judges on the panel were both appointed by Democrats, so even I will admit I am astonished the decision came down this way.
It is honestly the first time in forever that I can remember a case where Democrats held the advantage that did not come down in their favor.
This was a unanimous decision, so I doubt this will elevate to the Supreme Court where there is a conservative advantage, but you never know.
Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins was obviously happy with the decision, stating, “It’s very encouraging that there was a unanimous 3-0 decision in favor of the free speech rights of pro-life students, peacefully protesting in our nation’s capital.”
Now that we have a precedent in place, I fully expect to see more pro-life groups that were arrested step up and sue local governments for unfair treatment compared to groups like Black Lives Matter.
