LA City Attorney Feldstein Soto Challenges Unprecedented Military Deployment in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES —  Last weekend, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto filed an amicus brief requesting that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals deny the federal government’s motion for stay pending appeal in Gavin Newsom v. Donald Trump. Feldstein Soto’s brief argues that as a matter of both constitutional principle and practical expertise, states and local municipalities, rather than the federal government, hold the primary responsibility for addressing public safety and crime within their jurisdictions, including responding to any civil unrest, disorder, and criminal activity connected with public protests.

“My Office will continue to defend the rights of Angelenos to gather and protest peacefully and we will fight to free our City from the illegal deployment of federal troops,” said Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto. The brief the city attorney filed with co-counsel Democracy Defenders Fund challenged the deployment of troops in Los Angeles. The LAPD has the expertise to manage these protests, hold accountable those who break the law, and to keep Angelenos safe while peacefully exercising their First Amendment rights.

Nearly all of the crimes and violence associated with these protests have occurred within one square mile of City Hall and have involved no more than a few hundred people at any given time. On Saturday, the No Kings protests by tens of thousands in Los Angeles were peaceful throughout the day with the exception of a disturbance in the same area of downtown late in the afternoon.

Over the last nine days, the City and LAPD have implemented public safety tools, including an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in downtown LA, to prevent protests from further escalating.  

The city attorney asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to not allow the military’s unprecedented deployment in downtown Los Angeles to stand. The city attorney also requests the court to reject the Government’s motion for stay pending appeal, allow the TRO to go into effect, and let the city to focus on fulfilling its duties to protect its residents and preserve their freedoms. 

Details: The brief can be accessed here.