OnPolitics: Anti-abortion protesters cited Black Lives Matter demonstrations in court
Hi there OnPolitics readers. Anti-abortion protesters notched a legal win after they cited Black Lives Matter demonstrations in court.
⚖️ The case: A federal appeals court sided with the anti-abortion protesters on First Amendment grounds, ruling that the District of Columbia likely discriminated by arresting them for using chalk on a sidewalk but not Black Lives Matter protesters engaged in similar activity, Paste BN’s John Fritze reports.
City police arrested two anti-abortion protesters in summer 2020 for chalking “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” onto a public sidewalk in violation of the city’s vandalism ordinance. But the appeals court said Washington “all but abandoned enforcement” of that same ordinance for protesters writing “Black Lives Matter” on public and private property after the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police
“The government may not play favorites in a public forum − permitting some messages and prohibiting others,” the appeals court panel wrote.
Read more here: Court backs anti-abortion protesters who cited Black Lives Matter demonstrations in First Amendment suit
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