Civil Rights Groups Say SF Supervisor Tony Hall’s Proposed Resolution to Punish Peace Protesters is Illegal


For Immediate Release: April 1, 2003

SAN FRANCISCO -- In a letter sent today to San Francisco Supervisor Tony Hall, civil rights groups charge that the proposed resolution asking the City Attorney to determine whether the City and County can recover protest- related expenses from the anti-war organizers will “chill participation in expressive activity at a time when it is most needed.”

The letter further advises that a lawsuit to recover expenses would constitute a “meritless SLAPP” lawsuit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). Supervisor Hall introduced the resolution on March 25. It is targeting the organizers of the peace demonstrations on March 20-22, 2003.

The civil rights groups warn that attempting to recover costs from the protest organizers would not only be unsuccessful but could subject San Francisco to substantial liability. The letter reminds San Francisco of the leading precedent, in which San Luis Obispo County, utility workers and ratepayers sued three groups that organized blockades of a nuclear power plant in 1981, seeking to recover over two million dollars. The court dismissed the lawsuit and awarded the defendants $82,5000 in attorney fees. The state Court of Appeal affirmed the ruling.

Since then, in 1992, the California Legislature overwhelmingly enacted California’s pioneering anti-SLAPP law, Code of Civil Procedure Section 425.16, which protects citizens sued because they have exercised their constitutional right to petition the government.

“Civil disobedience has a long and honorable tradition in American history, including the Boston Tea Party, the Women’s Suffrage movement, and the Civil Rights movement. Disproportionate punishment for civil disobedience threatens to silence all who share dissenting views, by punishing the message,” states the letter.

The California Anti-SLAPP Project, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, National Lawyers Guild – SF Bay Area Chapter, Western States Legal Foundation, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Bay Area Police Watch, and the ACLU of Northern California signed the letter.