House Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz have been granted permission to take legal action against two cities in California for canceling rallies they had planned to hold in 2021. This decision was made by a federal judge on Friday.
U.S. District Judge Hernan Vera strongly criticized Greene and Gaetz’s effort to sue progressive campaign groups involved in the cancellations, calling it a baseless conspiracy theory. When contacted by Newsweek, the offices of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Matt Gaetz did not provide a comment.
Greene and Gaetz, two prominent Republican lawmakers, have been vocal proponents of Donald Trump, the presumptive presidential candidate for the Republican Party. In his ruling, Vera sought to strike a balance between the conflicting claims of the First Amendment put forth by these two GOP figures and the critics who oppose their actions.
In 2021, Gaetz and Greene had scheduled indoor events in the cities of Anaheim and Riverside in California. However, these events were abruptly canceled after receiving numerous complaints from various campaigners and advocacy groups.
According to Vera, a Biden appointee, the two Republicans were able to sufficiently show that the Municipal Defendants had assigned their agents the power to cancel the rally. This decision was based on viewpoint discrimination.
Vera, on the other hand, declined Gaetz and Greene’s attempt to pursue legal action against several campaign groups that had opposed their events in 2021. These groups included The League of Women Voters, The League of United Latin American Citizens, and The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a civil-rights era organization.
Vera criticized the legal cases against the campaign groups, stating that they had several fatal flaws and lacked any alleged facts to support their legal action.
According to Vera, the accusations against the non-profits can be best described as a conspiracy theory that is based solely on conjecture.
“And the Nonprofit Defendants are accused of nothing more than exercising their own First Amendment rights to lobby for the cancellation of the event, without any evidence of an unlawful conspiracy. These allegations, although unremarkable, fall under the protection of free speech…”
“The plaintiffs’ pleading is both unprecedented and remarkably deficient, as it drags nine civil rights groups into federal court simply for exercising their right to speak out against an event. This should be cause for concern among citizens from all walks of life,” Vera emphasized.
Friday saw Greene take action by filing a motion to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson from his position, following his approval of a $1.2 trillion funding package. This move could potentially lead to Johnson being ousted from office.
Speaking to reporters, Representative Greene, a Georgia Republican, described her recent move as “more of a warning than a pink slip.” Instead of making a privileged motion, she opted for a regular motion, indicating that it will likely be referred to a committee rather than requiring an immediate vote within two days.
A total of 112 Republicans and 22 Democrats cast their votes against the agreement that Johnson had reached in order to prevent a government shutdown, as seen in the House.
