WASHINGTON – A federal judge allowed ultraconservative Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., to continue a lawsuit against two California cities for canceling their political rallies but not without rebuking the two for pinning the blame on liberal political groups.
Gaetz and Greene sued both the cities of Riverside and Anaheim along with groups including the League of Women Voters and the NAACP. U.S. District Judge Hernán Vera allowed the conservatives’ suit against the cities to proceed but dismissed legal action against the liberal organizations, calling their allegations “both legally and literally, a conspiracy theory that relies purely on conjecture,” in a court opinion.
Hera admonished the two for suing the groups, writing that their “unprecedented and stunningly deficient pleading −haling nine civil rights groups into federal court for speaking out against an event − should shock in equal measure civic members from across the political spectrum.”
City officials called on the local venues where Gaetz and Greene had planned their rallies to cancel the events in response to criticism and pushback from the liberal organizations’ local chapters.
Hera wrote that Gaetz and Greene made “unremarkable allegations that they exercised their own First Amendment rights to lobby for the cancellation of the event.”
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Gaetz and Greene’s suit against Riverside and Anaheim however were found to have sufficient grounds for “viewpoint discrimination” over canceling their rallies.
