City Will Appeal Redondo Beach Ordinance to Supreme Court
A Redondo Beach ordinance is heading back to court as the city challenges the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in the case.
In the late ’80s, Redondo Beach adopted local ordinances to prohibit workers from soliciting employment from occupants of motor vehicles, and to penalize motor vehicles from hiring or attempting to hire workers on the city’s streets and highways.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ordinance in September, finding that day laborers have a First Amendment right to solicit work along California roadsides and that the ordinance was geographically over-inclusive.
This week, Redondo Beach officials indicated that they would appeal the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision to the Supreme Court.
The city argues that ordinance was intended to promote traffic safety, not to discriminate against day laborers. That theory, however, was questioned when local police arrested more than 60 day laborers in 2004 as a part of the Day Labor Enforcement Project, reports Los Angeles Times.
Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, one of the two judges who voted to uphold the law last month, agreed with the city. In his dissent, Judge Kozinski described the majority decision as "folly" and claimed, "when large groups of men gather at a single location, they litter, vandalize, urinate, block the sidewalk, harass females and damage property. Cars and trucks stop to negotiate employment and load up laborers, disrupting traffic."
Kozinski went on to say that he would dissent twice if he could.
Will the Supreme Court hear arguments about the Redondo Beach ordinance, and agree with Judge Kozinski that the majority in the case was, "demonstrably, egregiously, recklessly wrong?" Considering that the Supreme Court reverses the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 79.4 percent of the cases it reviews, there's a good chance that Kozinski will be vindicated.
Related Resources:
- Comite de Jornaleros v. City of Redondo Beach (FindLaw's CaseLaw)
- Day Laborers Have First Amendment Right to Solicit Work: 9th Cir. (FindLaw's Decided)
- Tucson Shooter's Forced Medication Halted (FindLaw's Ninth Circuit blog)