FOR THE RECORD
NRA Prevails Against City of Los Angeles as Court Issues Final Judgment Striking Down Blacklisting Campaign
FEBRUARY 7, 2020 — The National Rifle Association of America (“NRA”) today announced that Judge Stephen V. Wilson of the United States District Court for the Central District of California issued a final Judgment of Permanent Injunction against the City of Los Angeles and in favor of the NRA.
Dated February 5, 2020, the judgment permanently prohibits the city from enforcing an ordinance that had required NRA members or supporters to disclose their support for the NRA in order to be considered to do business with the city. The outcome is another legal victory for the NRA, which is successfully confronting many First Amendment attacks on the organization and its members.
“The message from this final outcome should be heard loud and clear from coast to coast: We will challenge any governmental action which is intended to infringe on the First Amendment rights of the NRA,” says Wayne LaPierre, CEO and executive vice president of the NRA. “We will never stop defending our members and fighting for the constitutional freedoms in which they believe. This victory is important to all our supporters and all who cherish freedom.”
On April 24, 2019, the NRA and others filed a lawsuit to invalidate the Los Angeles ordinance because it violated the First Amendment rights of the NRA and its members and supporters.
The NRA then successfully sought a temporary Order of Preliminary Injunction from the court to block the enforcement of the blacklisting ordinance while the lawsuit was litigated. In December 2019, the court issued the order that the NRA requested, blocking the city from enforcing the ordinance and finding that the ordinance violated the First Amendment rights of free speech of the NRA and its supporters.
With the issuance of that final Judgment of Permanent Injunction today, the temporary Order or Preliminary Injunction has now been made permanent. The only issue left for the court to decide is the amount of attorneys’ fees that the city must pay to the NRA as the prevailing party in the lawsuit.
The legal victory in Los Angeles is the latest positive legal development for the NRA. In the face of a lawsuit by the NRA, in September 2019, San Francisco Mayor London Breed instructed that a similar scheme was non-binding and would not be enforced.
In May 2018, the NRA filed a lawsuit against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York state regulators over a “blacklisting campaign” that seeks to intimidate the NRA’s potential business partners. The case survived a motion to dismiss and is now moving toward trial.