If You Want To Stop Demonstrations Outside The Law — Unlock The Door To Remedies Within The Law

Repeal California Civil Code § 47.5 and Penal Code § 148.6 *

As I write this, the Los Angeles Times reports that “Street patrols, anger and fear follow a night of escalating violence” in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by police. These people are demonstrating outside of the law, because there is no remedy within the law. The door to complaints about police misconduct are locked and guarded by the police themselves. I suggest a way to unlock that door. This is only a first step in fixing an entire system which is broken.

We claim to have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Essential to that social contract is the right of people to petition the government, which the First Amendment guarantees cannot be abridged by the government. As the U.S. Supreme Court noted, “Criticism of government is at the very center of the constitutionally protected area of free discussion. Criticism of those responsible for government operations must be free, lest criticism of government itself be penalized.” Rosenblatt v. Baer, 383 U.S. 75, 85 (1966). That is why California has long provided an absolute privilege for statements made in any legislative, judicial, or other official proceeding, now in Civil Code § 47(b). An “absolute” privilege means…