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plaintiffinjunction
plaintiffdefendantcivil rights

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Belknap v. Leary, 427 F.2d 496

Facts

On May 27, 1970, plaintiffs requested a restraining order against the Police Commissioner of New York City to ensure protection for participants in public demonstrations against the government's war policies. The district court issued an order requiring police to protect demonstrators from physical harm during the planned protests on May 29, 30, and 31. This followed an incident on May 8, 1970, where police failed to protect anti-war demonstrators from being assaulted by construction workers, leading to concerns about police conduct and the safety of demonstrators.

On May 27, 1970, plaintiffs asked Judge Motley in the District Court for the Southern District of New York, to issue, without notice to defendants, an order in an action instituted by plaintiffs under the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1983, to restrain the Police Commissioner of New York City and his subordinates from failing to accord protection against physical harm at any legally constituted public demonstration over the Memorial Day weekend.

Issue

Did the district court abuse its discretion by issuing an order requiring the Police Commissioner to take specific actions to protect demonstrators during planned protests?

Did the district court abuse its discretion by issuing an order requiring the Police Commissioner to take specific actions to protect demonstrators during planned protests?

Rule

The responsibility for protecting citizens' First Amendment rights rests with the elected Mayor and the Police Commissioner, and a federal injunction is not warranted unless there is a continuing failure to protect those rights.

The responsibility for protecting the people of the City of New York in the exercise of their First Amendment right ‘peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for the redress of grievances' rests in the first instance on their elected Mayor and his designee, the Commissioner of Police.

Analysis

The court determined that the police had taken appropriate corrective actions following the May 8 incident, including public criticism from the Mayor and Police Commissioner and the initiation of new guidelines for handling demonstrations. The court found that these measures effectively addressed the concerns raised by the plaintiffs, and there was no basis for assuming that police protection would be inadequate during the upcoming demonstrations.

But the facts are to the contrary. On May 9 Mayor Lindsay issued a statement characterizing the previous day's violence as ‘appalling’ and saying that what was ‘most appalling’ was ‘that the people of this city witnessed a breakdown of the police as the barrier between them and wanton violence.’ He added that the Police Commissioner and the Department's high command were equally disturbed ‘by failures of police performance,’ that an investigation had been started, and that other corrective procedures were being initiated.

Conclusion

The court reversed the district court's order and vacated the injunction, concluding that it was an abuse of discretion given the subsequent actions taken by the police to ensure the safety of demonstrators.

We therefore vacate the order as an abuse of discretion.

Who won?

The Police Commissioner of New York City prevailed in the case because the court found that the district court's order was unwarranted given the corrective measures taken by the police following the previous incident.

The court found that the police had taken appropriate corrective actions following the May 8 incident, including public criticism from the Mayor and Police Commissioner and the initiation of new guidelines for handling demonstrations.

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