Judge allows Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene to sue California cities over rally cancellations in 2021

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: A federal judge has ruled in favor of GOP lawmakers Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, allowing them to sue two California cities for canceling their political rallies due to their "political views," The Hill reported.

District Judge Hernán Vera, in a 22-page ruling on Friday, March 23, said both convinced the court that Anaheim and Riverside, two cities in the Golden State, canceled their event in 2021 due to "viewpoint discrimination," and permitted Gaetz and Greene to move forward with the case as per The Daily Beast.

The events in question are the 'Put America First' rallies in 2021, which were canceled, citing the Trump-supporting GOP lawmakers' divisive political stance.

The event was initially planned to be conducted in Laguna Hills, but it was moved to Riverside and then to Anaheim. Gaetz and Greene held a 'Free Speech Peaceful Protest' outside Riverside City Hall in response to the cancellation of three venues.

Judge dismisses the GOP lawmaker's accusation against liberal advocacy groups

Despite letting them proceed with suing the cities, Judge Vera criticized the Republican representatives' accusations against liberal advocacy groups, including NAACP and the League of Women Voters, of conspiring with the two Californian cities to stop their rallies.

The judge ruled that the lawsuit by Gaetz and Greene was "utterly devoid of any specifics plausibly alleging such an agreement." He added that the allegations had "numerous fatal deficiencies," and "chief among them is the complete lack of any alleged facts to support a 'meeting of the minds' as required for a conspiracy claim."

Vera slammed the hardcore Trump loyalists' attempt to blame the civil rights advocates over the events' cancellation, stating it was "both legally and literally, a conspiracy theory that relies purely on conjecture" and that accusation should "shock in equal measure civic members from across the spectrum."

Gaetz and Greene attacked civil rights organizations with baseless conspiracy claims against their right to protest, protected under the Constitution's First Amendment.

"All that is left to aver against the Nonprofit Defendants are the unremarkable allegations that they exercised their own First Amendment rights to lobby for the cancellation of the event. That is protected," the judge wrote, according to Politico.

Internet reacts

Weighing in on the court letting Gaetz and Greene sue the cities, netizens shared mixed reactions on X.

One user wrote, "What a waste of time."

"That is hilarious. Canceling political events for being political. And they're blind to the Irony. That's what makes them dangerous," another person remarked.

Whereas one user added, "I hope that ruling is overturned!"

"Neither are from California so why are they wanting to to hold rallies there?" one asked.

On the other hand someone else stated, "Well yeah. You can sue for anything in America. It doesn’t mean you will win."

"I hope they're using their own money to pay for their lawyers," said an individual. While another remark read, "They aren't running in CA. Tough luck."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.