In a victory for California civil liberties, a three-judge panel for the Court of Appeal of the State of California First Appellate District ruled in favor of the Berkeley People’s Alliance along with Nathan Mizell, an Alliance Board Member and Berkeley resident, in their 2024 lawsuit to prevent the Mayor and City Council from committing further Brown Act violations.
The Court of Appeal held that Berkeley did not comply with the Brown Act when the City Council retreated to a back room that did not allow the public to access the meeting in person. The Court concluded that Berkeley cannot rewrite statutes enacted by the State Legislature. In the future, Berkeley and other cities will need to comply with what the Legislature plainly provided in the Brown Act.
The lawsuit was filed in response to the Berkeley City Council’s violation of California’s Ralph M. Brown Act, the open meetings law that prevents government secrecy and promotes public participation. The Act’s preamble reads: “The people do not yield their sovereignty to the bodies that serve them.” BPA sought an injunction to protect the right of the public to be present in person when important legislative decisions are made.
The Brown Act violations occurred when Council business and members of the public were at odds during the meetings. Some members of the public asked the Council to pass a resolution supporting a ceasefire in the Gaza genocide. At three separate meetings, former Mayor Jesse Arreguín recessed the Council and held the remainder of the meeting in a back room, where members of the public could not attend in person. BPA is not aware of any other California city attempting such actions to isolate public officials from the people who elected them despite facing similar petitions for ceasefire resolutions regarding the Gaza genocide. The City did not argue that other cities had done so.
“This ruling affirmed what Berkeleyans have known all along — that the Brown Act and the State’s constitution ensure the public’s in-person participation at public meetings and extra-textual excuses for preventing access cannot stand” said Mr. Mizell. “Ultimately, instead of agreeing to withdraw from its unlawful backroom practice as the Alliance requested, the City chose to double down and spend taxpayer dollars on defending the indefensible.”
“This decision follows a recent attempt by former Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín, now a State Senator, to further curtail civil liberties in California by outlawing peaceful protest within a city block of a ‘targeted’ residence, such as a politician’s,” said BPA Board Member George Lippman. “These moves against peaceful protest, whether at a government meeting or in the streets, are not responses to real threats to public safety. This pattern of repressing constitutional rights is the opposite of what this country needs right now.”
Berkeley People’s Alliance is a community alliance of local organizations dedicated to advancing social, racial, economic, and environmental justice in the City of Berkeley.
BPA was represented by East Bay lawyer Jonathan Weissglass.