LANCASTER, CA — This week, a state court granted Johnathon Ervin and Ayinde Love’s anti-SLAPP motion, ending the City of Lancaster’s lawsuit against them and 83 other Lancaster residents who sought to recall Mayor Raymond Rex Parris.
Although there was no longer a legal dispute, the city had refused to drop the lawsuit against residents who engaged in the petitioning activity. The city’s refusal to dismiss was improper under California’s law prohibiting what are known as Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP), or lawsuits that chill the valid exercise of the constitutional rights of speech and petition.
“Lancaster residents must feel free to exercise their right to engage in political process,” said Julia A. Gomez, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. “The court’s striking down of Lancaster’s lawsuit sends a message to Lancaster citizens that they can seek redress from their government without fear of retribution.”
"By granting our motion, the court recognized that allowing this moot lawsuit to continue risked punishing and silencing those exercising their First Amendment rights,” said Johnathon Ervin. “This decision sends a powerful message that our community will never tolerate being bullied or silenced. Our city deserves leadership that listens to, respects, and genuinely serves the community—not one that tries to silence or punish those who speak out.”
To learn more about the ACLU SoCal’s work in Lancaster, you can read our report Banished & Abandoned: The Criminalization and Displacement of Unhoused People in Lancaster.