Judge orders Minutemen's Adopt-A-Highway permit reinstated
Posted on Saturday, June 28 @ 08:54:00 EDT
Topic: Minuteman Project Minutemen border
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 ALIPAC NOTE: We offer our congratulations to Jeff Schwilk founder of the San Diego Minutemen.
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OCEANSIDE: Judge orders Minutemen's Adopt-A-Highway permit reinstated
OCEANSIDE ---- A
federal judge on Friday ordered the state Transportation Department to
let a controversial group of anti-illegal immigration activists pick up
litter near a Border Patrol checkpoint.
In a 34-page order, Judge William Q.
Hayes granted the San Diego Minutemen's request for a preliminary
injunction that gives Caltrans 30 days to reinstate the group's
Adopt-A-Highway permit for a 2-mile stretch of Interstate 5 near San
Clemente.
The state also must restore the courtesy sign bearing the Minutemen's name, the judge ruled.
The judge's decision enables the North
County group to once again pick up trash alongside the busy freeway
while its lawsuit against Caltrans officials is pending.
"We expected that on all counts," said the Minutemen's attorney, Howard
Kaloogian, when he learned of the judge's decision from a reporter
Friday night. "This basically tells us that our case is solid and will
probably win on the merits."
The state's Adopt-A-Highway program allows individuals,
organizations and businesses to clean stretches of roadway that meet
certain safety standards. The groups are recognized with simple
roadside signs.
In November, Caltrans made national news when it granted the
Minutemen, a group that has gained wide publicity for protesting
day-labor hiring sites, permission to clean the northbound stretch of
I-5.
By CRAIG TENBROECK - Staff Writer | Friday, June 27, 2008
Immigrant-rights activists and some state legislators complained. In
January, Caltrans revoked the Minutemen's permit, citing safety
concerns.
The agency offered to relocate the group to a less-visible stretch
of Highway 52. Instead, the Minutemen sued to get the original site
back. The group's attorneys accused Caltrans of caving to political
pressure and violating its members' free speech rights.
In March, Caltrans removed that stretch of I-5 from the cleanup program altogether.
In granting the preliminary injunction, Hayes determined that the
activists have a "high probability of success" on the merits of their
First Amendment claim and said it was in the public's interest to grant
the injunction.
Hayes said Caltrans' justification for revoking the permit was "not
reasonable." There is "little, if any, evidence" that the Minutemen's
participation would endanger the public, he said.
Caltrans attorneys had asked the judge to dismiss the Minutemen's
lawsuit. While Hayes dismissed the agency as a defendant, he did not do
the same for its top officials.
Caltrans officials could not be reached for comment late Friday. In
a court hearing in May, Caltrans attorney Jeffrey Benowitz argued that
because the Minutemen could apply to clean up any other stretch of road
in the program, they "have been denied nothing."
Last week, Caltrans suspended all new Adopt-A-Highway applications.
The agency announced that it was re-evaluating the program's
guidelines.
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LETTER FROM JEFF
In a huge victory for the U.S. Constitution and
for law-abiding American activists everywhere, Judge William Hayes
ruled late this afternoon in a 34 page ruling that Caltrans absolutely
violated SDMM's "free speech, equal protection, and due process" when
they bowed to members of the Latino Caucus (Cedillo, Saldana, and Coto)
by revoking our adopted highway permit on Jan. 28 without any warning
or just cause.
Seven weeks after our hearing, Judge Hayes has ordered the
immediate reinstatement by Caltrans of our AAH permit and our courtesy
sign for our site on northbound I-5 near the San Clemente checkpoint!
The judge strongly ruled that there is an almost certainty of SDMM
prevailing at trial on Constitutional grounds in his granting of the
rarely-granted injunction. Our attorneys will now await Caltrans'
decision whether they want to settle this case out of court or take it
to a trial where the State of California would waste hundreds of
thousands more tax dollars fighting against the U.S. Constitution and
peaceful American citizens in Federal Court on behalf of the Mexican
Government. Since they have been fighting us continuously for 5 months
on behalf of Mexican "hecklers", it will be very interesting to see
what they do next.
Meanwhile, we will be planning our next clean up at our original
site soon! Hope to see you out there with us after this historic
victory!!!
Special thanks goes to Howard Kaloogian, Bob Fuselier and David
Hayek, our outstanding legal team who took on the state of California
and the Mexican Government and WON!!!
Thanks also to everyone who donated to our legal fund to finance
this fight and to others who helped our case in other ways! You guys
are all our heroes!!! There is still hope for America! The lying,
terroristic agents of the Mexican Government (Morones, Saldana, et.
al.) have been taught a strong and costly lesson for them. We are not
going to just roll over and let them colonize our state and our country
with their illegal citizens and destroy our American freedoms and
rights and the LEGAL immigration system that has made this country
great! If they want to steal our country, they are going to have to
fight us for it, and so far they have clearly shown they really don't
want to take us on head on! Constant lies and coercion is all the
criminal cowards can muster!
Foreign terrorists from ANY country will not prevail in America!
Rejoice Americans, we are slowly winning this fight to keep our
sovereignty!! Keep fighting!
Jeff Schwilk
Founder, www.SanDiegoMinutemen.com
Demanding Our Government Enforce our Laws Since 2005!
DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE and LETTER WITH OUR ONLINE ACTIVISTS AT...
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-121188.html
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