United States Ninth Circuit

In an action for damages alleging violations of plaintiffs' First Amendment constitutional rights incident to their exclusion from a city's garlic festival, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) plaintiffs-motorcycle club members' act of wearing their vests and insignia into the festival did not rise to the level of protected speech for purposes of the First Amendment; and 2) plaintiffs did not engage in the kind of expressive conduct that would support a violation of the First Amendment's right to freedom of association.

Appellate Information

• Argued 12/11/2007
• Decided 04/30/2007
• Published 04/30/2007

Judges

• Before:  ALEX KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, DIARMUID F. O'SCANNLAIN, PAMELA ANN RYMER, SIDNEY R. THOMAS, M. MARGARET McKEOWN, KIM McLANE WARDLAW, RAYMOND C. FISHER, RONALD M. GOULD, RICHARD A. PAEZ, CONSUELO M. CALLAHAN, and N. RANDY SMITH, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Randolph M. Hammock, Law Offices of Richard M. Lester, Canoga Park, CA, argued the cause for the plaintiffs-appellants;  Allen Lichtenstein, General Counsel and Lee Rowland, Staff Attorney, ACLU, Las Vegas, NV, were on the briefs.


• For Appellees:
  
• Mark Strombotne, Strombotne Law Firm, San Jose, CA, and Gregory C. Simonian, Clapp Moroney Bellagamba and Vucinich, Daly City, CA, argued the cause for the defendants-appellees;  Bronwen Lacy, Strombotne Law Firm, San Jose, CA, G. Martin Velez, Clapp Moroney Bellagamba and Vucinich, Daly City, CA, and Valerie S. Higgins, Clapp Moroney Bellagamba and Vucinich, San Bruno, CA, were on the briefs.