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EXCERPT:
“The First Amendment does not protect vandalism, criminal trespass, or obstruction of law enforcement,” wrote Judge Kenneth Lee in the court’s decision.
The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against a group of anti-ICE protesters, blocking a lower court judge’s order that barred federal officers from using less-lethal munitions to disperse unruly crowds at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Portland, Oregon. The facility has been the site of ongoing violent demonstrations since June 2025.
The 2-1 panel decision, issued on Monday by judges Kenneth Lee, Eric Tung, and Ana de Alba, the last of whom dissented, states that protesters failed to show that federal officers deployed crowd-control munitions as a means of retaliation, rejecting the plaintiffs’ arguments that their First Amendment rights were violated. The decision is a permanent administrative stay granted to the Department of Justice (DOJ) pending further appeal proceedings, in which the panel ruled that the Trump administration is “likely to succeed on the merits” of the case.
