Los Angeles Press Club v. Noem
Court: U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
Date Filed: Nov. 25, 2025
Background: During immigration raids in Southern California in the summer of 2025, federal law enforcement officers indiscriminately used tear gas, rubber bullets, and smoke bombs to control crowds of protesters, repeatedly hitting journalists as they reported on the demonstrations.
The Los Angeles Press Club and the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America, along with a group of journalists and protesters, filed a lawsuit seeking to enjoin the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from using such excessive force, arguing that the federal government’s actions violated their First Amendment rights.
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted the coalition’s request for a preliminary injunction. “[U]nder the guise of protecting the public, federal agents have endangered large numbers of peaceful protestors, legal observers, and journalists — as well as the public that relies on them to hold their government accountable,” Judge Hernán D. Vera wrote. “The First Amendment demands better.”
The government appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Our Position: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, joined by 44 news and media organizations, filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Ninth Circuit to affirm the preliminary injunction.
- The indiscriminate use of crowd-control tactics chills reporting on matters of public concern and undermines the public’s right to know.
- Under any framework, the indiscriminate use of crowd-control tactics against journalists covering protests violates the First Amendment.
From the Brief: “The predictable result of the use of indiscriminate crowd-control techniques is to prevent journalists from providing fulsome coverage of newsworthy events: Journalists cannot do their jobs when they cannot open their eyes because they have been exposed to tear gas, when they must take cover from projectiles, or when they must leave the scene to seek treatment for injuries inflicted by law enforcement.”