Center for Constitutional Rights Weighs in on City's Threat of Legal Challenge Against Duly Qualified Initiative
CONTACT: Kai Huschke, Envision Spokane
(509) 607-5034 (c)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Spokane (5/17/2013) – The Center for Constitutional Rights have issued a letter in response to the City of Spokane’s legal analysis related to a pre-election challenge to block the Community Bill of Rights (Initiative 2012-3), a duly qualified initiative, from the November ballot.
In that letter sent to the Mayor and City Council, Jules Lobel, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, explains that a pre-election challenge to a duly qualified initiative brings up constitutional issues, “related to freedom of speech and petition…paramount in protecting the initiative process from pre-election challenges.”
Taken from the Center for Constitutional Rights website they describe their organizational mission as, “dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.”
Lobel highlights in his letter a related case he argued saying, “I have personally served as counsel in Pennsylvania litigation that resulted in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania (one level below the Pennsylvania Supreme Court) establishing appellate precedent which now bars all pre-election challenges to duly qualified charter amendments presented for review.”
Kai Huschke, Campaign manager for the Community Bill of Rights, explains, “The Center for Constitutional Rights argument’s for prohibiting pre-election challenges strongly parallels the Washington courts, who for the past fifty years, have consistently prohibited pre-election lawsuits which challenge the substance of an initiative. Those courts have consistently rested on the grounds that the right to initiative – both to propose legislation as well as to vote on it – is one of the foremost rights to be protected under our state’s constitution.”
Lobel concludes his letter urging, “the City Council and the Mayor’s office to abstain from filing any pre-election challenges to the initiative.”
An open letter to the Mayor and City Council issued by Envision Spokane on May 16th laying out the legal reasons that a pre-election is out of line (A) and an open letter of support from Spokane organizations against a pre-election challenge (B) can be found on the Envision Spokane website:
A. Legal letter - http://www.envisionspokane.org/2011/8/31/open-letter-to-the-spokane-city-council-and-mayor-condon-from-envision-spokane
B. Organization support letter - http://www.envisionspokane.org/2011/8/31/open-letter-to-the-mayor-and-city-council
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