Judge: Black Lives Matter is a movement, can’t be sued
A police officer anonymously sued Black Lives Matter and DeRay Mckesson, a prominent Baltimore-based activist in the movement, after being injured by a rock thrown during a protest over a deadly police shooting in Baton Rouge last year.
But U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson dismissed the officer’s suit and ruled that Black Lives Matter is not an entity capable of being sued. “Although many entities have utilized the phrase ‘black lives matter’ in their titles or business designations, ‘Black Lives Matter’ itself is not an entity of any sort,” Jackson wrote in his 24-page ruling.
The judge also concluded that the officer’s own claims demonstrated that Mckesson “solely engaged in protected speech” at the July 9, 2016, demonstration, which followed the fatal shooting of Alton Sterling, a black man, by a white Baton Rouge police officer.
“It’s clear that I did nothing wrong that day and that the police were the only violent people in the streets,” Mckesson said Thursday after learning of the judge’s ruling. “The movement began as a call to end violence. and that call remains the same today.”
The officer’s attorney, Donna Grodner, didn’t immediately respond to a call and email seeking comment.
Grodner also filed a separate suit against Black Lives Matter and Mckesson on behalf of a sheriff’s deputy wounded by a gunman who shot and killed three other law enforcement officers in Baton Rouge last summer. That suit, which is pending before the same federal judge, accuses Black Lives Matter and five of its leaders of inciting violence that led to the deadly ambush.
Mckesson was one of nearly 200 protesters arrested after Sterling’s shooting death, on a charge of obstructing a highway. The district attorney declined to prosecute roughly 100 protesters who were arrested on that same charge, including Mckesson. Mckesson and other protesters have since sued the city of Baton Rouge and local law enforcement officials over their arrests, accusing police of using excessive force and violating their constitutional rights.
Grodner had argued that Black Lives Matter is an “unincorporated association” that can be held liable for her client’s injuries.