The Los Angeles City Council Friday urged City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto to withdraw an emergency motion her team filed that attempted to lift a federal judge’s order restricting Los Angeles Police Department officers from using crowd control weapons on journalists.
In a 12-0 vote, the City Council instructed the City Attorney to withdraw her request with the court. The Los Angeles Times reported that the city attorney’s legal team later complied, informing the court it was pulling back its request.
Council members Eunisses Hernandez, Hugo Soto-Martinez, Monica Rodriguez and Ysabel Jurado introduced the motion pursuant to Rule 23, allowing elected officials to act on an item not posted on its agenda for the meeting if it determines by a two-thirds vote that the need for such action was necessitated by an emergency.
Representatives for Feldstein Soto’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The council’s action came in response to a report from LAist that LAPD and city attorneys filed an emergency motion Wednesday asking a judge to lift an injunction on officers restricting the use of force against journalists ahead of major “No Kings Day” protests planned across Los Angeles Saturday.
“Journalism is under attack in this country — from the Trump Administration’s revocation of press access to the Pentagon to corporate consolidation of local newsrooms,” Hernandez said in a statement. “The answer cannot be for Los Angeles to join that assault by undermining court-ordered protections for journalists. The press must remain free, and our city must never spend public dollars to suppress accountability.”
Council members further requested an emergency closed session to discuss the issue and to hear guidance from city attorneys and receive regular updates on the matter.
Additionally, council members requested the City Attorney to report in 30 days with information on all proactive litigation the office has moved forward without explicit direction from the City Council or mayor since July 1, 2024, to date.
In fiscal year 2024-25, the city paid more than $68 million in liability costs due to LAPD actions that resulted in bodily harm to journalists and protesters. Since protests against the Trump administration’s immigration raids began in June, at least 60 claims have been filed against the LAPD for use of force.
The injunction at issue, issued by Judge Hernán Vera of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, found that the LAPD had used “unlawful force against members of the media” during demonstrations documenting police actions against immigrant communities, according to Hernandez’s office.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson explained there’s a lot of concerns about the weekend’s protests.
“I think the City Attorney’s Office is trying to respond to that, but as the member said, it’s appropriate for the City Attorney’s Office to confer with this body, either as a whole or we have a Public Safety Committee. We have a public safety chair. We have a pro tempore. We have a council president. We have individual members.”
“This motion seeks to press that point to the city attorney in a way that’s public and on the record. This does not bind our city in any way. It simply says the city attorney needs to confer with the governing body of the city, which is the Los Angeles City Council,” Harris-Dawson added.
Councilwoman Rodriguez emphasized the issue is not an isolated situation.
“This is a behavior that is not just been exemplified by the city attorney, but it’s been exemplified by other executive branch activities as well,” Rodriguez said. “So, I really hope that this is a body that will continue to now put the path forward to exercising its authority in this role.”
The city attorney’s legal team attempted to obtain a temporary stay of order, citing previous arguments that the order was overly broad and extended protections to “any journalist” in the city. They also claimed the order bars officers from using less lethal munitions against journalists and nonviolent protesters, which creates “undefined and operational impracticable standards that expose the city and its officers to contempt for good-faith actions taken to protect the public.”
While officials for Mayor Karen Bass did not answer additional questions about the issue, the mayor issued the following statement:
“My office fully supports the right of Angelenos to make their voices heard through peaceful protest. We expect demonstrations this weekend to be safe, respectful, and consistent with the rights guaranteed to every resident under the Constitution. As always, the Los Angeles Police Department is expected to uphold those same rights — ensuring public safety while protecting the freedoms of expression and assembly and the rights of the press. We encourage everyone participating to stay peaceful and look out for one another.”