Racial justice

Sidley Prevails as Minnesota Federal Judge Orders Discovery to Proceed in High-Profile Media Rights Case

Sidley won a major victory in our representation of photojournalist Linda Tirado, who was blinded in one eye by a rubber bullet while covering the protests in Minneapolis. In February 2021, a judge denied motions to dismiss related to a lawsuit filed by Sidley on behalf of Ms. Tirado. In doing so, the judge’s ruling set important precedent in two key areas related to the constitutional rights of journalists covering breaking news.

First, the court ruled that Ms. Tirado properly alleged a continuing, widespread, and persistent pattern of misconduct. Citing extensive 8th Circuit precedent, the Defendants argued that the court can only consider similar incidents (i.e., the misuse of projectiles) and that those incidents are not numerous enough to meet the legal definition of a “custom.” However, the court held, although the timeframe for the conduct was a single continuous police operation, that Ms. Tirado sufficiently alleged “widespread unlawful conduct of a period of time long enough to put the City on notice.”

Secondly, the union president argued that a conspiracy was not properly pled because the facts alleged only communication to the city but not the city’s response. The court, however, considered the union president’s position of influence over the policies and culture within the MPD to support a clear inference that the City or the officer defendants “acquiesced to [the union president’s] demands.” The court noted that establishing clear two-way communication furthering the conspiracy between the union president and the MPD will be a critical aspect of discovery.

Both of these issues were carefully briefed and argued on both sides, providing the judge with a full picture of the relevant legal issues and the ability to rule in favor of Ms. Tirado.

In an appearance on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” to discuss the case, Sidley partner Tai-Heng Cheng said: “The U.S. Constitution is clear: you simply do not shoot journalists covering civil protests. It is fundamentally un-American. And we brought this lawsuit for Linda because it's really important, we think, to establish that principle.”

This case has been widely covered in the media, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Law360, Bloomberg Law, Reuters, TMZ, Editor & Publisher, and Business Insider, which noted that Ms. Tirado was represented by lawyers “at the powerhouse firm Sidley Austin.” The Sidley team comprises lawyers from across the firm’s litigation and regulatory practices. In February 2021, AmLaw Litigation Daily gave Litigator of the Week Shout-Out honors to Tai-Heng Cheng and Margaret Allen for their work on the motion to dismiss.

#WhileWeBreathe: A Night of Creative Protest

The Greater Los Angeles office provided pro bono legal representation to develop #WhileWeBreathe: A Night of Creative Protest, a one-night-only event to benefit civil rights organizations. This event evolved as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) artists and allies were looking for ways to get involved at a time when the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery brought greater attention to social justice issues.

Ensuring Just Policing Practices and School Admissions Policies

Sidley represents the ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts as part of the Living While Black on Campus – Massachusetts Colleges/Universities Initiative. Through this initiative, ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts created the Racially Just Policing Model Policy, which focuses on providing best practices to be used, in the first instance, by higher education institutions in Massachusetts and their campus police departments. The policy will be used as a model for all colleges and universities nationally in the quest to ensure just policing practices are implemented and to reduce incidents of racial profiling on college campuses. Sidley’s Boston and New York offices contributed to the model policy.

“Sidley had the distinct honor of assisting ACLU Foundation of Massachusetts with its Living While Black on Campus – Massachusetts Colleges and Universities Initiative,” said Sidley counsel Doreen Rachal. “ACLU has created an impactful mechanism — the Racially Just Policing Model Policy — that, when implemented by higher education institutions nationally, will inevitably change the landscape and help to address the unjust experiences of staff, students, and guests of color who have been targets of racial profiling on campuses from coast to coast. The Model Policy provides a phenomenal and thoughtful framework that will certainly provide meaningful opportunities to address racial profiling and will hopefully help to eradicate a primary area of concern that has had an extraordinary daily impact on people of color throughout the United States.”

Sidley also represents the NAACP Boston Branch along with several other community organizations and individuals in a matter seeking to uphold an interim admissions plan for Boston’s highly selective public high schools. The interim plan allows for students across the City of Boston to compete for an opportunity to attend one of these schools and promotes geographic, neighborhood, and racial diversity. The plaintiff in this matter alleged that the interim plan is unconstitutional because the defendants considered race as a factor when developing the plan. The District Court judge in Massachusetts recently issued a decision upholding the interim plan as constitutional and finding that the policy is rationally related to a compelling government interest — diversity. The matter is currently before the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

“We proudly represent the defendant intervenors in this matter,” Rachal said. “The recent decisions issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals and the District of Massachusetts relating to the Boston Public School District’s interim admissions plan has provided students across the City of Boston opportunities to compete for spots at the highly selective schools. These are historic decisions that support the use of race as a factor when governmental bodies develop policies without triggering strict scrutiny review. These decisions will have a positive impact on education equity in Boston and throughout the United States for years to come and will have a life changing impact on students throughout the City of Boston.”

Law Firm Antiracism Alliance

Sidley is a founding member of the Law Firm Antiracism Alliance (LFAA), a partnership between several private law firms established in June 2020 to identify and dismantle structural racism through large-scale pro bono projects that seek to change laws and policies that perpetuate racial injustice. Sidley lawyers and staff are actively involved in moving LFAA’s mission and efforts forward. To date, more than 20 Sidley lawyers have signed up for at least one of LFAA’s 16 working groups. For Sidley, our allyship with LFAA and support of its work is an extension of our longstanding commitment and work to address racial and social justice issues.