Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Constitution protects American’s freedom of expression, religion and their right “peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Those rights are what Curran and local businesses are nodding to when they label their actions a “peaceful protest.” And I suppose that expresses my disagreement with the laws against bank robbery, but nobody’s going to say that robbing a bank is expressive conduct.” “The mere fact that you are violating the law does not automatically mean that you are expressing opposition to the law,” said Aaron Caplan, a professor at LMU Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who teaches First Amendment law. ![]() We know protests are typically people holding signs and walking around a government building, but we found a way to take that form of protest and apply it here.”īut other legal experts, and the people tasked with enforcing the order, disagree with that interpretation. “We’re calling it a constitutionally protected peaceful protest. “Constitutional rights don’t go away in the event of the pandemic,” he said. Curran has been encouraging businesses to open and follow protocols like requiring customers to wear masks indoors and to call it a peaceful protest. Those businesses have been aided and cheered on by people like Supervisor Jim Desmond, who encouraged them to violate the rules and has argued restaurants and other businesses should be allowed to open, and attorney Michael Curran, who represents several businesses countywide and nearly 60 in Carlsbad that are pushing back against state guidelines. ![]() Signs outside of Oak + Elixir and Mas Fina Cantina, for example, read: “This space is being used as a peaceful protest to protect the rights of restaurants and small businesses.” Caldo Pomodoro is one of several restaurants in Carlsbad remaining open despite state and county restrictions against in-person dining. Many of them insist they’re simply engaging in a “peaceful protest” against the restrictions and have suggested that labeling their defiance as such means they’re not actually violating the rules. Carlsbad is notable for having such a high concentration of restaurants openly, publicly flouting the rules. There are, of course, other restaurants around the county that are defying the orders – but many of those places appear to be quietly offering indoor dining or maintaining that they’re only offering to-go services while passively allowing to diners to use outdoor tables. Restaurants like Oak + Elixir, Vigilucci’s Cucina Italiana, Shorehouse Kitchen, The Compass, Mas Fina Cantina, Cluckheads and the Daily News Café have nonetheless been open for on-site outdoor dining. It would have been a quintessentially California scene – sunshine, open-air dining, bartenders pouring beers and the ocean humming in the background – if it weren’t also a violation of the state’s stay-at-home orders, which forbid counties in the purple tier of coronavirus restrictions from operating indoor and outdoor dining. On a recent Thursday afternoon, restaurants up and down State Street in Carlsbad had their doors open to customers. Mas Fina Cantina is one of several restaurants in Carlsbad remaining open despite state and county restrictions.
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