In a unanimous vote on Friday morning, LA City Council put a halt to City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto’s attempt to lift an injunction on LAPD’s use of force against journalists. The City Attorney’s office withdrew their misguided motion the same day.
On October 16, LAist reported that the Los Angeles Police Department and the City Attorney’s Office had petitioned to lift the order ahead of the No Kings protests planned for the weekend. The emergency motion by Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez directed the City Attorney to withdraw their filing, describing the attempt as “a waste of city resources and against the will of Angelenos at large.”
The federal injunction was issued in September by Judge Hernan Vera in response to a lawsuit by the Los Angeles Press Club over LAPD’s violent response to pro-immigrant protests in June and July, when LAPD intentionally targeted members of the press with projectiles despite their visible identification. Judge Vera described the lawsuit as “the latest chapter in a long and unfortunate saga of the LAPD’s use of unlawful force against members of the media.”
“City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto’s support for lifting the injunction barring the LAPD’s use of force against journalists covering protests, while unsurprising, is wholly oppositional to bedrock principles of democracy, including a free press and the public’s right to be informed about matters of public interest,” said National Lawyers Guild LA board member Carie Martin. “We are heartened to know that the City Council is prepared to act swiftly to ensure that journalists are not subject to state violence while fulfilling this vital democratic function.” National Lawyers Guild members are representing multiple protesters in lawsuits stemming from LAPD violence during this summer’s protests.
Police violence against the media has been a consistent pattern by LAPD and has resulted in many expensive settlements by the city. The request by Feldstein Soto was, in essence, to grant court permission for LAPD to continue that violence and the chilling effect on reporting that comes with it.
“While the federal government wages a campaign of fear against immigrants, our responsibility is to protect Angelenos — not to greenlight more violence against those who tell their stories” said Councilmember Hernandez in a statement to the press, hailing the vote as standing with journalism and the truth.
The Council motion also noted the high cost of police misconduct: more than $68 million in fiscal year 2024-25 alone. Reached for comment by Knock LA, Controller Kenneth Mejia wrote, “Shooting journalists with rubber bullets while they are covering protests is bad We’re glad that the City Council passed Councilmember Hernandez’ emergency motion today to protect people from harm and help prevent more liabilities that are making our City go broke.”
This is not Feldstein Soto’s first run-in with the press, having previously filed and lost a lawsuit to claw back police photographs that had been legally disclosed. Her office has also rocked by a whistleblower lawsuit alleging racial bias, drinking on the job, and retaliation against employees.
In addition to directing Feldstein Soto to withdraw her motion and calling on her to explain herself in a closed session, City Council also called for a report within 30 days on all proactive litigation that the City Attorney has engaged in without the Council or Mayor’s explicit direction since July 2024. This report would open the door to more direct investigation and oversight of the City Attorney’s decisions.
