International Society for Krishna Consciousness of California Inc. v. City of Los Angeles

ORDER *

Appellees are religious and charitable groups who solicit funds at Los Angeles International Airport. The district court enjoined appellant City of Los Angeles from enforcing an ordinance that would have restricted appellees’ activities, concluding that it violated the Liberty of Speech Clause of the California Constitution. Cal. Const, art. I, § 2(a).

This case involves California plaintiffs and California defendants who disagree primarily over whether a California municipal ordinance violates the California Constitution. While we express no view whether appellees’ federal claims were sufficient to support the district court’s invocation of the principle of federal constitutional avoidance, we think it fair to say that the case raises “state law questions that present significant issues ... with important public policy ramifications.” Kremen v. Cohen, 314 F.3d 1127,1129 (9th Cir.2003). Whether the Liberty of Speech Clause of the California Constitution should be interpreted more expansively than the federal First Amendment in a context implicating substantial state police power interests is a question that would benefit from consideration by the state judiciary.…