Had the DA simply charged them with painting the street without a permit (whatever the relevant ordinance would be for that), then she might have been in the clear, but that’s not what she’s done. The lack of a permit, and the fact that the BLM painters apparently did have a permit, is the only legal difference here. Anything beyond that has only to do with the specific message that each group sought to express, and while I am far from an attorney I believe that the courts have uniformly frowned upon government discriminating between groups on free speech grounds, based only upon their message.
The only way I think the couple might be in trouble is if a court or jury interprets their action as only seeking to obliterate someone else’s message, rather than adding their own. They probably should have painted their own message next to the BLM “mural”, or at the very least altered the lettering to create a different message.
21 May: The Federalist: Californa Democrats Try To Legalize Racial Discrimination During Pandemic
Majorities of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans disapprove of racial preferences, yet the California State Assembly is advancing just such a measure in the middle of a pandemic.
By Kenny Xu
(Kenny Xu, who works for Young America’s Foundation)
It was instantly clear that Weber had been preparing during the pandemic to push this bill through as quickly as possible, as the hearing in the Labor Committee was accompanied by nearly 100 on-script leftist California organizations calling in to say how “strongly” they supported ACA-5, despite the legislature having not even debated the measure yet...
Why would liberal Democrats try to pass this bill now, in the middle of a pandemic? Perhaps they hoped no one would notice, but people are noticing...
It really does appear that after 25 years, voters of all backgrounds are wise to Democrats’ race game...
Besides leftists, who exactly does that leave in support of race or sex preferences? The answer is almost no one. The California Democrats who try to advance this ridiculous bill in the middle of a pandemic are shooting themselves in the foot...
https://thefederalist.com/2020/05/21/californa-democrats-try-to-legalize-racial-discrimination-during-pandemic/
petition keeps disappearing within seconds when I open it. maybe it will open ok for others.
Petition: Change.org: Vote No On Proposition 16 (ACA-5)!
136,189 have signed so far
https://www.change.org/p/california-state-assembly-members-vote-no-to-aca-5
12 Jun: OC Register Op-ed: ACA 5 threatens a civil rights setback for California
by Shawn Steel
(Shawn Steel serves as California’s committeeman on the Republican National Committee)
“ACA 5 is ill-conceived and will inflict great harm upon many Californians,” warns Ward Connerly, a former regent of the University of California and the founder of the American Civil Rights Institute. “Of equal importance is the inherent link between equality and freedom. Without equality, we leave our pursuit of opportunity in the hands of an ever-growing government to make decisions about our lives on the basis of our identities.”
Connerly, who authored the California Civil Rights Initiative in 1996, mobilized a diverse coalition of Californians who see race based discrimination as a setback for racial equality...
If the Legislature sends the measure to the ballot, it is likely to face strident opposition from Asian Americans. The organized and fierce opposition of the 15 percent of the electorate, of AP voters in California could shift several congressional and legislative political races into the Republican column. “Asian-Americans will take the lead in opposing ACA-5,” observes John Fund, National Review’s national-affairs reporter. “Among Asian Americans, the opposition is 2 to 1 against.”
https://www.ocregister.com/2020/06/12/aca-5-threatens-a-civil-rights-setback-for-california/