Posted on 05/28/2021 1:57:28 PM PDT by jazusamo
Judicial Watch Sues Chicago Mayor for Racial Discrimination Against Reporter
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Judicial Watch Sues Chicago Mayor for Racial Discrimination against Reporter
On May 18, 2021, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office informed multiple reporters that she would grant one-on-one interviews “ only to Black or Brown journalists .” The next day, the mayor released a letter doubling down on her discriminatory policy. Since that time, the Mayor has granted at least one interview request from a self-identified Latino reporter and none to white reporters.
Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Thomas Catenacci, a white male, emailed Mayor Lightfoot’s office requesting a one-on-one interview with the Mayor. The office never replied to the request or to two additional follow up emails from Catenacci.
In response, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Daily Caller News Foundation and Catenacci against the mayor for violating their First Amendment Rights and Catenacci’s right to equal protection under the Fourteenth Amendment ( Catenacci et al. v Lightfoot (No. 1:21-cv-02852)).
We filed suit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division. Christine Svenson of Svenson Law Offices in Chicago, Illinois, is assisting us with the lawsuit.
Our suit alleges that Mayor Lightfoot purposefully discriminated against Catenacci, “because of his race by stating that she would only grant interview requests from ‘journalists of color’….”
“Preventing journalists from doing our jobs in such a blatantly discriminatory way is wrong and does a disservice to our readers who come from all backgrounds,” said Daily Caller reporter Thomas Catenacci. “Every journalist and every person who consumes the news should be concerned by Mayor Lightfoot’s actions. This affects everyone. I look forward to holding the mayor accountable.”
“It’s absurd that an elected official believes she can discriminate on the basis of race. Mayor Lightfoot’s decision is clearly blocking press freedom through racial discrimination,” Daily Caller News Foundation Editor-in-Chief Ethan Barton said.
Racial discrimination has no place in America, especially in the halls of government. Mayor Lightfoot’s admitted policy of race-based discrimination is flagrantly illegal and immoral. Simply put, we’re asking the court to find Mayor Lightfoot’s racist abuse unlawful.
(Mr. Catenacci and I appeared on Fox News to discuss the lawsuit. You can view the report here.)
Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, small-business owner, and devout Trump supporter was shot and killed by an unidentified law enforcement officer as she attempted to climb through a broken interior window in the Capitol Building, located outside the Speaker’s Lobby off the House Floor, during the January 6 disturbance.
She was unarmed. At the time of the shooting, several officers reportedly can be seen in videos , standing in the crowd of protestors in which Babbitt was present.
The DC government is refusing to release information on the shooting, so we filed a District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit for police and medical examiner records concerning the U.S. Capitol Police shooting, including the police and medical examiner investigations ( Judicial Watch v. The District of Columbia (No. 2021 CA 001710 B)).
We sued in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia after the District of Columbia failed to respond to an April 8, 2021, FOIA request submitted to the Metropolitan Police Department and to an administrative appeal concerning an April 8, 2021, FOIA request to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The request to the police department asks for:
All records, including but not limited to investigative reports, photographs, witness statements, dispatch logs, schematics, ballistics, video footage, and MPD officials’ electronic communications, concerning the January 6, 2021, death of Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol Building and its related investigation.
The request to the Chief Medical Examiner asks for:
All records, including but not limited to autopsy reports, toxicology reports, notes, photographs, and OCME officials’ electronic communications, related to the death on Jan. 6, 2021, of Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol Building and its related investigation.
The normal course of action in a police-related shooting is to quickly inform the public of the details – but the lack of transparency in the killing of veteran Ashli Babbitt in the U.S. Capitol is unprecedented and obviously political. That we must file a lawsuit for basic information after five months of stonewalling is a scandal.
This is not our first lawsuit regarding January 6.
We recently sued the Pentagon and the U.S. Park Police for information on the deployment of troops and warnings about the January 6 U.S. Capitol disturbance.
In March 2021, we filed suit against the U.S. Department of Defense for records about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s January 8, 2021, telephone call with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.
Pressure from a March 2021 Judicial Watch lawsuit helped lead to the disclosure that Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died of natural causes .
In February 2021, we filed a lawsuit against the Capitol Police for emails and video related to the January 6 riot.
We obviously won’t let this go. As the corrupt political class here in DC advocates for a “commission,” you can trust Judicial Watch to do a thorough, honest, independent and hard-hitting investigation.
Off the Wall Ping!
Contact to be added.
All the Daily Caller News Foundation reporter Thomas Catenacci had to do was identify himself as black. Problem solved.
If a white mayor declared that she would only do interviews with white reporters, the story would lead the news and there would be unanimous sentiment that the dangerous racist resign and/or be imprisoned.
So true, I guess this sorry excuse of a mayor thinks she’s special.
our government and cultural and media have made her untouchable...a black female.
Hopefully lawsuits will help stop some of this behavior but considering the cowardly judges, who knows!
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