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 For Immediate Release
Oct 3, 2001 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172


JUDICIAL WATCH VICTORY: COURT RULES CIVIL RIGHTS LAWSUIT AGAINST RENO CAN PROCEED

RENO SUED OVER ELIAN RAID BY HURT PROTESTORS

Court Says Reno Can Be Held Personally Liable for Conduct of Elian Raid

(Washington, DC) A federal court in Miami ruled yesterday that a civil rights lawsuit over last year’s raid of the home of the relatives of Elian Gonzalez may proceed against Janet Reno. The Court denied the U.S. government’s claims that Reno should be immune from personal liability for harm caused by the raid. The lawsuit was brought by Judicial Watch on behalf of those peaceful protestors who were beaten, gassed, clubbed, threatened with guns, and cursed at by law enforcement agents carrying out Reno’s orders to snatch Elian Gonzalez so that he could be returned to communist Cuba. The ruling was issued by the Honorable K. Michael Moore. The case will now proceed to discovery, which means that Ms. Reno will be deposed in the matter by Judicial Watch.

In rejecting Reno’s claim of “qualified immunity,” Judge Moore ruled:

The law was clearly established that governmental restriction of expressive conduct violated the First Amendment if the restriction was motivated by the speaker’s message. Likewise, a reasonable officer in Reno’s position would know that the law forbade her from directing the execution of a warrant in a manner that called for unjustified force against bystanders...Defendant’s argument relating to her entitlement to qualified immunity adopts a construction of the alleged wrongful conduct, and of the corresponding right to be free from such wrongful conduct, which relies on circumstances not established in the pleadings.
“This is an important victory for the patriotic Cuban-American community which has put its faith in America’s judicial system to hold Janet Reno accountable for the violent raid which hurt those peaceful protestors praying that Elian would remain free in America rather than in chains in communist Cuba,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.

“Janet Reno can run for governor, as is her right. But she can’t run from the law – or from Judicial Watch,” added Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

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