Here comes another federal court order.

I’m posting this and similar orders so that readers can see these primary documents themselves.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Simon in Portland issued a 22-page order on Tuesday at least temporarily haltlmh the use of tear gas, pepper balls, and related weapons in the absence of “an imminent threat of physical harm to a law enforcement officer or other person.”

Simon found that ICE agents had engaged in “persistent, excessive, and targeted violence” against peaceful demonstrators, journalists, and observers that violated their constitutional rights, including attacks on peaceful protestors during a demonstration over the weekend.

His order begins with a summary statement.

In a well-functioning constitutional democratic republic, free speech, courageous newsgathering, and nonviolent protest are all permitted, respected, and even celebrated. In an authoritarian regime, that is not the case. Our nation is now at a crossroads. We have been here
before and have previously returned to the right path, notwithstanding an occasional detour. In helping our nation find its constitutional compass, an impartial and independent judiciary operating under the rule of law has a responsibility that it may not shirk. For that reason, and as more fully explained below, the Court grants Plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary restraining order.

Later, he discussed the importance of the First Amendment rights at issue.

The public interest in protecting First Amendment rights cannot be overemphasized. Freedom of speech, including through political protest, is “one of the chief distinctions that sets us apart from totalitarian regimes.” As the Ninth Circuit has recognized, “robust political discourse within a traditional public forum is the lifeblood of a democracy.” Protest particularly serves this core democratic function “when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger.” Indeed, the First Amendment tolerates societal “trouble” caused by protest because “our history says that it is this sort of hazardous freedom—this kind of openness—that is the basis of our national strength.” [legal citations omitted]

Simon’s temporary restraining order consists of three prohibitions:

a. No Enjoined Person may direct or use chemical or projectile munitions, including but not limited to kinetic impact projectiles, pepper ball or paintball guns, pepper or oleoresin capsicum spray, tear gas or other chemical irritants, soft nose rounds, 40mm or 37mm launchers, less lethal shotguns, and flashbang, Stinger, or rubber ball grenades, unless the specific target of such a weapon or device poses an imminent threat of physical harm to a law enforcement officer or other person.

b. No Enjoined Person may fire any munitions or use any weapons (including those described above) at the head, neck, or torso of any person, unless the officer is legally justified in using deadly force against that person.

c. No Enjoined Person may target any individual with a less lethal munition, if doing so would endanger any other individual who does not pose an imminent threat of physical harm to a law enforcement officer or other person. For purposes of illustration only, no Enjoined Person may use chemical or projectile munitions in response to trespassing, refusal to move, or refusal to obey a dispersal order.

The temporary restraining order applies until a scheduled hearing in his court in two weeks.

The full order appears below.