Minutemen can’t march in parade

Judge rejects lawsuit by anti-immigration group seeking to force its way into Patriots Day event.FOR THE RECORD

The sub-headline in a story in the Feb. 10 issue, “Minutemen can’t march in parade,” inaccurately described the Minuteman Project as anti-immigration.

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An Orange County Superior Court Judge ruled Tuesday that the Laguna Beach Patriots Day Parade Assn. has the legal right to decide who marches in the event.

Judge Michael Brenner denied a Minuteman Project request for a temporary restraining order to force the association to allow the Minutemen into the parade. He also refused to set a hearing date for a motion for preliminary injunction.

The judge deemed it unlikely that the Minuteman group could prevail on the merits of the case, so setting a hearing would be, in the judge’s words, “a waste of time,” association attorney Gene Gratz reported.

“This is as good as it gets,” Gratz said. “Under decisions in the U.S. and California State Supreme Courts, the parade has the right of free speech, which means not only the right to say what you want, but also the right not to say what you don’t want.”

Minuteman attorney Richard Ackerman said Thursday that his firm is prepared to file an appeal if his client wishes.

“The Parade Assn. is being incredibly hypocritical, and it is more likely than not to be appealed,” Ackerman said of the decision. “The core principle is very important.”

Ackerman’s argument to the court was that the Parade Assn. is discriminating against the Minuteman Project by not permitting the group in the parade.

Ackerman claimed his conservative clients “will win whether we win or lose,” because a ruling in the Parade Assn.’s favor would uphold the right of conservative groups to prohibit gays and lesbians.

“They [the Parade Assn.] could try to settle with us, because otherwise their arrogance will end up hurting their own constituents, and I think that’s fantastic,” Ackerman said.

The association had rejected the Minuteman Project application because it is a political group and out of sync with the parade’s goal of uniting the community, association members said.

Minuteman demonstrations at the day-labor site on Laguna Canyon Road has been disruptive and required police presence, said parade spokesman Charles Quilter III, a retired U.S. Marine Corps pilot and historian.

“I have friends on both sides, so I have tried to remain neutral,” Laguna Beach resident and parade participant David Connell said.

“Our association does not take a position on illegal immigration,” Quilter said. “We have never criticized the Minuteman Project, and we never will. It’s just that it is a political organization.

“And even if it weren’t, we have the right to keep anyone out of the parade that does not meet our goal, which is to unify the community.”

The suit named as defendants the parade association, the city of Laguna Beach and two nonprofit organizations.

City officials were never served with the suit but the city’s law firm, Rutan and Tucker, participated in the hearing Tuesday.

-- Cindy Frazier contributed to this story.