PORTLAND, Ore. (Legal Newsline) – Evidence has become a problem for Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who initially used footage of an arrest in San Diego to prove federal authorities are arresting protesters in Portland without reason.
Her lawsuit, called “highly unusual” by the federal judge hearing it, is against federal authorities faced with protesters in Portland and is off to a rocky start. Rosenblum has lost her bid for a temporary restraining order and had to apologize to the court for using footage from California.
The gaffe did not factor in Judge Michael Mosman’s decision, which found that Rosenblum lacks evidence to support an injunction against future police brutality and seizures. She has so far failed to introduce enough material to prove unlawful arrests are currently happening in Portland in a four-block area that has become the center of protests following the death of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis.
The area contains a federal courthouse, which is why Homeland Security, Customers and Border Protection, the U.S. Marshals and Federal Protective Service are involved.
Rosenblum’s motion for a temporary restraining order contained references to three videos, with the third showing police seizing a woman and putting her in a van.
Rosenblum’s motion said: “The identity of the woman is not known to the Attorney General. The Attorney General must assume the Defendants were responsible, based on the similarity of the tactics in that second video to those in the first… Without the ‘POLICE’ marking on the assailants’ vests, the video would appear to be of an armed kidnapping.”
But the video was shot in San Diego, a fact that became known to Rosenblum after it was included in her motion. On July 21, she filed a notice withdrawing it as evidence and apologized to the court and opposing lawyers.
“This error was unintentional and thought to have been of an event that occurred in Portland, Oregon,” the notice said.
Rosenblum’s staff was likely confused by the tweet that accompanied the video. Red Nation Rising posted the video on its Twitter account with the message: “I could watch this all day… Antifa terrorized Portland for 51 days and are now screaming about Feds rounding them up and putting them in undisclosed locations. I have ZERO sympathy.”
Without the video, that left Rosenblum with only two others to rely on as evidence. That wasn’t enough for Judge Mosman to declare that federal authorities are frequently arresting protesters without cause and that an injunction is needed to stop similar activity.
“The State could try to show, for example, that all of Defendants’ seizures are illegal, or that they are under orders to fail to identify themselves or to make random arrests without probable cause,” Mosman wrote.
“The State has shown none of this. It has presented no evidence of any official orders or policies and has presented no evidence that these allegedly illegal seizures are a widespread practice.
“Despite the broad language in the complaint, Oregon has shown – at most – that this type of seizure has happened twice.”