Judge denies Oregon a restraining order

PORTLAND, Ore. — A U.S. judge on Friday denied an order sought by Oregon’s top law enforcement officer to restrict federal agents’ actions when they arrest people during nightly protests that have roiled Portland and pitted local officials against the Trump administration.

Demonstrators in the progressive city have taken to the streets to oppose racial injustice since George Floyd’s death by Minneapolis police two months ago, and they have often spiraled into violence. President Donald Trump said he sent in federal agents early this month to quell the unrest despite outcry from Democratic leaders in Oregon. Federal agents have arrested dozens of people.

U.S. District Judge Michael

Mosman said the state lacked standing to sue on behalf of protesters because of the lawsuit was a “highly unusual one with a particular set of rules.”

The state sued on behalf of its residents and was seeking a restraining order not for injuries that had already happened but to prevent injuries by federal agents in the future. That combination makes the standard for granting such a motion very narrow, and Oregon did not prove it had standing in the case, Mosman wrote.

Legal experts who reviewed the case before the ruling warned that he could reject it on those grounds. A lawsuit from an individual who alleged federal agents violated their freedom of speech or rights against unconstitutional search and seizure would have a much higher chance of success, Michael Dorf, a professor of constitutional law at Cornell University, said ahead of the ruling.