A federal judge in Orange County dismissed a lawsuit on Monday filed by a woman who alleged Huntington Beach improperly removed her from its Citizen Participation Advisory Board over photos showing she attended a 2019 political rally.
Former boardmember Shayna Lathus filed the lawsuit in April against the city of Huntington Beach after she was removed from the citizens’ board by Mayor Kimberly Carr in the wake of the rally. Carr initially appointed Lathus to the board while she was serving on the Huntington Beach City Council.
The photos at the center of the controversy showed Lathus—a local middle school teacher and former Democratic candidate for city council—standing near several individuals characterized by critics as “Antifa.”
Antifa, short for anti-fascists, is a left-wing, decentralized political movement whose autonomous supporters frequent right-wing marches and rallies.
Lathus reportedly joined an April 2019 counter-protest to an anti-immigration rally along the Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach. Her complaint stated that she wore a shirt bearing the slogan “Bridges, Not Walls,” and joined in chants supporting progressive immigration policy.
A “handful of black-garbed Antifa [members]… their faces obscured by masks” also participated in the counter-protest, according to The Orange County Register.
After the rally, photos of Lathus standing near alleged Antifa members surfaced online. Huntington Beach resident Craig Frampton created a Change.org petition demanding her removal from the citizens’ board, accusing Lathus of being aligned with “masked domestic terrorists.”
Lathus’ “associations with radical violent groups, while constitutionally protected, has [sic] no place in our local city government in my opinion,” Frampton wrote.
Frampton is a vocal participant on numerous social media pages devoted to Huntington Beach city politics. He has himself weathered criticism for posting selfies promoting the Confederate flag and reportedly calling for the recall of Huntington Beach’s first Black city councilmember, Rhonda Bolton, before she took her post earlier this year.
According to The Register, about 1,000 people signed Frampton’s petition, many from outside Huntington Beach.
Lathus alleged Carr later called her and requested that she issue a statement on social media “denouncing” Antifa. Two days after the rally, Lathus complied—writing that while she supported immigrants’ rights, she was unaware Antifa would be at the event and denied engaging with the group.
Lathus alleged Carr later told her that statement did not sufficiently denounce Antifa and asked her to resign from the board. Lathus was unaware Carr had reportedly already removed her from the board, posting to social media that “those that do not immediately denounce hateful, violent groups do not share my values and will not be a part of my team.”
Although the court found that Lathus’ First Amendment rights to assembly and political speech were protected, it affirmed Carr’s right to remove her own political appointees.
“Carr was politically entitled, as a prerogative of her position as a council member, to appoint the person who would best represent her views and interests,” the court order said. “Carr was permitted to consider the political ramifications not only when she decided to appoint plaintiff but also when she later elected to remove her from the public position.”
As for Lathus, the court acknowledged she “unquestionably was exercising her constitutional rights,” but ruled “such exercise [did not] immunize her from the political fallout of her actions.”
Lathus’ attorney told The Register their client intends to appeal the ruling.
“We intend to appeal, not just to vindicate Ms. Lathus’ rights, but to discourage Huntington Beach and other cities from forcing volunteers and employees to make public statements and refrain from expressing opinions when those free speech activities have nothing to do with their duties,” she said Monday.
Huntington Beach officials declined to comment. KNX 1070 has reached out to Lathus for comment.
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