The pro-Trump organization Women for America First has filed a lawsuit against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for denying them a permit to paint a street mural similar to the Black Lives Matter ones he has allowed all over the city.
As the Gateway Pundit previously reported, the organization had filed a formal request to paint the mural earlier this month.
“Today we (Women for America First) filed a formal request with Mayor de Blasio to paint our own mural on a NYC street just as Black Lives Matter did,”founder Amy Kremer told the Gateway Pundit. “Generally, permission to paint a mural on the street in New York city is within the discretion of Mayor de Blasio. However, once he allowed Black Lives Matter to paint a mural on a public NYC street, the Constitution–not de Blasio–dictates whether we are permitted to paint a mural of our own.”
“We look forward to hearing from the Mayor soon and hope that he will grant us the same permissions granted to BLM,” Kremer continued. “Should he not grant Women for America First permission, we immediately file a lawsuit against Mayor de Blosio and the City of New York.”
On Friday, Women for America First’s legal team announced that the lawsuit has been filed. They are being represented by Mike Yoder and Ron Coleman.
FILED — @RonColeman and I have filed a lawsuit against @NYCMayor regarding his failure to guarantee all Equal Protection under the Constitution.
If #BlackLivesMatter gets a mural, our client @america1stwomen, does too.
Case No: 1:20-cv-005746 (SDNY)
-Read the Complaint 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/FhVbPsGeGr— Mike Yoder (@Yoder_Esqq) July 24, 2020
The complaint argues that Black Lives Matter is clearly a political movement, noting that “in the summer of 2015, BLM activists became involved in the 2016 United States presidential election, its participants essentially unanimously supporting the Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.”
While de Blasio hasn’t directly responded to the request, he acknowledged receiving it during a press conference and made excuses for why he would not be approving it.
“When questioned about the request, defendant de Blasio stated that the Black Lives Matter movement ‘transcends any notion of politics,’ and he defended allowing the words to be painted on streets across the city while not approving similar mural requests from groups like the pro-cop Blue Lives Matter. ‘This is about something much bigger than any one group’ de Blasio added. ‘This is about righting a wrong and moving forward. So I think that’s the right approach,'” the lawsuit explains.
The complaint also referenced a New York Post article, which reported that when asked about painting a Blue Lives Matter mural in the street, City Hall spokeswoman Julia Arredondo said “It’s not open season to paint our streets. DOT has an application process, and requests must go through their site, not open letters.”
“For all lives to matter, we must first make clear that black lives matter. That is why we approved the murals and met those words with actions,” Arredondo said.
Yoder told Gateway Pundit at the time the request was filed that “the first three words of our Constitution are ‘We the People.’ It applies to all, regardless of political ideology. The abject failure of elected officials nationwide and refusal to uphold their duties in defending the Constitution are unprecedented. I refuse to allow our rights to be trampled by rogue, tyrannical leaders who grandstand on tragedy for political gain.”
