By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court has ruled unanimously that the Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and gun rights champion Alan Gottlieb can move forward with their civil rights lawsuit against former Washington state Attorney General, now Governor Bob Ferguson.
The decision said the district court committed an “abuse of discretion” when it dismissed the lawsuit without allowing the plaintiffs to amend their complaint in response to Ferguson’s motion to dismiss. As noted by the court, “Plaintiffs sought leave to amend the complaint in response to Defendants’ motion to dismiss. The district court dismissed Plaintiffs’ claims without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and entered judgment the same day. The order contains no discussion of leave to amend. Under these circumstances, dismissal without prejudice ended the case because the district court allowed no opportunity to amend.
“Because the district court denied leave to amend and failed to explain why it did so,” the decision says a few lines later, “we…hold that the denial of leave to amend here was an abuse of discretion.”
The panel consisted of Circuit Judges Ronald M. Gould and Morgan Christen, and Senior Circuit Judge Richard C. Tallman. Gould and Tallman are Bill Clinton appointees and Christen is a Barack Obama appointee.
Gottlieb told TGM, “Thanks to the unanimous ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, our lawsuit against former attorney general and now Governor Bob Ferguson, for his attack in our First Amendment rights, can now move forward. I can’t wait for discovery, interrogatories and depositions.”
Gottlieb filed suit more than two years ago after then AG Ferguson’s office had opened an investigation into SAF activities. Rather than balk and fight, Gottlieb and his wife cooperated with the investigation. When there was no clear explanation of what might have been a problem, the lawsuit was filed, asserting that it was essentially a politically-motivated effort to interfere with SAF activities. Ferguson is a strong gun control proponent, who pushed for bans on so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines” in Washington state. Gottlieb has publicly criticized him in recent years over Second Amendment issues.
