DC’s Citywide Protest Curfew Was Constitutional, Court Affirms

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser’s citywide curfew in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and ensuing Black Lives Matter protests was a constitutional restriction on speech, a federal appellate court said on Friday.

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed with a lower court that the curfew was constitutionally valid because it was a facially-neutral time, place and manner restriction. The curfew was implemented in response to vandalism and looting that occurred at the same time as peaceful protest, the court said in a per curium opinion.

“Throughout our history, the people and groups that make ...