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Ochs v. District of Columbia

Filing Date: 2019
Case Categories:
  • Climate Change Protesters and Scientists
    • Protesters
Principal Laws:
First Amendment Assemblies Act, D.C. Code—Criminal Offenses and Penalties
Description: Prosecution of two climate change protestors for crowding, obstructing, or incommoding a street after being warned to cease.
  • Ochs v. District of Columbia
    Docket number(s): 19-CT-625 and 19-CT-648
    Court/Admin Entity: D.C.
    Case Documents:
    Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary
    09/02/2021 Opinion Download Convictions affirmed. D.C. Appellate Court Upheld Climate Protestors’ Convictions. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed two individuals’ convictions for crowding, obstructing, or incommoding a street after being warned to cease. A witness testified that the individuals were participating in a climate change protest directed at the Republican National Committee. The court held that provisions of D.C.’s First Amendment Assemblies Act on which the defendants relied did not apply to the Capitol Police. The provisions required the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to seek voluntary compliance when enforcing time, place, and manner restrictions and limited circumstances in which MPD could issue general orders to disperse. The appellate court also found that evidence was sufficient to support the convictions and rejected the argument that their convictions required proof of breach of the peace.

© 2023 · Sabin Center for Climate Change Law · U.S. Litigation Chart made in collaboration with Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP

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