Navratil v. City of Racine

Plaintiffs filed a lawsuit alleging multiple claims against the City of Racine and its mayor, including First Amendment retaliation and defamation, relating to the city’s decision not to award a grant during the Covid-19 pandemic to the plaintiffs’ LLC because plaintiff had attended a rally at the Wisconsin State Capitol protesting the state’s Safer at Home Order that restricted public gatherings, travel, and business operations. The district court magistrate judge granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants and plaintiffs appealed. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, finding that the district court did not err when it granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants where there was no genuine issue of material fact on any of the plaintiffs’ claims. The appellate court explained that plaintiff’s participation in the rally was not a protected First Amendment activity because the rally was prohibited by valid time, place, and manner restrictions, that there was no evidence that the denial of the grant was politically motivated, that plaintiffs were not deprived of any constitutionally protected property or liberty interest, and that the allegedly defamatory statements were substantially true. (KIRSCH and PRYOR, concurring)