Dubash v. City of Houston

On February 28, the Liberty Justice Center filed an amicus brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to hear two animal rights activists’ free speech lawsuit against the city of Houston.

The case was filed in September 2023 by activists Daraius Dubash and Faraz Harsini, who were repeatedly kicked out of Discovery Green, a public park in downtown Houston, by park staff and Houston police for exercising their constitutional rights to engage in free speech and to protest—simply because the park’s management found their peaceful advocacy against factory farming “offensive.”

In response to the lawsuit, the city of Houston argued that the park is owned by Discovery Green Conservancy—a nonprofit the city contracts with for the park’s operation—and that neither the nonprofit nor the city violated the activists’ constitutional rights. After a lower court ruled in the city’s favor, Dubash and Harsini appealed their case to the Fifth Circuit Court.

The Liberty Justice Center filed an amicus brief on the activists’ behalf on February 28, arguing that the Discovery Green Conservancy is in fact a state actor operating on the city of Houston’s behalf. The amicus brief notes that the Conservancy is performing a traditional state function, wielding governmental power delegated by the city, using municipal funds and municipal property, and even policed by off-duty officers of the Houston Police Department—all clear markers of government action. As a result, the brief argues, the city of Houston did violate the activists’ constitutional right to free speech and cannot avoid accountability by shifting the blame to a supposedly private entity, Discovery Green Conservancy.

The Liberty Justice Center’s amicus brief concludes by urging the Fifth Circuit Court to overturn the lower court’s decision and issue a decision that will prevent the city from abusing residents’ rights through shell corporations, without oversight or accountability.

“The district court’s decision blurs the line between state and private actors, creating dangerous opportunities for the government to contract away its constitutional obligations by abusing idiosyncratic corporate structures and masquerading as a private company,” said Reilly Stephens, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “The Fifth Circuit should hold the city of Houston accountable for its violation of the First Amendment.”

The Liberty Justice Center’s amicus brief in Dubash v. City of Houston is available here.