DC Officials Selectively Arrested Pro-Lifers While Ignoring 2020 BLM Activists: Appeals Court

A federal appeals court has ruled that officials in the Washington D.C. local government could be sued for selectively enforcing a property defacement statute to punish pro-life activists who wrote a pro-life message in chalk on a city sidewalk, while ignoring similar but more permanent actions by Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at a news conference at the John Wilson Building in Washington on March 14, 2022. Alex Wong/Getty Images

A federal appeals court has ruled that officials in the Washington D.C. local government could be sued for selectively enforcing a property defacement statute to punish pro-life activists who wrote a pro-life message in chalk on a city sidewalk, while ignoring similar but more permanent actions by Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists.

In the summer of 2020, D.C. police arrested two pro-life activists for chalking “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter” on a public sidewalk. The arrests came as BLM activists were painting their own activist messages throughout the city—but without facing similar enforcement measures.