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A content-neutral order regulating demonstrations, distributions, solicitation and other expressive activity in and around court facilities: no prohibited activity within a courthouse or its curtilage, or within 25 feet of a courthouse doorway or of where a walkway meets the public sidewalk; no obstructing or harassing people entering or leaving; no approaching within 8 feet of people waiting in line; limits on amplification; exclusions; severability; delegation to the Supervising Judge; compliance with law enforcement; posting and service; and penalties. Supersedes 2023-GEN-005-00.
California > Second Appellate District > Los Angeles County > Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles
2025-GEN-004-00 FILED Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles JANUARY 2, 2025 David W. Slayton, Executive Officer/Clerk of Court By: R. Mina, Deputy SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES EXPRESSIVE ACTIVITY GENERAL ORDER (SUPERSEDING 2023-GEN-005-00) It is the purpose and intent of the Court in issuing this General Order to ensure the safe and orderly use of court facilities and to minimize activities that unreasonably disrupt, interrupt, or interfere with the orderly and peaceable conduct of court business in a neutral forum free of actual or perceived partiality, bias, prejudice, or favoritism; to provide for the fair and orderly conduct of hearings and trials; to promote the free flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic on sidewalks and streets around court facilities, and to maintain proper judicial decorum. The Court further issues this General Order to facilitate safe, peaceful, and orderly public access to courthouses unhindered by threats, confrontations, interference, noise pollution, or harassment that may be directed at court users, including but not limited to those court users waiting in line outside a courthouse. The Court intends this General Order to be enforced in a content-neutral fashion. The Order regulates only conduct occurring in and around court facilities without regard to the content of any message, idea, or form of speech. The Court does not intend to ban all expressive activities from the environs surrounding court facilities. This Order is designed to provide ample alternative channels for communicating information near but not within court facilities nor on courthouse grounds. (See Comfort v. MacLaughlin (C.D. Cal. 2006) 473 F.Supp.2d 1026). The Court hereby orders: I. Demonstrations, Distributions, Solicitation, and Other Expressive Activity A. The following definitions apply to this Section. 1. “Prohibited Activity” shall mean the acts of demonstrating, picketing, parading, distributing literature or other materials to the general public, soliciting sales or donations, engaging in commercial activity unless otherwise authorized by this Order or the Court, or engaging in oral or demonstrative protest, education or counseling. 2. “Walkway” shall mean (a) the area of any corridor or sidewalk, or other paths of pedestrian movement, directly from the edge of the public sidewalk nearest an entrance to any building containing a courtroom to that entrance; (b) the area of any corridor or sidewalk leading directly from any parking lot within a curtilage to an entrance to any building containing a courtroom; or (c) a corridor or passageway within a multi-purpose, commercial, or private building that leads directly to the part of the building containing a courtroom. 3. “Curtilage” shall mean the area between any building containing a courtroom and the nearest edge of the public sidewalk surrounding the building. It shall not include the area adjacent to that portion of a multi-purpose, commercial, or private building that does not contain a courtroom. 4. “Courthouse” shall mean any building or structure containing at least one courtroom. It shall also include that portion of a multi-purpose, commercial, or private building or structure that contains at least one courtroom. B. Prohibitions 1. No person shall engage in any prohibited activity within a courthouse. 2. No person shall engage in any prohibited activity within the curtilage of a courthouse. 3. No person shall engage in any prohibited activity within 25 feet from either side of, or in front of, the intersection of a walkway and the public sidewalk or within 25 feet from either side of, or in front of, a doorway to a courthouse. 4. No person shall obstruct, harass, impede, or interfere with persons entering or leaving a courthouse or with persons waiting in line to enter a courthouse. 5. No person shall approach within 8 feet of another person waiting in line to enter a courthouse, unless such other person consents, for the purpose of engaging in any prohibited activity. 6. No person shall engage in any prohibited activity in or near a courthouse with the intent to interfere with, obstruct, or impede the administration of justice or with the intent to influence any judge, juror, witness, or officer of the Court in the discharge of his or her duty. 7. No person shall use amplification equipment to engage in prohibited activity in a manner that harasses or interferes with persons inside a courthouse, with persons entering or leaving a courthouse, or with persons waiting in line to enter a courthouse. C. Exclusions 1. This Order shall not apply to authorized court personnel or law enforcement officers in the performance of their official duties. 2. Sections I(B)(1), (2), and (3) shall not apply to persons engaged in the stationary solicitation of sales as part of any commercial, primarily non-expressive activity (including but not limited to the sale of newspapers, reading materials, sundries or food) expressly authorized by a written use permit, license, or agreement from the County or the Court or the Judicial Council or other owner of a building containing a courtroom authorizing that activity in a specific space not dedicated to court functions. D. Severability Clause If any provision of this Order or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of the Order and the application of such provision to other persons and circumstances shall not be affected thereby. E. Delegation To the extent the terms of this Order do not accomplish its stated purpose at a courthouse, on delegation by the Presiding Judge, the Supervising Judge responsible for that courthouse is hereby authorized to issue an order to accomplish the stated purpose of this Order. II. Compliance with Law Enforcement. While on or in the premises of any courthouse, all persons are ordered to comply with the lawful requests, directions and orders of any law enforcement officers and their agents in the performance of their duties. III. Posting and Service of Order. This Order shall be posted at each public entrance to a courthouse and at such other places that will reasonably provide notice of this Order to persons entering such courthouse. The Sheriff of Los Angeles County and his or her deputies and their agents are directed to serve a copy of this Order personally on any person who appears to be in violation thereof, to advise such person of the apparent violation, and, if the apparent violation continues after such notice, to immediately notify the Court’s Office of Public Safety, Court Counsel, and/or Site or Supervising Judge responsible for that courthouse, so that the Court can determine whether proceedings should be initiated to ensure compliance with this Order. This Order shall not preclude any law enforcement officer from taking appropriate steps to ensure the orderly and peaceable conduct of court business at a courthouse. IV. Penalties. Violation of this Order may result in the imposition of sanctions in the amount of up to $1,500 per violation pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 177.5, and/or a finding of contempt pursuant to sections 128 and 1209 of the Code of Civil Procedure, and/or prosecution for criminal violations. Effective immediately, this General Order is to remain in effect until otherwise ordered by the Presiding Judge. GOOD CAUSE APPEARING THEREFOR, IT IS SO ORDERED. DATED: January 2, 2025 ____________________________________ SERGIO C. TAPIA II Presiding Judge GENERAL ORDER – EXPRESSIVE ACTIVITY
2025-GEN-004-00 FILED Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles JANUARY 2, 2025 David W. Slayton, Executive Officer/Clerk of Court By: R. Mina, Deputy SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES EXPRESSIVE ACTIVITY GENERAL ORDER (SUPERSEDING 2023-GEN-005-00) It is the purpose and intent of the Court in issuing this General Order to ensure the safe and orderly u
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-29 (California T3 Los Angeles build 2026-09-29) from BenchPath custody ca/t3/ca-los-angeles/general-orders/LIBSVCExecutiveSupport-367-2025-GEN-004-00_ExpressiveActivity_010225.pdf (283248 bytes, sha256 f3e07b592f1d5efba32cd96669c91cc2ea89ef6e3db8e82251e2287e46f1645a; 4 pages) with the shared verbatim composer (v2 reflow), reading the glyphs drawn on the page: page numbers, pleading line numbers, the order number and running footer titles removed as chrome; the two-column pleading caption set left cell, then right cell (the “)” column and the box's rule left out); lines reflowed into the order's paragraphs; proof 1 (whitespace-only), proof 2 (same character multiset as the text layer minus chrome) and proof 3 (same characters as the glyphs drawn on the page) all pass.
9 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-10.
6 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-13.