Judge denies restraining order sought by city of Sacramento for councilwoman’s staffer
A judge on Thursday denied the city of Sacramento’s request for a temporary restraining order against an incoming city staffer.
City Manager Howard Chan said in a declaration to the court that comments Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela’s incoming staffer Skyler Henry made on a podcast placed him and his family in jeopardy.
During a March episode of progressive podcast Voices: River City, Henry said: “You should be terrified for the rest of your life,” referring to Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s performative “thumbs down” vote against the $15 minimum wage in the coronavirus relief package. “You should never be able to leave your house if that is how you’re going to use your position to govern. And like, to me, the same thing sort of applies with the mayor and the city manager of this city (Sacramento).”
Henry was defending a controversial protest held outside Chan’s home in March.
The city announced Wednesday it was seeking the restraining order, which would have prohibited Henry from going within 100 yards of Chan or his family and requiring Henry to work remotely, not at City Hall.
To get the order granted, the city would have had to provide “reasonable proof that great or irreparable harm would result to an employee if the temporary restraining order is not granted,” Sacramento Superior Court Judge George A. Acero wrote in the decision.
“In summary, the evidence presented does not meet the applicable legal standard and there are obvious First Amendment concerns,” the decision reads. “Moreover, some of the evidence provided by the city actually undercut its own position that a temporary restraining order is warranted.”
One of those pieces of evidence was a declaration from Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg that said Henry told him he “opposes physical violence against any person,” the decision said.
The city also provided over a dozen pages of Henry’s social media posts and podcast comments that criticized Chan, Steinberg and the Sacramento Police Department.
“We believe the declarations filed in support of the request made clear the very real reasons City employees would have to question their security if they were made to share workspace with someone who has advocated terror tactics as a means to resolve political differences,” City Attorney Alcala Wood said in a news release Thursday.
Henry said he thinks the city seeking a restraining order was an overreaction but that he doesn’t want to “discount or discredit anybody’s feelings of safety or fear.”
“A big part of I feel like my job now going in is to work extra hard to ... really ensure that everybody who works at City Hall feels safe and like I’m approachable and like I’m somebody that they’re comfortable working with,” Henry said.
A hearing will be held July 7, where a judge will make a decision on whether to grant a permanent restraining order.
Mary-Beth Moylan, associate dean for academic affairs at McGeorge School of Law, said it’s not impossible the judge will grant the permanent restraining order, but the city would likely need to provide additional evidence.
“The city will have an uphill battle in the permanent restraining order to show that there’s a likelihood of harm, not just of speech,” Moylan said. “Courts are really hesitant to enjoin or restrain people based on speech alone, especially political speech.”
Visual journalist Xavier Mascareñas contributed to this report.
This story was originally published June 17, 2021 at 3:43 PM.
