Ruling on California gun law renews Gov. Gavin Newsom’s feud with federal judge

The troll-fest between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and one of the gun lobby’s favorite federal jurists continued this week, after U.S. District Court Judge Roger Benitez issued an order blocking a provision of Senate Bill 1327 from being enforced.

Newsom, who has called Benitez a “stone cold ideologue” and “a wholly owned subsidiary of the gun lobby and National Rifle Association,” renewed his pounding Monday with a statement of mocking thanks for the latest ruling.

SB 1327, signed by Newsom in July, allows members of the public to sue gun manufacturers. He intended it as an attack on the Texas abortion statute that, in addition to effectively banning the procedure after six weeks, grants a similar right to sue anyone seeking or providing an abortion.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to block enforcement of the Texas law, which was later upheld by the Texas Supreme Court. With SB 1327, Newsom was arguing, in effect, that if lawsuits against abortion providers were acceptable, so are suits against gun manufacturers.

The provision that Benitez blocked would have required that plaintiffs suing to challenge state gun laws pay the state’s attorney fees.

Benitez, known for his fiery rulings in defense of the Second Amendment, was not amused with Newsom’s approach, using the governor’s own language on the Texas law to criticize the governor.

“’It is cynical.’ ‘It is an abomination.’ ‘It is outrageous and objectionable.’ ‘There is no dispute that it raises serious constitutional questions.’ ‘It is an unprecedented attempt to thwart judicial review,’” he wrote in the opening paragraph of his ruling.

Benitez went on to say that SB 1327 infringes on the First Amendment right to access the courts.

“Today, it applies to Second Amendment rights. Tomorrow, with a slight amendment, it could be any other constitutional right including the right to speak freely, to freedom of the press, to practice one’s religion, to restrict cruel and unusual punishment, and to be free from government takings without compensation,” Benitez wrote.

In response, Newsom thanked the federal judge.

“We have been saying all along that Texas’ anti-abortion law is outrageous. Judge Benitez just confirmed it is also unconstitutional,” he said in a statement late Monday. “The provision in California’s law that he struck down is a replica of what Texas did, and his explanation of why this part of SB 1327 unfairly blocks access to the courts applies equally to Texas’ SB 8. There is no longer any doubt that Texas’ cruel anti-abortion law should also be struck down,” Newsom said.

This isn’t the first time that Newsom and Benitez have scuffled.

When Benitez, an appointee of President George W. Bush, struck down California’s assault weapons ban, likening assault rifles to Swiss Army Knives, Newsom called him an extremist.

“As the son of a judge, I grew up with deep respect for the judicial process and the importance of a judge’s ability to make impartial fact-based rulings,” he said in response at the time. “But the fact that this judge compared the AR-15 — a weapon of war that’s used on the battlefield — to a Swiss Army Knife completely undermines the credibility of this decision and is a slap in the face to the families who’ve lost loved ones to this weapon.”

And when Benitez ruled that it was unconstitutional for the state to ban high-capacity firearm magazines, Newsom said the ruling was “indefensible, dangerous for our communities and contradicts well-established case law.”