Once known for pioneering progressive political counterculture, San Francisco is rapidly shedding its flowers-in-your-hair image. In recent years the city has elected mayors who are more concerned with “quality of life” issues and pledging their allegiance to big business and economic growth. Just last month, Mayor Daniel Lurie defunded the well-respected San Francisco Pretrial Diversion Project, forcing an end to 50 years of serving San Francisco’s most vulnerable population.
Following the 2022 ouster of San Francisco’s progressive district attorney, the city has seen a steady increase in the prosecution of not just theft and drug-related cases and those related to homelessness, but protest-related cases as well.
In April of 2024, following a long tradition of demonstrations in San Francisco, protestors shut down the Golden Gate bridge to bring attention to the plight of the people in Gaza. Up until the recent past, district attorneys had declined to prosecute these non-violent misdemeanors. While conspiracy was sometimes used to detain defendants after arrest, conspiracy charges were rarely, if ever, actually pursued. When prosecuted in the past, the protest cases have been resolved by dismissal after a period of community service.
In a play right out of the Trump handbook, however, DA Brooke Jenkins charged the Golden Gate Bridge demonstrators with conspiracy and an assortment of other protest related charges, along with several counts of false imprisonment. This trickle- down autocracy mirrors federal prosecutions for an assortment of protest related activity. Weaponizing the criminal justice system against perceived enemies has been routine under the Trump administration. The examples, to date, are legion.
The Department of Justice publicly arrested and then indicted a Democratic state court judge in Wisconsin on charges that she obstructed an immigration action. The department indicted a Democratic member of Congress on charges that she assaulted a federal law enforcement officer while trying to gain access to an ICE detention facility and arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on trespass charges related to the same ICE facility; Federal agents forcibly removed United States Senator Alex Padilla from a press conference where he was questioning DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
Over the past couple of years, several left-leaning organizations have been targeted by the federal government, particularly groups that have been standing up against the genocide in Palestine.
Throughout American history, conspiracy laws have been used by governments as a tool of repression to deter individuals from joining controversial political groups and causes. The law has been weaponized to chill First Amendment activities, without regard or concern for inhibiting legitimate rights protected by our democratic process. There has been an alarming nation-wide upsurge in the use of conspiracy laws aimed at stifling protest, turning traditional civil disobedience into high-stakes criminal cases.
By upping the ante in charging felony conspiracies in seven of the Golden Gate Protest cases, Jenkins forced those defendants to trial, while their fellow arrestees were able to complete community service and have their cases dismissed.
After months of trial, the jury deadlocked on the felony conspiracy charges. The defendants, therefore, faced sentencing on the same misdemeanor charges that were ultimately dismissed in the other cases. But unlike the fate of the other defendants, the judge sentenced these defendants to 30 days of actual jail time—a sentence unheard of not just for protest-related cases in San Francisco, but for most any non-violent misdemeanor, particularly where a defendant has no criminal history.
This can only be interpreted as a “test case,” not unlike the Texas anti- ICE Prairieland activist cases, where a federal judge, bowing to the Trump administration’s crackdown on left-wing activism, sentenced the defendants to a collective 450 years in prison.
In pronouncing sentence in the Golden Gate Bridge case, the judge said, “Let me be clear: You are not being sentenced for your beliefs –you are being sentenced because a jury of your peers found you guilty of the crimes.” But the message of a sentence that was disproportionately harsh was received loud and clear. Make no mistake, severe penalties and expansive liability for conduct related to nonviolent protest is meant to chill peaceful protests. This will give pause to anyone considering expressing dissent, effectively eroding social movements and destabilizing the ability to organize.
Bobbie Stein is a criminal defense and civil rights lawyer in San Francisco
