The HB 1804 Injunction

Late yesterday afternoon, Judge James Payne denied a petition for a preliminary injunction that would have prevented HB 1804 from going into effect at midnight. The reaction from the Latino community was quick and bitter. The lead attorney called out the chief law enforcement officers of the City of Tulsa and Tulsa County, threatening that if they enforce the law of the land they will face career ending charges of “racism.”

Payne’s ruling was dead on the money. The Latino attorneys had again come into an American court and tried to substitute rhetoric for facts. Payne’s two page opinion finds that the petitioners argued exclusively on the probability of success of their lawsuit and presented no evidence of immediate, irreparable harm which would allow an injunction.

This ruling does not mean that the challenge to HB 1804 is over. Far from it. All that it does mean is that the lawsuit will go forward with HB 1804 in effect. The real issue now in the short term is whether or not city and state law enforcement agencies will enforce HB 1804 or cave to the Latino attorneys threats.