Chicago Headline Club v. Kristi Noem
Legal Issues
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Overview
Overview
The Trump administration appealed Judge Ellis's preliminary injunction forbidding them from using certain crowd control techniques and imposing additional restrictions on law enforcement activities.
The Issue
Issue
Whether the Trump administration's use of certain crowd control techniques and restrictions on law enforcement activities violate the First Amendment rights of journalists and the public to gather news and participate in peaceful assembly.
The Rules
Rule
A preliminary injunction requires showing: (1) likelihood of success on the merits, (2) threat of irreparable harm, (3) favorable balance of equities, and (4) public interest alignment. First Amendment content-based speech restrictions trigger strict scrutiny and must serve a compelling interest and be narrowly tailored. Content-neutral time, place, and manner restrictions are subject to intermediate scrutiny requiring a substantial governmental interest unrelated to suppressing speech.
The Application
Analysis
The district court found the Headline Club and intervenor-appellees likely to succeed on their First Amendment challenge to the crowd control techniques and imposed preliminary injunctive relief restricting the administration's deployment authority. The appeal challenges the lower court's factual findings on likelihood of success and its legal conclusions regarding the constitutional permissibility of the contested techniques.
The Conclusion
After the district court dismissed the underlying case without prejudice and decertified the class, the government moved to dismiss its own appeal and vacate the preliminary injunction. On March 5, 2026, a Seventh Circuit panel (Chief Judge Brennan and Judges Easterbrook and Scudder) granted that motion, vacated Judge Ellis's preliminary injunction as moot, and dismissed the appeal under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 42(b)(2), so the injunction protecting assembly and press-freedom activity no longer stands.
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