Ninth Circuit overturns Portland ICE tear-gas restrictions

The Ninth Circuit, in two 2-1 rulings, overturned injunctions that had restricted federal officers’ use of tear gas and other nonlethal crowd-control weapons outside Portland’s ICE facility. The majority concluded that protesters and nearby residents were unlikely to establish the constitutional claims at issue, including a right to avoid exposure to chemical irritants drifting into homes. It also held that officers need not wait for an imminent threat of physical harm before using nonlethal force to disperse disruptive crowds. A dissenting judge opposed the rulings; the cases involved claims by protesters and journalists alleging retaliation, and by residents who said the chemicals reached their apartments and made tenants ill.