CIR sues to end abusive housing discrimination investigations

CIR filed suit against officials of the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing charging that they willfully violated the First Amendment rights of California citizen Julie Waltz. Despite clear evidence that Waltz had done nothing more than post signs in her yard critical of state housing policies regarding the placement of sex offenders in residental neighborhoods, officials allowed a housing discrimination investigation to go on for most of a year. During that time, officials told Waltz that her speech violated state fair housing laws, requested that she remove the signs, threatened her with prosecution and used the public media to characterize her as a discriminator and a violator of fair housing laws.