2018 - DISTRICT COURT

ON DECEMBER 21, 2018THE SANTA FE ALLIANCE FOR PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY FILED A LAWSUIT in federal court challenging the constitutionality of laws that are threatening our health and environment. Named as Defendants are the City of Santa Fe, the Attorney General of New Mexico, and the United States of America.

The City and State laws we challenged permit wireless facilities anywhere on the streets and sidewalks of New Mexico and repeal all zoning regulations that used to apply.

We also challenged the constitutionality of Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which for the past 26 years has prohibited States and municipalities from regulating cell towers on the basis of health. This has been interpreted to include state courts. This has effectively prohibited the public from speaking to their elected officials about the effects of wireless technology on their health or the environment, and it has also prohibited people who have been injured by cell towers or forced by the radiation to leave their homes or businesses from going to court to ask for damages.

These laws violate:

  • Freedom of Speech (First Amendment);
  • The Right to Petition the Government for Redress of Grievances (First Amendment);
  • The Right of Access to Courts (First Amendment);
  • The Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, which provides that “private property shall not be taken for public use, without just compensation”;

and deprive people of life, liberty and property without

  • Due Process of Law (Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments).

The district court agreed that we had standing to sue. Specifically, the court ruled that our allegations showed that (1) we have been injured; (2) our injuries were caused by the actions of the government defendants; and (3) that our injuries would be redressed if the court ruled in our favor. The court nevertheless dismissed our case without allowing it to go to trial.

Our Complaint in the district court is here:  http://cellphonetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Doc-19-First-Amended-Complaint.pdf

Our Opening Brief in the Tenth Circuit, filed on July 13, 2020, is here: http://cellphonetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Santa-Fe-Alliance-Opening-Brief-Final.pdf.

Our Reply Brief, filed on September 17, 2020, is here: http://cellphonetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Santa-Fe-Alliance-Reply-Brief-Case-No.-20-2066-as-filed.pdf.

The Tenth Circuit’s Order dismissing our case, issued on March 30, 2021, is here: http://cellphonetaskforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Tenth-Circuit-Order-of-3-30-2021-numbered.pdf

The Tenth Circuit denied our petition for rehearing on May 27, 2021. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was prepared.

The Alliance includes doctors, health care practitioners, psychotherapists, artists, teachers, a Health Department official, a city planner, a world class athlete and others who have lost jobs and homes to cell towers, or who have patients who have lost jobs and homes to cell towers.