Here's an example, in my view, of the empty formality of texualism.
California's Brown Act states that city council meetings should generally be open to the public, but that "[i]n the event that any meeting is willfully interrupted by a group or groups of persons so as to render the orderly conduct of such meeting unfeasible and order cannot be restored by the removal of individuals who are willfully interrupting the meeting, the members of the legislative body conducting the meeting may order the meeting room cleared and continue in session.”
During three Berkeley city council meetings in late 2023 and early 2024, the public was disruptive, so the city council decided to close the meeting. But instead of physically removing the public from the room the city council was initially in, the city council moved to a different room and continued the session without the public. Plaintiffs sued, claiming that the Brown Act required the city council wasn't allowed to move to a new room, and instead had to stay in the same room but clear the public.
The trial court dismissed the lawsuit. The Court of Appeal reverses, holding that this states a claim under the Brown Act. Because the words of the statute expressly say that the city council could "order the [] room cleared and continue in session" but don't expressly say that the city council can move rooms.
To me, that's silly. It matters not one iota what room they're in. The public's excluded. Who cares whether it's the original room or a different one? Moreover, there's good reason to simply move rooms. That way you don't have to physically remove people, with the resulting potential for violence.
Yes, the statute says "order the meeting room cleared and continue in session." But that's what the city council did. It "ordered the meeting room cleared" -- albeit after it had moved to a different room; i.e., eventually, the public was cleared" and "continue[d] in session" (in a different room). The words of the statute weren't violated.
And even if they were, I'd have interpreted the Brown Act pursuant to Section 3533 of the Civil Code, which dictates the statutory maxim that "The law disregards trifles." It's irrelevant whether the initial meeting room is cleared and the meeting continues in that empty room or whether that initial room is emptied only later and the meeting continues in a different room. The public isn't there either way. The difference is a trifle (if that).
Ditto for Section 3511 ("Where the reason is the same, the rule should be the same."), Section 3528 ("The law respects form less than substance."), and Section 3532 ("The law does not require idle acts.").
I would have affirmed. (And were I on the California Supreme Court, I would vote to grant review and reverse. 'Cause the resulting opinion, in my view, literally requires only a half-dozen pages. It's easy..
