The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday declined to reconsider its earlier ruling that found San Diego's ban on yoga classes in public parks and beaches was unconstitutional.
After a three-judge panel ruled earlier this year that such classes are protected by the First Amendment, all judges on the Ninth Circuit rejected a petition from the city to rehear the case with a larger panel of judges, in what's known as an en banc hearing
The 9th Circuit's ruling from earlier this year states city officials had not shown any "plausible connection between plaintiffs teaching yoga and any threat to public safety and enjoyment in the city's shoreline parks."
The crackdown on the classes stemmed from an amended ordinance concerning street vendors that also prohibited other types of commercial activity without a permit, such as yoga classes attended by four or more people.
The city's ban was challenged in a federal lawsuit filed by yoga instructors Steven Hubbard and Amy Baack, who contended the city's enforcement on such gatherings violated their First Amendment rights.
While a federal judge ruled in the city's favor, the 9th Circuit panel wrote, "Teaching yoga is protected speech" and that "because the ordinance targets teaching yoga, it plainly implicates Hubbard and Baack's First Amendment right to speak."
While the city had argued the prohibition was in line with its interests in "protecting the enjoyment and safety of the public in the use of" parks, the panel wrote that the city "has provided no explanation as to how teaching yoga would lead to harmful consequences to these interests, or even what those consequences might be."