Unprecedented Lawsuit Filed Against N. Calif. Congresspersons

“This class action is only the beginning of the people’s exercise of power against the violence of the American government and our refusal to be complicit.”

By Taxpayers Against Genocide

View full lawsuit here

On Thursday, December 19, more than 500 federal taxpayers across 10 Northern California counties, represented by Szeto-Wong Law, filed an unprecedented class action lawsuit against their Congressional Representatives Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson. The lawsuit charges that Rep. Huffman and Rep. Thompson illegally abused their Tax and Spend authority when they voted to allocate $26.38 billion in military aid to Israel on April 20, 2024. By doing so, the lawsuit alleges, they violated the U.S. Constitution, the United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, and U.S. federal laws.

Thompson and Huffman did this in the face of massive opposition by their own constituents and of overwhelming evidence that the Israeli military was carrying out genocide in Gaza with U.S.-provided weapons and munitions. On January 26, 2024, the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the charge of genocide against the Israeli government should not be dismissed and that the case should proceed for ongoing litigation. On February 26, Amnesty International, the largest human rights organization in the world, issued a finding that the Israeli government was defying provisions in this ICJ ruling. On March 24, Francesca Albanese—the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories—issued a comprehensive report that found the Israeli government had unequivocally crossed the “threshold” and was actively committing genocide in Gaza.

The hundreds of class members from all 10 counties include people from a wide variety of backgrounds, the young and the elderly, educators and healthcare workers, Jewish and Palestinian Americans, and many more. They share in common extensive and well-documented efforts prior to April 20 to appeal to Rep. Huffman and Rep. Thompson to stop funding and arming Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Class action members, like Humboldt County resident Robie Tenorio, have lost trust in their representatives. “I trusted Congressman Huffman to call for a ceasefire and to demand that the U.S. follow our own laws in addition to International Law,” Tenorio said.  “But despite overwhelming documented and corroborated evidence, Congressman Huffman voted in April 2024 to send Israel more offensive weapons, all paid for by U.S. taxpayers.”

In the words of Laurel Krause, a class member from Mendocino County: “Over the last 14 months I have watched elected officials remain completely unresponsive despite the public’s demands to end the genocide.”

By abusing their Tax and Spend authority, the plaintiffs contend, Huffman and Thompson have illegally forced their constituents into being complicit in genocide. This has caused extensive “moral injury” and other forms of harm to members of the class. Carol Bloom, a class member from Sonoma County, explained: “The moral injuries that I and countless other constituents of Representative Huffman have suffered resulting from his vote to arm the genocide in Gaza are immeasurable,” she stated.

Leslie Angeline, a class member from Marin County who as of today is on Day 31 of her hunger strike for Gaza, describes intense feelings of heartbreak and trauma as a result of our forced complicity. “I wake each morning worrying about the genocide that is happening in Gaza, knowing that if it wasn’t for my government’s partnership with the Israeli government, this couldn’t continue.”

Judy Talaugon—a class member and an Indigenous elder and activist in Sonoma County—expresses the empathy driving class members’ outrage over the genocide: “Palestinian children are all our children, deserving of our advocacy and support. And their liberation is the catalyst for systemic change for the betterment of us all.”

The hundreds of class members feel empowered by the ability to take meaningful action, and it’s far from over. Maria Barakat, a Palestinian-Lebanese American and class member from Sonoma County, explains: “This class action is only the beginning of the people’s exercise of power against the violence of the American government and our refusal to be complicit.”

Photos available on request.

Contact: 

classactionagainstgenocide@proton.me