Manuel Vasquez v. Tony Rackauckas

Opinion by Judge BERZON; Concurrence by Judge TALLMAN.

OPINION

BERZON, Circuit Judge:

Since at least 1987, California prosecutors have brought public nuisance actions in state court to curtail the activities of street gangs. See Matthew Mickle Werdegar, Note, Enjoining the Constitution: The Use of Public Nuisance Abatement Injunctions Against Urban Street Gangs, 51 Stan. L.Rev. 409, 414 (1999). The scope of this effort has been broad. According to amicus curiae Los Angeles City Attor*1030ney’s Office, that City, for example, has obtained forty-four civil injunctions against seventy-two street gangs…