Judge Denis Hurley
Centro is an unincorporated organization of day laborers living and working in the Town of Oyster Bay. Its Sept. 29, 2011, amended complaint charged the town's violation of its free speech, due process and equal protection rights by adopting an ordinance barring day laborers from stopping or attempting to stop vehicles to solicit work. Second Circuit upheld a temporary restraining order—against the ordinance's enforcement—into a preliminary injunction. District court found Centro had organizational standing, and legal capacity to sue, because the ordinance threatens its organizational activities and goals. It also affirmed an Oct. 12, 2011, protective order barring discovery into the identities of Centro's members, as a prima facie infringement of its associational rights. Record evidence that the town has shown hostility to day laborers and Latino immigrants gave rise to a reasonable probability that disclosure of its member identities would subject Centro to threats, harassment or reprisal. The court determined that the invasion of privacy that would result from discovery into the identities of Centro's membership outweighed any need the town had for such discovery.
