Judge orders release of Antifa leader Yvette Felarca's emails

Last year the group Judicial Watch filed a request for Berkeley Unified School District’s emails related to Antifa leader Yvette Felarca, who is a teacher at an area Middle School. Felarca sued the school district arguing that releasing the emails (anything with her name or the name of her Antifa group “BAMN”) would violate her rights. Just under two weeks ago a judge issued a terse order saying the released of documents would not violate Felarca’s rights and adding, “It is not a close question.” Berkleyside reports that Felarca was not pleased with the decision:

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In an email to Berkeleyside on Tuesday, Felarca said, “We disagree with the judge’s decision and continue to assert that teachers and support staff have a right to free speech, free association and privacy. Right-wing trolls should not be able to use the cover of the legal system to harass teachers, support staff and families in the public schools.”

The first batch of emails was released this week but Berkleyside reports the documents released so far are only the ones that Felarca has approved for release:

The initial collection of emails includes only those Felarca and her co-plaintiffs “did not object to the district disclosing,” while others will be released after further deliberations, BUSD said. When Judicial Watch made its initial request in 2017, the organization asked for all communications among school and district employees about Felarca, her radical group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) and antifa…

The nearly 150 pages of emails released by Berkeley Unified show that the district and King Middle School were inundated on multiple occasions with calls and emails — some including threats — from around the country, demanding Felarca be fired. They also show how the district responded to media inquiries about the teacher.

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Some of the calls about Felarca memorialized in the emails came from outraged people reading about her across the country but other calls came from parents who had children at her school:

In another, non-dated, document, Beery summarized all the responses from BUSD parents to an email sent by the superintendent about the teacher. Six parents wrote in strong support of Felarca, and nine said she should be fired.

“One mentioned that Ms. Felarca conducts political activities (students make anti-Trump stickers) in class,” Beery wrote in the summary.

I’m actually a bit surprised there were any parents in the Berkeley area who disapproved of Felarca.

This isn’t the first time she has lost court battles over her extra-curricular activities. In January, Felarca was ordered to pay attorney’s fees for former Berkeley College Republicans President Troy Worden. Felarca had filed a temporary restraining order against him but a judge later determined Felarca would have to pay the amount he spent defending himself (about $11,000) in the case. However, Felarca appealed that decision and Worden is now attempting to raise funds to cover his ongoing legal defense on GoFundMe.

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In May of this year, Felarca’s request that a judge dismiss a felony case against her on the grounds that she was the victim of a “political witch hunt” was itself dismissed. “Simply nothing in these exhibits supports the defendants’ claims…that they were unjustly or unfairly culled out,” the judge said of the case.

In case you’ve forgotten, here’s video of the incident which got Felarca arrested:

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