Oroville is Not a Republic Just Because it Says So, Professor Pruitt tells Guardian, Channel 13

Professor Lisa Pruitt spoke to The Guardian and Sacramento’s CBS Channel 13 about Oroville’s Nov. 2 declaration that it is a “constitutional republic.”

The City Council, in response to COVID-19 health mandates, voted 6-1 to oppose state and federal orders it deems to be government overreach.

Pruitt told both outlets that the move was largely a “gesture,” since the council lacks the authority to buck state and federal mandates.

Lisa R. Pruitt, Martin Luther King Jr. Professor at UC Davis School of Law, is a scholar whose recent work explores the legal relevance of rural spatiality, including how it inflects dimensions of gender, race, and ethnicity.  Pruitt's work also considers rural-urban difference in transnational and international contexts. She is the recipient of the law school’s 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award.