In this case, plaintiffs Thomas Marketello, James A. Bonar, Phil E. Kirkland, and the Santa Cruz County Peace Officers Association filed suit against Richard C. Neal, Clerk of the County of Santa Cruz, as well as other, including the Board of Supervisors of the County of Santa Cruz. It concerns a petition filed in 1978 by the Committee Against Legalized Militarism, also known as the Anti-SWAT initiative, which would prohibit "law enforcement use of automatic weapons and participation in military or paramilitary operations or training." The second initiative under consideration was the Law Enforcement Review Commission Initiative, which would establish a citizen review board to audit county law enforcement. The matter before the court was a request for injunction to restrain the County Clerk and Board of Supervisors from submitting two initiative measures to vote at the June 6, 1978 election. The taxpayers allege that putting these initiatives up to a vote wouled result in "a useless expenditure and waste of public funds."

The court writes that "the initiative procedure should only be cut short where the invalidity of the proposed measure is clear beyond a doubt." It decided that it would put both initiatives on the ballot and let the voters decide. Both initiatives were defeated in the election.