Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice v. Kristen Mayes

127 F.4th 105
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 23, 2025
Docket22-16729
StatusPublished

This text of 127 F.4th 105 (Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice v. Kristen Mayes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice v. Kristen Mayes, 127 F.4th 105 (9th Cir. 2025).

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ARIZONA ATTORNEYS FOR No.22-16729 CRIMINAL JUSTICE; CHRISTOPHER BAIRD DUPONT; D.C. No. RICH ROBERTSON; RICHARD L. 2:17-cv-01422- LOUGEE; RICHARD D. RANDALL; SPL JEFFREY A. KIRCHLER; JOHN CANBY, Plaintiffs-Appellees, OPINION v.

KRISTEN K. MAYES, in her official capacity as Attorney General of the State of Arizona, Defendant-Appellant, and

MARET VESSELLA, Chief Bar Counsel of the State Bar of Arizona; JEFFREY D. GLOVER, Colonel, in his official capacity as Director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety,* Defendants.

* Colonel Jeffrey D. Glover is substituted for his predecessor Colonel Heston Silbert as Director of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 43(c). 2 ARIZONA ATTORNEYS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE V. MAYES

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Steven Paul Logan, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted February 5, 2024 Phoenix, Arizona

Filed January 23, 2025

Before: Marsha S. Berzon, Andrew D. Hurwitz, and Anthony D. Johnstone, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Johnstone

SUMMARY**

First Amendment

The panel reversed the district court’s judgment for plaintiffs, Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice (“Attorneys”), and remanded, in an action alleging that an Arizona law that requires criminal defense attorneys and their agents (“Defense Team”) to initiate any contact with victims through the prosecutor’s office (the “Victim Contact Limit”) violates, on its face, the Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The Victim Contact Limit, Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13- 4433(B), primarily applies to requests for interviews,

** This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. ARIZONA ATTORNEYS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE V. MAYES 3

including, but not limited to, investigative interviews seeking exculpatory information. But it also prohibits covered actors from reaching out to victims for non- interview conversations and information sharing on other topics, such as the criminal legal system and the death penalty process. The panel noted that in considering a facial challenge it may assume without deciding that the statute reaches some protected speech. The Attorneys must also show, however, that a substantial number of the Victim Contact Limit’s applications are unconstitutional, judged in relation to the law’s plainly legitimate sweep. Here, the Attorneys challenged the Victim Contact Limit’s application only to the extent it requires them to funnel requests for non- interview contacts through the prosecution. But victim- interview requests are the statute’s primary applications. So, even assuming the challenged applications of the law are unconstitutional, they are not substantial relative to the unchallenged applications. Therefore, as framed, the Attorneys’ facial challenge to the Victim Contact Limit fails. The panel reversed the district court’s ruling that the Victim Contact Limit is unconstitutional on its face, vacated the permanent injunction against its enforcement, and remanded for entry of judgment in favor of defendants. 4 ARIZONA ATTORNEYS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE V. MAYES

COUNSEL

Jared G. Keenan (argued), American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona; Kathleen E. Brody, Mitchell Stein Carey Chapman PC, Phoenix, Arizona; David A. Lane, Killmer Lane LLP, Denver, Colorado; Andrew McNulty, Newman McNulty, Denver, Colorado; for Plaintiffs- Appellees. Alexander W. Samuels (argued), Principal Deputy Solicitor General; Ashley T. Levine, Assistant Attorney General; Kristin K. Mayes, Attorney General; Office of the Arizona Attorney General, Phoenix, Arizona; for Defendants- Appellants. Colleen Clase and Thomas E. Lordan, Arizona Voice for Crime Victims, Phoenix, Arizona, for Amici Curiae Arizona Voice for Crime Victims, Arizona Crime Victim Rights Law Group, Legal Services for Crime Victims in Arizona, Parents of Murdered Children, and the National Crime Victim Law Institute. Nicholas Klingerman, Krista Wood, and Robert E. Prather, Deputy County Attorneys; Rachel H. Mitchell, Maricopa County Attorney; Maricopa County Attorney's Office, Phoenix, Arizona, for Amicus Curiae Maricopa County Attorney's Office. ARIZONA ATTORNEYS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE V. MAYES 5

OPINION

JOHNSTONE, Circuit Judge:

Courts usually decide constitutional claims by addressing specific applications of a law to individual plaintiffs, case by case. But in this case the plaintiffs do more than challenge the constitutionality of how a law applies to them in a particular case. Instead, they challenge a statute on its face and, if successful, their challenge would invalidate that statute in all its applications. In general, a facial challenge can succeed only when all a statute’s applications would be unconstitutional. Yet in facial challenges under the Speech Clause of the First Amendment, like this one, courts set the bar lower out of respect for the value of free expression. A plaintiff mounting such a facial challenge must prove that the statute applies unconstitutionally to a substantial amount of speech relative to its constitutional applications. Only then can a court invalidate the statute in all applications, including potentially constitutional ones not challenged in the case. Plaintiffs Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice (“Attorneys”) challenge the part of an Arizona statute, Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13-4433(B), that prohibits criminal defense attorneys and their agents (“Defense Team”) from initiating direct contact with crime victims. That part of the statute (“Victim Contact Limit”) requires the Defense Team to initiate any contact with victims through the prosecutor’s office. The Attorneys bring a facial challenge to invalidate that restriction, arguing that it violates the First Amendment. But the Attorneys do not challenge the Victim Contact Limit to the extent that it requires the Defense Team to communicate victim-interview requests through the 6 ARIZONA ATTORNEYS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE V. MAYES

prosecution; they challenge it only to the extent it requires them to funnel requests for non-interview contacts through the prosecution. But victim-interview requests are the law’s primary applications. So even if we assume the challenged applications of the law are unconstitutional, they are not substantial relative to the unchallenged applications. Therefore, the Attorneys’ facial challenge to the Victim Contact Limit, as they have framed it, must fail. I. Victims’ Rights in Arizona and the Attorneys’ Challenge In 1990, Arizona voters amended their state constitution to include a crime victims’ bill of rights. Ariz. Const. art. II, § 2.1. That provision guarantees “victims’ rights to justice and due process.” Id. § 2.1(A). These include rights “[t]o be treated with fairness, respect, and dignity, and to be free from intimidation, harassment, or abuse, throughout the criminal justice process.” Id. § 2.1(A)(1). They also include the right “[t]o refuse an interview, deposition, or other discovery request by the defendant, the defendant’s attorney, or other person acting on behalf of the defendant.” Id. § 2.1(A)(5). The state constitution gives the Arizona Legislature authority to enact laws implementing these rights. Id. § 2.1(D). In 1991, the Legislature enacted the Victims’ Rights Implementation Act, 1991 Ariz. Sess. Laws 1137, 1152. That Act includes the Victim Contact Limit. A.

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127 F.4th 105, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arizona-attorneys-for-criminal-justice-v-kristen-mayes-ca9-2025.