Committee for the First Amendment v. Campbell

962 F.2d 1517, 1992 WL 90330
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedMay 6, 1992
DocketNo. 90-5178
StatusPublished
Cited by200 cases

This text of 962 F.2d 1517 (Committee for the First Amendment v. Campbell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Committee for the First Amendment v. Campbell, 962 F.2d 1517, 1992 WL 90330 (10th Cir. 1992).

Opinion

BALDOCK, Circuit Judge.

“How much contrition should be expected of a defendant is hard for us to say. This surely is a question better addressed to the discretion of the trial court.” United States v. W.T. Grant Co., 345 U.S. 629, 634, 73 S.Ct. 894, 898, 97 L.Ed. 1303 (1953).

Plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunc-tive (and later monetary) relief against various defendants1 in response to a decision by the Board of Regents (Regents) of Oklahoma State University (OSU) suspending the showing of The Last Temptation of Christ.2 The Student Union Activities Board (SUAB) had scheduled the film for a three-night run (October 19-21,1989) at the Student Union Theater. At a September 22 meeting, the Regents deferred a decision on whether to allow the controversial film to be shown pending advice as to whether an on-campus showing could be prohibited on the grounds of (1) excessive entanglement between a state university and religion, and (2) damage to the University’s reputation due to offending a major segment of the Oklahoma Christian community. The Regents sought this advice through a series of ten multipart questions 3 authored by their executive secretary and directed to the university president.

Plaintiffs sought a temporary restraining order (TRO) so that the film could be shown. The district court denied a TRO, but scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing on October 12, 1989. At the hearing, the district court strongly intimated that judicial resolution of the issue would not favor Regents’ suspension decision. II R. 25-26. However, the district court deferred ruling so that the Regents could meet again and reconsider the issue. The next day a majority of the Regents voted to rescind the suspension and leave further handling of the matter to the University administration.

After an October 18 advertisement for the film, the University administration di[1520]*1520rected SUAB to modify subsequent advertisements by deleting the phrase “Brought to you by the students, faculty and staff of OSU ...” and inserting the following disclaimer:

The showing of this film does not reflect an endorsement of its contents by the OSU Board of Regents or Oklahoma State University.

On October 19, 1989, plaintiffs filed an amended complaint seeking damages due to content-based censorship by the defendants. The altered advertisements appeared on October 19 and 20. Notwithstanding any of the above, the film was shown on the originally scheduled dates.

Subsequently, Defendants moved for summary judgment on several grounds including mootness and qualified immunity. Plaintiffs filed a partial response on the merits and urged the court to defer ruling pending discovery. Plaintiffs requested additional time pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(f) to depose Defendants. On the merits, Plaintiffs argued that material issues of fact remained concerning the Defendants’ propensity for content-based censorship and prior restraint of unpopular speech. Plaintiffs also claimed that the disclaimer and the alteration of their original advertisement represented a second and subsequent violation the First Amendment because it chilled SUAB members’ right to free expression and constituted a negative endorsement of the film by SUAB at the insistence of the Administration.

The district court dismissed the Plaintiffs’ action with prejudice, indicating that it was “not inclined to issue constitutional fiats in futuro” because it “presume[d] the parties ... will conduct themselves, constitutionally and morally, in an appropriate manner.” I R. doc. 35 at 3. The district court refused to defer ruling on the summary judgment motion while Plaintiffs’ engaged in discovery.

Plaintiffs sought reconsideration, arguing that material issues of fact remained concerning censorship at OSU. Plaintiffs submitted affidavits and other materials indicating that: (1) in late 1966, Professor Thomas J. Altizer4 was invited to speak at OSU, but the invitation was withdrawn by the university president because of content, (2) in 1967, an alternative student newspaper, The Drummer, was screened for content and students were charged $10.00 per day for a distribution point at the university, (3) in November 1967, the Regents announced a formal ban on unapproved speakers on campus (the following speakers were invited by various groups, but disapproved by the university: Dr. Timothy Leary, Rev. Phillip Berrigan, Abbie Hoffman and Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.); (4) campus police disrupted and ended a 1967 debate on the Vietnam war held at the student union and also monitored an informal lunch group (Provos) which met at the student union, (5) in March 1967, the university president attempted to silence controversial faculty opinion by holding a secret meeting with four department chairs and telling them “to keep their departments quiet,” and (7) all faculty members in the sociology department resigned given the atmosphere of suppression, which targeted outspoken or controversial faculty members.

The university speaker policy was challenged in Bullock v. Kamm, No. CIV-70-418 (W.D.Okla.) and resulted in a stipulated settlement and a new speaker policy. The 1970 policy, “Policies and Procedures for Extra-classroom Activities” (1970), does not specifically address films. See I R. doc. 6, ex. A. The 1970 policy was in effect during the actions concerning The Last Temptation of Christ.

The district court denied reconsideration on the grounds that the new summary judgment evidence was remote in time (1966-70) and involved individuals other than the present regents and university administrators. I R. Doc. 44 at 1-2. On appeal, the Plaintiffs contend that: (1) the Regents’ voluntary cessation of their content-based prior restraint did not make the case moot, (2) summary judgment was improper because a genuine issue of material fact remained, and (3) the Regents’ suspen[1521]*1521sion of the film pending review was an unconstitutional prior restraint and was content-based censorship. Defendants have filed a motion to dismiss the appeal because the regents have adopted a “Policy Statement Governing the Extracurricular Use of University Facilities, Areas or Media for the Purpose of Expression (1991),” substantially revising the 1970 policy. Our jurisdiction arises under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and we affirm in part and reverse in part.

I. Was the summary judgment procedure appropriate?

Appellate review of a district court’s summary judgment decision is de novo, but both courts apply the same standard in evaluating the merits of a summary judgment motion.5 See Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 327, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2554, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Summary judgment is appropriate if “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). Factual disputes about immaterial matters are irrelevant to a summary judgment determination. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S.

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Bluebook (online)
962 F.2d 1517, 1992 WL 90330, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/committee-for-the-first-amendment-v-campbell-ca10-1992.