Crookston v. Johnson

370 F. Supp. 3d 804
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Michigan
DecidedAugust 30, 2018
DocketCase No. 1:16-cv-1109
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 370 F. Supp. 3d 804 (Crookston v. Johnson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crookston v. Johnson, 370 F. Supp. 3d 804 (W.D. Mich. 2018).

Opinion

JANET T. NEFF, United States District Judge

Now pending before the Court is Defendant Secretary of State Ruth Johnson's Motion to Dismiss Based on Standing (ECF No. 70), to which Plaintiff Joel *806Crookston filed a response in opposition (ECF No. 72), and Defendant filed a reply (ECF No. 73). Having considered the parties' submissions, the Court concludes that oral argument is not necessary to resolve the issues presented. See W.D. Mich. LCivR 7.2(d). For the reasons that follow, the Court denies Defendant's motion.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff is a lifelong resident of Michigan (Verified Compl. ¶ 9, ECF No. 1). He first registered to vote in 2002, has voted in most primary and general elections since then, and is a qualified elector under Michigan law (id. ). Defendant Ruth Johnson is the Secretary of State of the State of Michigan (id. ¶ 10). Secretary Johnson has the duty to "[a]dvise and direct local election officials as to the proper methods of conducting elections." MICH. COMP. LAWS § 168.31(b). Further, Secretary Johnson has the power to investigate and refer violations of the challenged provisions for prosecution. MICH. COMP. LAWS § 168.31(h).

Plaintiff owns and usually carries a cell phone that can capture digital photographs and video and upload such files to social media accounts (Verified Compl. ¶ 11). On November 6, 2012, Plaintiff responded to a prompt on social media to write-in vote for an acquaintance from college for an office in the Michigan general election (id. ¶ 1). After voting, Plaintiff not only disclosed his vote but also provided a photograph of part of his marked ballot, i.e., a "ballot selfie," which he took with his cell phone within a voting station inside a polling place (id. ; ECF No. 13 at PageID.41-42).

On September 9, 2016, Plaintiff filed a three-count Verified Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief, alleging the following counts:

I. MICH. COMP. LAWS § 168.579 and § 168.738(2) Violate the First Amendment
II. The Secretary of State's Instruction and Order Regarding Photography in Polling Places ("Secretary's Rule 1") Violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments
III. The Secretary of State's Instruction and Order Regarding the Use of Cell Phones in Voting Stations ("Secretary's Rule 2") Violates the First Amendment

(ECF No. 1). According to Plaintiff, his lawsuit endeavors to respect the integrity of the voting process, including ballot secrecy, "while calling upon this Court to recognize that circumstances today-namely, the advancement of technology and the advent of new outlets for political speech through social media on the Internet-require existing law to be more reasonably tailored" (ECF No. 13 at PageID.42).

On September 23, 2016, Plaintiff moved for a preliminary injunction (ECF No. 12), requesting this Court enter an order enjoining Secretary Johnson from "enforcing MICH. COMP. LAWS §§ 168.579, 168.738(2) against the photographing of one's own ballot and display of such photographs outside of polling places" and to "enjoin enforcement of orders identified as Secretary's Rule 1 and Secretary's Rule 2" (id. at PageID.38). On October 24, 2016, before the 2016 presidential election, this Court issued the Preliminary Injunction (ECF No. 19). Secretary Johnson filed an interlocutory appeal, and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the Preliminary Injunction, reasoning, in pertinent part, that Plaintiff's "belated challenge to Michigan's election procedures prejudices the State's interest in holding orderly elections" (ECF No. 30; ECF No. 26 at PageID.320). 1

*807Plaintiff subsequently moved to amend his Complaint to add a new Count IV: " MICH. COMP. LAWS §§ 168.579, 168.738(2), Secretary's Instruction 1 and Secretary's Instruction 2 Violate the Fourteenth Amendment" (ECF No. 50). Following a motion hearing on October 11, 2017, this Court granted Plaintiff leave to amend his Complaint to add the due process claim (Order, ECF No. 64). This Court's Order also set forth a briefing schedule on Defendant's proposed motion to dismiss Count IV, limited to the issue of standing (id. ), a motion that has since been fully briefed (ECF Nos. 70-73).

II. ANALYSIS

A. Motion Standard

Secretary Johnson brings her motion under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1) (ECF No. 71 at PageID.725). Whether a party has Article III standing is properly an issue of a court's subject matter jurisdiction under Rule 12(b)(1). See Lyshe v. Levy , 854 F.3d 855, 857 (6th Cir. 2017) ; Kepley v. Lanz , 715 F.3d 969, 972 (6th Cir. 2013) ; Roberts v. Hamer , 655 F.3d 578, 580-81 (6th Cir. 2011). Article III of the Federal Constitution extends the federal judicial power to only a limited set of "cases" and "controversies." U.S. CONST. art. III, § 2. Plaintiffs "who seek to invoke the jurisdiction of the federal courts must satisfy the threshold requirement imposed by Article III of the Constitution by alleging an actual case or controversy." City of Los Angeles v. Lyons , 461 U.S. 95, 101, 103 S.Ct. 1660, 75 L.Ed.2d 675 (1983). The doctrine of standing is one of several doctrines that reflect this fundamental limitation. Summers v. Earth Island Inst. , 555 U.S. 488, 493, 129 S.Ct. 1142, 173 L.Ed.2d 1 (2009). The doctrine requires federal courts to satisfy themselves that a plaintiff has "alleged such a personal stake in the outcome of the controversy as to assure that concrete adverseness which sharpens the presentation of issues." Baker v. Carr , 369 U.S. 186, 204, 82 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
370 F. Supp. 3d 804, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crookston-v-johnson-miwd-2018.