Doe v. Marshall

367 F. Supp. 3d 1310
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Alabama
DecidedFebruary 11, 2019
DocketCASE NO. 2:15-CV-606-WKW
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 367 F. Supp. 3d 1310 (Doe v. Marshall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Doe v. Marshall, 367 F. Supp. 3d 1310 (M.D. Ala. 2019).

Opinion

W. Keith Watkins, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

The Alabama Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Act (ASORCNA) is the most comprehensive and debilitating sex-offender scheme in the nation. No other state's system comes close. ASORCNA applies to adult offenders no matter when or where they were convicted. It bans them from living or working within 2,000 feet of a school or daycare, even if the offender never harmed a child. Between 10:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., no offender can be in the same house as a minor niece or nephew - not even for a minute. An offender's driver's license is branded with "CRIMINAL SEX OFFENDER" in bold, red letters. Offenders must report lawful internet activity - such as connecting to the Wi-Fi at a new McDonald's, or anonymously commenting on a news article - to the police. Even a minor violation of any of these provisions may result in years behind bars. And unless a narrow exception somehow applies, offenders must comply with ASORCNA for life. See generally Ala. Code § 15-20A-1 et seq.

The State of Alabama says that these restrictions protect the public, especially children, from recidivist sex offenders. That is a compelling state interest. But sex offenders are not second-class citizens. The Constitution protects their liberty and dignity just as it protects everyone else's.

This case is about whether certain ASORCNA provisions violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Plaintiffs are five registered sex offenders covered by ASORCNA. Their claims are before the court on cross-motions for summary judgment. (Docs. # 139, 147, 154.) For the reasons below, Plaintiffs are entitled to summary judgment on their First Amendment claims. The branded-identification requirement unnecessarily compels speech. The internet-use reporting requirements also go too far, chilling free speech. But the State of Alabama is entitled to summary judgment on Plaintiffs' Fourteenth Amendment claims. Though Plaintiffs have made several good legal arguments, one Fourteenth Amendment claim fails on the merits, and Plaintiffs lack standing to pursue the rest.

I. JURISDICTION AND VENUE

The court has subject-matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331, 1343, and 2201. The parties do not contest personal jurisdiction or venue.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

To succeed on a motion for summary judgment, the moving party must show that "there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a). The court views the evidence, and all reasonable inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Jean-Baptiste v. Gutierrez , 627 F.3d 816, 820 (11th Cir. 2010).

A party seeking summary judgment "always bears the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for the motion." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett , 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). This responsibility includes identifying the parts of the record that show there is no genuine dispute of material fact. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1). "A verified complaint may be used in the summary judgment context, but verification must be on personal knowledge alone, not knowledge, information and belief." Horne v. Russell Cty. Comm'n , 379 F.Supp.2d 1305, 1323 (M.D. Ala. 2005) (citing *1319Fowler v. S. Bell Tel. & Tel. Co. , 343 F.2d 150, 154 (5th Cir. 1965) ). A movant who does not bear a trial burden of production may also assert, without citing the record, that the nonmoving party "cannot produce admissible evidence to support" a material fact. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(1)(B). If the moving party meets its burden, the burden shifts to the nonmoving party to present evidence of a genuine dispute of material fact. See Celotex , 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548. A genuine dispute of material fact exists when the nonmoving party produces evidence allowing a reasonable fact-finder to return a verdict in its favor. Waddell v. Valley Forge Dental Assocs. , 276 F.3d 1275, 1279 (11th Cir. 2001).

"Cross-motions for summary judgment will not, in themselves, warrant the court in granting summary judgment unless one of the parties is entitled to judgment as a matter of law on facts that are not genuinely disputed." Bricklayers, Masons & Plasterers Int'l Union v. Stuart Plastering Co. , 512 F.2d 1017, 1023 (5th Cir. 1975). Still, cross-motions "may be probative of the nonexistence of a factual dispute." Shook v. United States , 713 F.2d 662, 665 (11th Cir. 1983). If both parties proceed on the same legal theories and rely on the same material facts, "the court is signaled that the case is ripe for summary judgment." Id. ; see Ga. State Conf. of NAACP v. Fayette Cty. Bd. of Comm'rs , 775 F.3d 1336, 1345 (11th Cir. 2015).

III. BACKGROUND

ASORCNA is a comprehensive statute that severely limits how sex offenders live their lives.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
367 F. Supp. 3d 1310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/doe-v-marshall-almd-2019.