Justice for All v. Faulkner

410 F.3d 760, 33 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1805, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 9753, 2005 WL 1253890
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedMay 27, 2005
Docket04-50335
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 410 F.3d 760 (Justice for All v. Faulkner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Justice for All v. Faulkner, 410 F.3d 760, 33 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1805, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 9753, 2005 WL 1253890 (5th Cir. 2005).

Opinion

*763 E. GRADY JOLLY, Circuit Judge:

The University of Texas at Austin (“the University”) is the flagship campus of the University of Texas System. Justice For All (“JFA”) is a student anti-abortion group at the University. JFA brought this action challenging the University’s “Literature Policy”, which requires that all printed materials distributed on campus bear the name of a university-affiliated person or organization responsible for their distribution. JFA contends that the policy is an unconstitutional restriction, on anonymous speech in a designated public forum. The University responds that the policy is a reasonable, viewpoint-neutral regulation of speech within a limited public forum. The district court agreed with JFA, and issued a permanent injunction barring enforcement of the Literature Policy to prevent JFA from engaging in anonymous leafleting.

We AFFIRM the district court’s holding that the Literature Policy is invalid under the First Amendment. As to the specific remedy ordered, however, we REMAND for further consideration consistent with this opinion.

I

In December 2000, and again in February 2001, JFA submitted to the University’s Dean of Students an “Application for Use of University Facilities” requesting permission to erect a 5600 square foot photographic exhibit on the University’s Main Plaza. The University denied the requests, but gave JFA permission to erect the exhibit elsewhere on campus on two occasions.

JFA alleges that, during one of the displays, University officials attempted to prohibit its members from handing out leaflets. The leaflets in question read, simply, “Life is Beautiful — Choose Life”. Although neither party expressly states as much, it is clear that the intervention occurred solely because the leaflets did not identify JFA as the organization responsible for their distribution, as is required by the University’s Literature Policy.

As a result of the incident, JFA brought this action, challenging various University policies on First Amendment grounds. In response, the University amended or repealed some of the policies in question, leaving two claims for the district court to resolve. One of the two, which challenged the University’s rules regarding the erection of stationary exhibits on campus, was dismissed by the district court. JFA does not appeal the dismissal.

The second of JFA’s two claims challenged the Literature Policy as an unconstitutional restriction on anonymous speech within a designated public forum. The Literature Policy is actually, comprised of two discrete rules: Institutional Rule § 13-404 and Regents Rule § 12. Regents Rule § 12 applies generally to the University of Texas System and provides that “[ajnonymous publications are prohibited, and any individual or organization publishing or aiding in publishing, or circulating or aiding in circulating, an anonymous publication will be subject to disciplinary action”. Institutional Rule § 13-404 implements the Regents Rule on the Austin campus, and states that “all literature distributed on campus must identify the University person or organization 1 re *764 sponsible for its distribution”. 2

The University has advanced several justifications for the Literature Policy. Before the district court, it argued, inter alia, that the policy was enacted to prevent littering on campus. On appeal, the University has abandoned the anti-littering rationale and contends that the Literature Policy ensures that literature is not distributed by non-affiliated individuals or groups, thus preserving the campus for use by students, faculty, and staff.

The district court concluded (1) that “the campuses of public colleges and universities” are “designated public forums for student expression” and (2) that the University’s Literature Policy was not narrowly tailored to serve a significant state interest. 3 As such, it granted summary judgment for JFA and permanently enjoined the University from enforcing the Literature Policy “to prevent Plaintiffs from engaging in anonymous leafletting”. The University now appeals that decision.

II

JFA contends that the Literature Policy violates the First Amendment, insofar as it effectively bars anonymous leafleting by students on the campus of a public university. Before turning our attention to the Literature Policy itself, we must address two threshold questions. First, we must determine whether the speech at issue— that is, anonymous leafleting — is protected under the First Amendment. If it is, we must determine the proper level of constitutional scrutiny to apply to the particular forum in question.

A

As a general proposition, anonymous speech is protected by the First Amendment. See, e.g., McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm’n., 514 U.S. 334, 115 S.Ct. 1511, 131 L.Ed.2d 426 (1995); Buckley v. American Constitutional Law Foundation, Inc., 525 U.S. 182, 199-200, 119 S.Ct. 636, 142 L.Ed.2d 599 (1999); Talley v. California, 362 U.S. 60, 64, 80 S.Ct. 536, 4 L.Ed.2d 559 (1960). In striking down prohibitions on anonymous publication, the Supreme Court has noted, inter alia, the importance of anonymity as a means of permitting “[persecuted groups and sects” to “criticize oppressive practices and laws”. Talley, 362 U.S. at 64, 80 S.Ct. 536.

More specifically, the First Amendment’s protection of anonymous speech extends beyond traditional publishing to encompass anonymous leafleting. In Talley, for example, the Supreme Court held void a city ordinance barring the distribution of handbills that did not include the name and address of both the author and distributor. See id. at 60-61, 65, 80 S.Ct. 536. Moreover, the Court observed in McIntyre that “anonymous pamphleteering is not a pernicious, fraudulent practice, but an honorable tradition of advocacy and dissent”, which “exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular”. 514 U.S. at 357, 115 S.Ct. 1511.

*765 Certainly, the right to “anonymous speech” has a somewhat different meaning for a student who speaks on the campus of á- public university than it has for a leaflet-er on a public street. Public universities can and typically do' restrict access to campus facilities. Identifying oneself as a student to a designated university official will often serve as one’s “admission ticket” to use those facilities for various purposes, including speech. As such, on-campus speech — by virtue of the simple fact that it occurs within a forum that only certain persons may use — will. almost never be completely anonymous.

What remains of a student’s anonymity after he has identified himself to university officials, however, is significant.

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410 F.3d 760, 33 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1805, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 9753, 2005 WL 1253890, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/justice-for-all-v-faulkner-ca5-2005.