Malik v. Brown

71 F.3d 724, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8958, 95 Daily Journal DAR 15643, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 33110, 1995 WL 697717
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedNovember 28, 1995
DocketNo. 94-35529
StatusPublished
Cited by54 cases

This text of 71 F.3d 724 (Malik v. Brown) 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
Malik v. Brown, 71 F.3d 724, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8958, 95 Daily Journal DAR 15643, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 33110, 1995 WL 697717 (9th Cir. 1995).

Opinions

OPINION

EUGENE A. WRIGHT, Circuit Judge:

In this qualified immunity case we decide whether a prisoner’s First Amendment right to use his religious name in conjunction with his committed name on outgoing mail was clearly established in 1990. We also determine whether a prison notary public violated a clearly established law when she refused to attest to a document on which the inmate’s signature did not match his identification.

I.

Dawud Halisi Malik brought suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985, alleging that prison officials violated his statutory and constitutional rights by refusing to process mail and notarize documents on which he used his religious name. When he was first incarcerated his name was David Riggins. In 1978, he legally changed his name to Dawud Halisi Malik after converting to Sunni Islam. He began to use his new name in 1988.1

[727]*727This is the second appeal that these parties have brought before us. We previously reversed a grant of summary judgment in favor of the prison officials, holding that Malik’s use of his Muslim name was an expression of his religious faith, that he was entitled to use both his religious and his committed names, and that whether defendants violated this right was a factual dispute to be resolved at trial. Malik v. Brown, 16 F.3d 330, 335 (9th Cir.1994) (Malik I). We expressly did not reach the issue of whether defendants should be accorded qualified immunity. Id. at 335 n. 4.

On remand, the prison officials again moved for summary judgment, contending that they were entitled to qualified immunity. They also moved for summary judgment, contending that Malik’s claims for prospective relief were moot. The district court denied the motions. The prison officials appeal.

A denial of qualified immunity is appealable immediately. Neely v. Feinstein, 50 F.3d 1502, 1505 (9th Cir.1995); 28 U.S.C. § 1291. The denial of summary judgment as to prospective relief, however, is not a final order and is not inextricably intertwined with the issue of qualified immunity. See Swint v. Chambers County Comm., — U.S. -, -, 115 S.Ct. 1203, 1212, 131 L.Ed.2d 60 (1995). We have no appellate jurisdiction to review it.

II.

The qualified immunity doctrine protects government officials from liability for civil damages “insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Harlow v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 818, 102 S.Ct. 2727, 2738, 73 L.Ed.2d 396 (1982). Qualified immunity requires “a two-part analysis: 1) Was the law governing the official’s conduct clearly established? 2) Under that law, could a reasonable officer have believed the conduct was lawful?” Act Up!/Portland v. Bagley, 988 F.2d 868, 871 (9th Cir.1993). We review de novo a denial of qualified immunity. Id.

To be clearly established the law must be “sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right.” Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 3039, 97 L.Ed.2d 523 (1987). It is not necessary that the alleged acts have been previously held unconstitutional, as long as the unlawfulness was apparent in light of preexisting law. Id. “[I]n the absence of binding precedent, a court should look to whatever decisional law is available to ascertain whether the law is clearly established” for qualified immunity purposes, Capoeman v. Reed, 754 F.2d 1512, 1514 (9th Cir.1985), “‘including decisions of state courts, other circuits, and district courts.’” Vaughan v. Ricketts, 859 F.2d 736, 739 (9th Cir.1988).

A. Outgoing Mail

Defendants argue that at the time Malik was punished for violating the prison’s mail rules, only a single decision from another circuit, Salaam v. Lockhart, 905 F.2d 1168, 1170 (8th Cir.1990) (Salaam II), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1026, 111 S.Ct. 677, 112 L.Ed.2d 669 (1991), was sufficiently on point to establish the law. Because Salaam was decided only one month before the alleged violations, they contend that the law was not clearly established. A review of pr&-Salaam cases, however, shows otherwise.

For at least 16 years, federal courts have been wrestling with inmates’ use of religious names. The cases have consistently supported three propositions. First, an inmate has a First Amendment interest in using his religious name, at least in conjunction with his committed name. See, e.g., Salaam II, 905 F.2d at 1170; Felix v. Rolan, 833 F.2d 517, 518 (5th Cir.1987); Barrett v. Virginia, 689 F.2d 498 (4th Cir.1982). Second, an inmate cannot compel a prison to reorganize its filing system to reflect the new name. See, e.g., Barrett, 689 F.2d at 503; Akbar v. Canney, 634 F.2d 339, 340 (6th Cir.1980), cert. denied, 450 U.S. 1002, 101 S.Ct. 1712, 68 L.Ed.2d 205 (1981). Third, in states where inmates are allowed to change names legally, prisons are generally required to recognize only legally changed names. See, e.g., Rahman v. Stephenson, 626 F.Supp. [728]*728886 (W.D.Tenn.1986); Salahuddin v. Coughlin, 591 F.Supp. 353 (S.D.N.Y.1984). Several of these opinions address, at least indirectly, the topic of inmate mail.

In Masjid Muhammad-D.C.C. v. Keve, 479 F.Supp. 1311 (D.Del.1979), decided 11 years before the events in question here, the district court denied a prison warden qualified immunity where he refused to deliver mail addressed only to the inmate’s religious name. The court held that the warden should have been aware that preventing mail delivery involves “particularly sensitive” topics such as “mail censorship and religious expression.” Id. at 1327. And in Salahuddin v. Carlson, 523 F.Supp. 314 (E.D.Va.1981), the district court held that a prisoner had stated a cause of action where he alleged that prison officials refused to recognize his new name in various situations, including failing to deliver mail addressed to his new name.

In 1982, the Fourth Circuit held that prison officials could not categorically refused to accord legal recognition to inmates’ newly adopted religious names. Barrett, 689 F.2d at 503.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

El-Bey v. Sylvester
S.D. Ohio, 2022
Sefekht v. Parker
E.D. Kentucky, 2022
State v. C. G.
2022 WI 60 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2022)
Jorge Rico v. Clark Ducart
980 F.3d 1292 (Ninth Circuit, 2020)
(PC) Crowder v. Fox
E.D. California, 2019
Archer v. Orr
D. Arizona, 2019
Leahy v. Conant
436 P.3d 1039 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2019)
AL-KIDD v. Ashcroft
653 F.3d 982 (Ninth Circuit, 2010)
Butler v. City of Sacramento
365 F. App'x 749 (Ninth Circuit, 2009)
Bull v. City and County of San Francisco
539 F.3d 1193 (Ninth Circuit, 2008)
Bull v. City & County Sf
Ninth Circuit, 2008
A.W. v. Jersey City Public Schools
486 F.3d 791 (Third Circuit, 2007)
In Re Arnett
56 Cal. Rptr. 3d 1 (California Court of Appeal, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
71 F.3d 724, 95 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 8958, 95 Daily Journal DAR 15643, 1995 U.S. App. LEXIS 33110, 1995 WL 697717, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/malik-v-brown-ca9-1995.