protectmarriage.com - Yes on 8 v. Debra Bowen

752 F.3d 827, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 9312, 2014 WL 2085305
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 20, 2014
Docket11-17884
StatusPublished
Cited by59 cases

This text of 752 F.3d 827 (protectmarriage.com - Yes on 8 v. Debra Bowen) 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.

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protectmarriage.com - Yes on 8 v. Debra Bowen, 752 F.3d 827, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 9312, 2014 WL 2085305 (9th Cir. 2014).

Opinions

Opinion by Judge MILAN D. SMITH, Jr.; Dissent by Judge WALLACE.

OPINION

M. SMITH, Circuit Judge:

Appellants bring facial and as-applied challenges to California’s Political Reform Act of 1974, Cal. Gov.Code. §§ 81000-91014(PRA), and seek (1) an injunction exempting them from the PRA’s future reporting deadlines, and (2) declaratory and injunctive relief requiring the State to purge all records of Appellants’ past PRA disclosures. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the State of California on all counts. We affirm the district court’s judgment with regard to Appellants’ facial challenges. We dismiss this appeal as non justiciable with regard to Appellants’ as-applied challenges. And, we remand with instructions that the district court vacate the portion of its opinion concerning Appellants’ as-applied challenges.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The PRA requires political committees to report certain information about their contributors to the State. Specifically, po[831]*831litical committees must file semi-annual disclosures, which, among other things, identify those individuals who have contributed more than $100 during or after a campaign, in addition to each contributor’s address, occupation, and employer. Cal. Gov.Code §§ 84200, 84211(f). The State of California then publishes this information on the website of the California Secretary of State (the Secretary), and produces hard copies upon request.

Appellants, to whom we refer as the Prop 8 Committees or the Committees, are political committees that supported the November 2008 passage of Proposition 8. That proposition amended the California Constitution to provide that “[o]nly marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Cal. Const., Art. I, § 7.5. Proposition 8 was subsequently invalidated. See Hollingsworth v. Perry, — U.S.-, 133 S.Ct. 2652, 2660, 186 L.Ed.2d 768 (2013) (citing Perry v. Schwarzenegger, 704 F.Supp.2d 921, 1004 (N.D.Cal.2010)).

Prior to Proposition 8’s passage, the Prop 8 Committees submitted disclosures to comply with the PRA’s semi-annual reporting deadlines. These disclosures were published on the Secretary’s website, and are available in hard copy. Following Proposition 8’s passage, the Committees initiated this action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, challenging the constitutionality of the PRA’s disclosure requirements both facially and as applied to them. The Committees argued that their donors have been harassed as a result of the Committees’ PRA disclosures, and they sought (1) an injunction exempting them from the PRA’s future reporting deadlines, and (2) declaratory and injunctive relief requiring the State to purge all records of their past PRA disclosures.

On January 30, 2009, the district court denied Appellants’ motion for a preliminary injunction. Appellants did not appeal the district court’s order under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a). Instead, they complied with the PRA’s January 31, 2009 disclosure deadline, reporting those contributors who donated after October 19, 2008 and before December 31, 2008. The Secretary published these disclosures on her website, and made them publicly available in hard copy.1 On November 4, 2011, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of the State on all counts. Appellants timely appealed, asking us to reverse the judgment of the district court and to order the State to purge all records of Appellants’ PRA disclosures.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Bias v. Moynihan, 508 F.3d 1212, 1218 (9th Cir.2007). We review questions of justiciability de novo. Bell v. City of Boise, 709 F.3d 890, 896 (9th Cir.2013).

DISCUSSION

I. Facial Challenges

Appellants assert that the PRA’s $100 reporting threshold and “post-election reporting requirements” are facially unconstitutional in the context of ballot initiatives. Our decision in Family PAC v. McKenna directly precludes Appellants’ challenge to the $100 threshold. 685 F.3d 800, 809-11 (9th Cir.2012) (holding that $25 and $100 contribution disclosure thresholds survive “exacting scrutiny” in the context of ballot initiatives). Appellants’ facial challenge to the post-election reporting requirements fails as well.

[832]*832A. Legal Standard

Contribution disclosure requirements are subject to “exacting scrutiny.” Citizens United v. FEC, 558 U.S. 310, 366-67, 130 S.Ct. 876, 175 L.Ed.2d 753 (2010); Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 44, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976). In applying exacting scrutiny, we first ask whether the challenged regulation burdens First Amendment rights. If it does, we then assess whether there is a “substantial relation” between the burden imposed by the regulation and a “sufficiently important” governmental interest. Citizens United, 558 U.S. at 366-67, 130 S.Ct. 876; Family PAC, 685 F.3d at 805-06 (citing Human Life of Wash. Inc. v. Brumsickle, 624 F.3d 990, 1005 (9th Cir.2010)).

Although disclosure is generally “a less restrictive alternative to more comprehensive regulations of speech,” Citizens United, 558 U.S. at 369, 130 S.Ct. 876, contribution disclosure requirements may burden First Amendment rights by, among other things, deterring “individuals who would prefer to remain anonymous from contributing,” Family PAC, 685 F.3d at 806-07 (internal quotation marks omitted). To justify these burdens and to survive exacting scrutiny, “the strength of the governmental interest must reflect the seriousness of the actual burden on First Amendment rights.” Doe No. 1 v. Reed, 561 U.S. 186, 130 S.Ct. 2811, 2818, 177 L.Ed.2d 493 (2010) (internal quotation marks omitted).

The Supreme Court recognizes three substantial government interests that campaign contribution disclosure requirements may serve. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 66-68, 96 S.Ct. 612; see also Doe, 130 S.Ct. at 2819-21. First, disclosure requirements may serve a substantial “informational interest” by providing the electorate with information about the source of campaign money, the individuals and interests seeking their vote, and where a particular ballot measure or candidate falls on the political spectrum. Buckley, 424 U.S. at 66-67, 96 S.Ct. 612; Family PAC, 685 F.3d at 806. This interest is particularly important in the ballot initiative context. As we explained in Family PAC:

The governmental interest in informing the electorate about who is financing ballot measure committees is of great importance. Disclosure enables the electorate to give proper weight to different speakers and messages ... by providing the voting public with the information with which to assess the various messages vying for their attention in the marketplace of ideas....

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752 F.3d 827, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 9312, 2014 WL 2085305, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/protectmarriagecom-yes-on-8-v-debra-bowen-ca9-2014.