Wilkinson v. Federal Bureau of Investigation

99 F.R.D. 148, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13795
CourtDistrict Court, C.D. California
DecidedSeptember 13, 1983
DocketNo. CV 80-1048 AWT
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 99 F.R.D. 148 (Wilkinson v. Federal Bureau of Investigation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, C.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilkinson v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, 99 F.R.D. 148, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13795 (C.D. Cal. 1983).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

TASHIMA, District Judge.

This is an action brought by the National Committee Against Repressive Legislation1 (“NCARL”); its former executive director, Frank Wilkinson; and several members of NCARL. NCARL describes itself as an unincorporated association dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights and to the eradication of repressive laws and practices throughout the United States. The defendants are various officers and [152]*152agencies of the United States. In this action, plaintiffs claim that their constitutional and other rights were violated by defendants’ efforts to disrupt, discredit, and interfere with NCARL’s activities.

This matter is now before the Court on plaintiffs’ motion for class certification under Fed.R.Civ.P. 23(b)(3).2 Named plaintiffs request the certification of a plaintiff class consisting of all individuals who have been sustaining members of NCARL for at least one year since 1960. The class members’ claims are that their constitutional and other rights were invaded when defendants (1) disrupted and discredited NCARL’s activities, and (2) obtained information about the class members’ activities, including their contributions to NCARL.

The constitutional and statutory sources of plaintiffs’ class claims and the relief sought for these claims are as follows:

1. Damages for violations of the First, Fourth, Fifth and Ninth Amendments and Article IV, § 2 of the Constitution;
2. Damages for unauthorized interception of wire communications in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2510 et seq., 47 U.S.C. § 605 and the First and Fourth Amendments;
3. Damages for violations of 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1985(3);
4. Injunctive, declaratory and mandamus relief for defendants’ violations of plaintiffs’ constitutional rights; and
5. Damages, injunctive, declaratory and mandamus relief for violations of the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a.

Defendants launch a two-pronged attack against plaintiffs’ motion. First, they challenge plaintiffs’ standing to assert claims that derive from harms inflicted upon NCARL. Second, defendants challenge plaintiffs’ ability to satisfy the requirements of Rules 23(a) and 23(b)(3). A determination of whether class representatives and members have standing to raise their claims should precede determination of their class certification motion. See O’Shea v. Littleton, 414 U.S. 488, 494 & n. 3, 94 S.Ct. 669, 675 & n. 3, 38 L.Ed.2d 674 (1974). Accordingly, I turn first to defendants’ standing challenge.

I. STANDING

Defendants challenge plaintiffs’ standing to raise only two of their claims. First, defendants contend that plaintiffs lack standing to assert any First Amendment claims. Second, defendants challenge plaintiffs’ standing to raise invasion of privacy claims.

1. First Amendment Claims

In their first cause of action, plaintiffs contend that they were deprived of their rights of free speech, press, assembly, and free association, as guaranteed by the First Amendment. The kinds of actions by defendants on which plaintiffs' base these claims include the following: disruption of speeches given by NCARL officials; disruption of NCARL lobbying activities; and use of government agents to cause dissension within NCARL. As explained above, plaintiffs’ theory of harm and damages on these claims is that plaintiffs suffered derivative harm as a result of the alleged injuries inflicted directly upon NCARL. In particular, plaintiffs claim that the effectiveness of their contributions to NCARL was diluted by defendants’ alleged activities hampering NCARL.

In California Medical Ass’n v. Federal Election Comm’n, 641 F.2d 619 (9th Cir. 1980) (en banc) (“CMA ”), aff’d, 453 U.S. 182, 101 S.Ct. 2712, 69 L.Ed.2d 567 (1981), the Ninth Circuit addressed the issue of how an individual’s First Amendment [153]*153speech and associational rights are infringed by government actions that restrict the individual’s ability to finance political speech by an organization.3 While CMA involved a challenge to statutory limits on contributions to political action committees, plaintiffs seek to frame their First Amendment claim on behalf of NCARL’s members in precisely the same manner. Relying on Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976), CMA held that “speech by proxy” in the form of contributions for financing an organization’s speech is “somewhat removed from the core of political expression.” 641 F.2d at 628.

[Contributions ... were viewed [in Buckley] primarily as symbolic acts showing support, rather than as expository acts of advocacy. A contribution is potential speech dependent upon the recipient for its ultimate articulation. The articulation of ideas by a speaker is more central to political expression than is the symbolic support embodied in a contribution, which is essentially a proxy.

CMA, 641 F.2d at 627.

Although CMA holds that “speech by proxy” is not at the core of the First Amendment, it does not conclude that the government is free to infringe such indirect speech without justification. Instead, because restrictions on contributions do- infringe First Amendment freedoms

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
99 F.R.D. 148, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13795, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilkinson-v-federal-bureau-of-investigation-cacd-1983.