ProtectMarriage.com v. Bowen, No. 11-17884 (9th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs filed suit challenging California's Political Reform Act of 1974, Cal. Gov. Code 81000-91014 (PRA), which requires political committees to report certain information about their contributors to the State. Plaintiffs are political committees that supported the November 2008 passage of Proposition 8 and argued that their donors have been harassed as a result of the PRA disclosures. Plaintiffs sought an injunction exempting them from the PRA's future reporting deadlines and declaratory and injunctive relief requiring the State to purge all records of their past PRA disclosures. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the State on all counts. The court held that Family PAC v. McKenna directly precluded plaintiffs' challenge to the $100 contribution threshold and the government's interest in disclosing contributions to ballot initiative committees is not merely a pre-election interest. Therefore, the court affirmed the district court's judgment with regard to plaintiffs' facial challenges to the post-election reporting requirements. In regard to plaintiffs' as-applied challenges, the court concluded that plaintiffs' request for an injunction does not present a live controversy where the information that plaintiffs seek to keep private has been publicly available on the Internet and in hard copy for nearly five years; plaintiffs' request for injunctive relief did not fall within the mootness exception for cases that are capable of repetition, yet evading review; and plaintiffs' claim for forward-looking relief is not ripe for judicial review. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, dismissed in part, and remanded with instructions.
Court Description: Civil Rights. The panel affirmed in part the district court’s summary judgment and dismissed in part the appeal as non-justiciable in an action challenging California’s Political Reform Act of 1974, which requires political committees to report certain information about their contributors to the State, specifically, semi-annual disclosures identifying those individuals who have contributed more than $100 during or after a campaign, in addition to each contributor’s address, occupation and employer. Appellants are political committees that supported the November 2008 passage of Proposition 8, which before it was invalidated, amended the California Constitution to provide that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California. Arguing that their donors have been harassed as a result of Political Reform Act disclosures, appellants asserted that the Act’s $100 reporting threshold and post-election reporting requirements were facially unconstitutional in the context of ballot initiatives. The panel held that Family PAC v. McKenna, 685 F.3d 800, 809–11 (9th Cir. 2012), directly precluded appellants’ challenge to the $100 threshold. The panel further held that the government’s interest in disclosing contributions to ballot initiative committees was not merely a pre-election interest. The panel therefore affirmed the district court’s judgment with regard to appellants’ facial challenges to the post- election reporting requirements. The panel dismissed the appeal as non-justiciable with regard to appellants’ as-applied challenges. The panel held that to the extent that appellants sought an injunction requiring the State to purge records of their past disclosures, any claim for such relief was moot given that the information has been publicly available on the Internet and in hard copy for nearly five years. To the extent that appellants sought a forward-looking exemption from the Political Reform Act’s requirements, the panel held such claim was not ripe. The panel remanded with instructions that the district court vacate the portion of its opinion concerning appellants’ as-applied challenges. Dissenting in part, Judge Wallace disagreed with the majority’s determination that appellants’ as-applied challenges were non-justiciable.
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