Craigmiles v. Giles

• Decision Date: 06 December 2002
• Docket Number: No. 00-6281.,00-6281.
• Citation: 312 F.3d 220
• Parties: Nathaniel CRAIGMILES; Tommy Wilson; Craigmiles Wilson Casket Supply; Angela Brent; Jerry Harwood; Naenia Enterprises, LLC, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Arthur GILES; Larry Meriwether, Sr.; Fred S. Wheeler; Lori Keen; Edward Larson; Charles B. Manes, Jr.; Karen House; Mack Wood; Paul G. Summers; John Hopkins, each in their official capacities as State Officials, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

312 F.3d 220

Nathaniel CRAIGMILES; Tommy Wilson; Craigmiles Wilson Casket Supply; Angela Brent; Jerry Harwood; Naenia Enterprises, LLC, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Arthur GILES; Larry Meriwether, Sr.; Fred S. Wheeler; Lori Keen; Edward Larson; Charles B. Manes, Jr.; Karen House; Mack Wood; Paul G. Summers; John Hopkins, each in their official capacities as State Officials, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 00-6281.

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Argued: April 24, 2002.

Decided and Filed: December 6, 2002.

Harold L. North, Jr. (briefed), Schumaker & Thompson, Chattanooga, TN, Matthew Berry (briefed), William H. Mellor (argued and briefed), Institute for Justice, Washington, DC, for Plaintiff-Appellee.

Steven A. Hart (argued and briefed), Janet M. Kleinfelter (briefed), Financial Division, Office of Attorney General, Nashville, TN, for Defendants-Appellants.

T. Scott Gilligan (briefed), Statman, Harris, Siegel & Eyrich, Cincinnati, OH, John C. Eastman (briefed), Chapman University School of Law, Orange, CA, for Amici Curiae.

Before KRUPANSKY and BOGGS, Circuit Judges; and LAWSON, District Judge.^*

OPINION

BOGGS, Circuit Judge.

Nathaniel Craigmiles and several other plaintiffs challenge a provision of the Tennessee Funeral Directors and Embalmers Act (FDEA) that forbids anyone from selling caskets without being licensed by the state as a "funeral director." Licensing requires an applicant to undergo two years of education and training, very little of which, Craigmiles argues, pertains to casket design or selection. The district court held that the FDEA, insofar as it bars non-licensed funeral directors from the retail sale of caskets, violates both the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Recognizing that the limitation neither affected any fundamental right nor discriminated against any protected class, the district court nevertheless determined that the restriction lacked a rational basis and therefore did not pass even slight constitutional scrutiny. Tennessee appeals the district court order, arguing that the FDEA at least advances several legitimate governmental purposes. We consider the state's arguments below, and affirm the district court's judgment.

I

The FDEA requires all those engaged in "funeral directing" to be licensed by the Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, established by the FDEA. See Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-5-201. When the licensing legislation was originally enacted in 1951, the definition of "funeral directing" did not include the sale of caskets and other funeral merchandise, but was limited to the arranging of funeral ceremonies, burial, cremation, and embalming. In 1972, the Tennessee General Assembly amended the definition of "funeral directing" to include the "making of arrangements to provide for funeral services and/or the selling of funeral merchandise, and/or the making of financial arrangements for the rendering of the services, and/or the sale of such merchandise." Tenn.Code Ann. § 62-5-101(a)(3)(A)(ii) (emphasis added).

The requirements for licensure as a funeral director are more than administrative. Applicants may choose one of two paths of study. They may complete either one year of course work at an accredited mortuary school and then a one-year apprenticeship with a licensed funeral director or a two-year apprenticeship. There is no specified curriculum for the apprenticeship, although the funeral director under whom the candidate is training must file a quarterly report with the Board regarding the apprentice's activity. After the completion of either of the two-year tracks, the candidate must take and pass the Tennessee Funeral Arts Examination.

For the candidate on the mortuary school track, there is only one accredited school in Tennessee, Gupton College. To complete the required year at Gupton, the candidate must take eight credit hours in embalming, three in "restorative art," and twenty-one in "funeral service." Although there was testimony at trial that portions of sixteen of the twenty-one hours in "funeral service" classes pertain to caskets and urns, students testified that casket and urn issues constituted no more than five percent of the Gupton curriculum. Only 37 of the 250 questions on the Tennessee Funeral Arts Exam concern funeral merchandising, including various casket options, FTC regulations regarding the sale of funeral merchandise, and merchandise display.

Craigmiles and his fellow plaintiffs operate two independent casket stores: "Wilson-Craigmiles Casket Supply" in Chattanooga and "The Casket Store" in Knoxville. The stores offer caskets, urns, gravemarkers, monuments, flower holders, and other merchandise items. The stores engage in no embalming or arranging of funeral services, cremations, or burials. Neither of the stores has sought to sell caskets "pre-need," and each, at least so far, sells caskets only after the death of the intended occupant.

The Board issued a cease and desist order to both businesses, which barred them from continuing to sell caskets and other funeral merchandise. In the orders, the Board declared that the businesses were engaged in "funeral directing" and employed no licensed "funeral directors," thus violating the FDEA. Both businesses ceased operations on issuance of the orders.

Craigmiles and the other proprietors affected by the cease and desist orders filed this action in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Bringing the action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Craigmiles alleged that the FDEA, insofar as it restricted the sale of caskets, urns, and other funeral merchandise to licensed funeral directors, violates the Due Process, Equal Protection, and Privileges and Immunities clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Craigmiles requested that the court enjoin the enforcement of the FDEA against businesses engaging only in the retailing of funeral merchandise.

The district court held that the application of the FDEA to the plaintiffs' businesses violates their due process and equal protection rights, but rejected the plaintiffs' Privileges and Immunities Clause argument. Accordingly, the district court enjoined the Board from enforcing the FDEA against the plaintiffs' businesses, with respect to the way they operated before the Board's cease and desist order. The district court did not, however, enjoin the operation of the entire Act, its application to other parties, or even to the plaintiffs if their business activities changed. See Craigmiles v. Giles, 110 F.Supp.2d 658, 667 (E.D.Tenn.2000).

After the issuance of the injunction, the plaintiffs resumed operations. The State of Tennessee now appeals and argues that the district court's injunction should be dissolved.

II

The Supreme Court has established a tripartite rubric for analyzing challenges under the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses. When a statute regulates certain "fundamental rights" (e.g. voting or abortion) or distinguishes between people on the basis of certain "suspect characteristics" (e.g. race or national origin), the statute is subject to "strict scrutiny." Zablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 388, 98 S.Ct. 673, 54 L.Ed.2d 618 (1978). To survive strict scrutiny, the regulation must serve a compelling state purpose and be narrowly tailored to achieving that purpose. Ibid. The Supreme Court has identified other classifications, such as gender and illegitimacy, which are less "suspect," and are therefore subject only to intermediate scrutiny, under which the regulation need only serve an "important" state interest and the means employed need only be "substantially related" to that interest. See J.E.B. v. Alabama, 511 U.S. 127, 136, 114 S.Ct. 1419, 128 L.Ed.2d 89 (1994); Mississippi Univ. for Women v. Hogan, 458 U.S. 718, 725, 102 S.Ct. 3331, 73 L.Ed.2d 1090 (1982).

All other regulations are subject to "rational basis" review, requiring only that the regulation bear some rational relation to a legitimate state interest. Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620, 632, 116 S.Ct. 1620, 134 L.Ed.2d 855 (1996). Even foolish and misdirected provisions are generally valid if subject only to rational basis review. As we have said, a statute is subject to a "strong presumption of validity" under rational basis review, and we will uphold it "if there is any reasonably conceivable state of facts that could provide a rational basis." Walker v. Bain, 257 F.3d 660, 668 (6th Cir.2001). See also Heller v. Doe, 509 U.S. 312, 319, 113 S.Ct. 2637, 125 L.Ed.2d 257 (1993). Those seeking to invalidate a statute using rational basis review must "negative every conceivable basis that might support it." Lehnhausen v. Lake Shore Auto Parts Co., 410 U.S. 356, 364, 93 S.Ct. 1001, 35 L.Ed.2d 351 (1973). Our standards for accepting a justification for the regulatory scheme are far from daunting. A profferred explanation for the statute need not be supported by an exquisite evidentiary record; rather we will be satisfied with the government's "rational speculation" linking the regulation to a legitimate purpose, even "unsupported by evidence or empirical data." FCC v. Beach Communications, Inc., 508 U.S. 307, 313, 113 S.Ct. 2096, 124 L.Ed.2d 211 (1993). Under rational basis review, it is "`constitutionally irrelevant [what] reasoning in fact underlay the legislative decision.'" Railroad Retirement Bd. v. Fritz, 449 U.S. 166, 179, 101 S.Ct. 453, 66 L.Ed.2d 368 (1980) (quoting Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U.S. 603, 80 S.Ct. 1367, 4 L.Ed.2d 1435 (1960)).

All of the parties concede that rational basis review is the proper standard for evaluating the FDEA. While feared by many, morticians and casket retailers have not achieved the protected status that requires a higher level of scrutiny under our Equal Protection jurisprudence. Although the licensing requirement has disrupted the plaintiffs' businesses, the regulations do not affect any right now considered fundamental and thus requiring more significant...