Flint v. Dennison
| Decision Date | 01 June 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-35441.,05-35441. |
| Citation | 488 F.3d 816 |
| Parties | Aaron FLINT, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. George DENNISON, in his official capacity as President of the University of Montana-Missoula (UMT); Associated Students of the University of Montana (ASUM); Kyle Engelson, in his official capacity as the ASUM Elections Committee Chair; Justin Baker; Averiel Wolff; Sophia Alvarez; Anna Green; Kris Monson; Derek Duncan; Katie Boeckx, in their official capacities as Elections Commissioners for the Associated Students of UMT; Jessica Adam, Defendants-Appellees, and Gale Price, President; Vinnie Pavlish, ASUM Vice President; Cassie Morton, ASUM Business Manager, and ex-officio member of ASUM Senate; Bryce Bennett; Andrew Bissell; Brad Cederberg; Tyler Clairmont; Nezha Haddouch; Shawana Hagen; Chris Healow; Andrea Helling; Derf Johnson; Britta Padgham; Kimberly Pappas; Josh Peters; Rebecca Pettit; Jake Pipinich; Ross Properi; Jon Snodgrass; Leslie Venetz; Nathan Ziegler; Casey Hogue, in their official capacities as ASUM Senators, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
The Montana University System, Helena, MT; and Lisa J. Danetz and Brenda Wright, Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action, Boston, MA, for the defendants-appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Montana; Donald W. Molloy, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-04-00085-DWM.
Before: SUSAN P. GRABER, RICHARD A. PAEZ, and CARLOS T. BEA, Circuit Judges.
Opinion by Judge BEA.
We are called upon to decide whether the University of Montana may impose a dollar limit on what a student may spend on his campaign for student office. The University's limit did not affect how the money could be spent; rather, it directly told a student how much he could spend to get elected. The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 could not tell James Buckley how much of his money he could spend to be elected a United States Senator. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1, 51-54, 96 S.Ct. 612, 46 L.Ed.2d 659 (1976) (per curiam). Why, then, may a state university tell students how much they may spend to be elected to student office? Because, unlike the exercise of state-wide political self-determination at a national level at issue in Buckley, the student election at issue here occurred in a limited public forum, that is, a forum opened by the University to serve viewpoint neutral educational interests but closed to all save enrolled students who carried a minimum course load and maintained a minimum grade-point average. These educational interests outweigh the free speech interests of the students who campaigned within that limited public forum.
When Aaron Flint was a student at the University of Montana, he twice exceeded the $100 campaign expenditure limit imposed on student candidates for positions in the Associated Students of the University of Montana ("ASUM"). Following the second violation, Flint was denied a seat as ASUM Senator. Flint sued ASUM, the University, and ASUM officers, claiming the spending limit, as applied, violated his First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Flint now appeals the district court's order of summary judgment in favor of defendants. The precise question before us is this: Does the Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibit a public university from imposing a $100 expenditure limit on candidates running for a position in student government? U.S. Const. amend. I ("Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech. . . ."). We conclude that it does not.
The University of Montana is a public university under the Montana Constitution; it is administered through a Board of Regents. Mont. Const. art. X, § 2. The Board of Regents requires that the University's student government organization meet certain requirements. For instance, the student government must follow all Board policies, and the student government's constitution must be approved by the president of the University.
ASUM is the student government at the University of Montana. ASUM is a "representative body of the members of the Association, organized exclusively for educational and non-profit purposes." ASUM Const. art. 2, § 1, available at http://www. umt.edu/asum/government/constitution. htm. Under its constitution, ASUM's "primary responsibility . . . is to serve as an advocate for the general welfare of the students." Id. ASUM "government and activities" must "comply with Montana State law and the policies of the Montana Board of Regents on Higher Education." Id. § 4. All students at the University registered for seven or more credits during the Fall and Spring semesters are assessed an activity fee, and each student who pays this fee is a member of ASUM. Id. art. 1, § 2.
ASUM not only serves to represent the students at the University but also provides hands-on, practical educational opportunities for University students. As explained by ASUM's senior faculty advisor,
ASUM offers students experience in many forms of leadership, through which they develop a variety of skills to handle the responsibilities that arise in student government. ASUM senators and executives learn how to address conflicting interests of diverse constituencies, how to make recommendations about the allocation of budgetary resources, how to negotiate with administrators over matters such as tuition and fee increases, and how to draft policies and priorities for numerous student programs.
Since ASUM's inception in 1906, the University has viewed ASUM as an invaluable educational tool for students of the University. ASUM exists, according to its senior faculty advisor, for "essentially educational purposes."
Consistent with its goals of representing the students at the University and providing students with leadership opportunities, ASUM allows for the election of three student executives and twenty student senators. ASUM Const. art. 4, § 1(a) Article 7 of the ASUM Constitution and Article 4 of the ASUM Bylaws impose several procedures and restrictions on the student election process. For example, only ASUM members, i.e., Student Activity Fee-paying students of the University, who maintain at least a 2.0 cumulative grade point average are eligible to run for elected office. Id. art. 7, § 1. Students must be registered for at least one credit to vote in any ASUM election. Id.
The ASUM Bylaws broadly regulate campaigning, which is defined as "any activity which directly or indirectly promotes the candidacy of one or more individuals for office." ASUM Bylaws art. V, § 2.A, available at http://www.umt.edu/asum/government/bylaws.htm. The Bylaws provide that on campus campaign materials may be displayed only after the official campaigning period begins and only in certain areas. Id. §§ 2.B-C, 2.F.2-4. The Bylaws further prohibit any door-to-door campaigning in University residence halls or family housing and condition campaigning in a classroom on the permission of the professor. Id. § 2.E.
At issue in the case at bar is the Bylaws' campaign expenditure limitation: $100 for individual candidates for office. Id. § 2.G.1-3. The Bylaws require each student candidate to document and make public his expenditures two days prior to the general election. Id. § 2.H. ASUM reimburses candidates for a portion of their expenditures. Id. § 2.G.4. The Bylaws prescribe that all contributions to campaigns come from students; corporate and political action committee contributions are prohibited, as are contributions from ASUM-sponsored organizations. Id. § 2.G.5, I. As a means of enforcing these campaign regulations, the Bylaws provide that any candidate who violates the election rules may be barred from candidacy or denied office.
With this general background in place, we turn to the facts of this case. Flint ran for and won election on a joint ticket with Gale Price as ASUM President and Vice-President, respectively, for the 2003-2004 academic year. Flint and Price combined to spend about $300 on their campaign and failed fully to disclose these expenditures as required by the ASUM Bylaws. The ASUM Senate censured both Flint and Price for exceeding the campaign expenditure limit but allowed them to retain their offices as ASUM President and Vice-President.
The following year, Flint ran for a term as ASUM Senator and again exceeded ASUM's spending limit. Upon submitting his campaign expenditure form on April 26, 2004, in which Flint reported expenditures of $214.69, Flint was informed by ASUM Elections Chairman Kyle Engelson that Flint's name would be removed from the ballot for the upcoming election. Flint, then ASUM President, responded to Engelson's letter with an email in which he noted ASUM procedures require a two-thirds vote of the Senate approving Engelson's recommendation, which would not be possible until the election was already underway. Flint suggested that Engelson recommend to the Senate that candidates who violated ASUM election laws not be allowed to take office. After the election was underway, the ASUM Senate voted to remove Flint from his Senate seat should he win. Accordingly, after Flint received enough votes to be elected ASUM Senator, he was denied office.
Flint filed a complaint in United States District Court on May 5, 2004, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, claiming that the ASUM Bylaws's $100 spending cap on campaign expenditures was an unconstitutional abridgment of free speech. Flint sued George Dennison, in his official capacity as the University president; ASUM; Kyle Engelson, in his official capacity as ASUM Elections Committee Chair; and seven ASUM...
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