Libertarian Party of Va. v. Judd

• Decision Date: 30 July 2012
• Docket Number: Civil Action No. 3:12cv367–JAG.
• Citation: 881 F.Supp.2d 719
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia
• Parties: LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF VIRGINIA and Darryl Bonner, Plaintiffs, v. Charles JUDD, Kimberly Bowers, and Don Palmer, Members of the Virginia State Board of Elections, in their official capacities, Defendants.

881 F.Supp.2d 719

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF VIRGINIA and Darryl Bonner, Plaintiffs,
v.
Charles JUDD, Kimberly Bowers, and Don Palmer, Members of the Virginia State Board of Elections, in their official capacities, Defendants.

Civil Action No. 3:12cv367–JAG.

United States District Court,
E.D. Virginia,
Richmond Division.

July 30, 2012.

Held Unconstitutional

West's V.C.A. § 24.2–543

[881 F.Supp.2d 720]

Rebecca Kim Glenberg, ACLU of Virginia, Richmond, VA, for Plaintiffs.

Earle Duncan Getchell, Jr., Michael Hugh Brady, Office of the Attorney General, Richmond, VA, for Defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION
JOHN A. GIBNEY, JR., District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment. In this case, the Libertarian Party of Virginia, a third-party political organization,

[881 F.Supp.2d 721]

and Darryl Bonner (collectively, “the plaintiffs”), a paid professional petition circulator and resident of Pennsylvania, seek to place a Libertarian presidential candidate on the Virginia ballot. To appear on the ballot, Virginia law requires candidates or the political parties to submit a petition with certain minimum signature requirements. These petitions may only be circulated by Virginia residents. The plaintiffs argue that limiting petition circulators to Virginia residents violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. They ask the Court to issue a declaratory judgment finding Virginia's residency requirement on petition circulators unconstitutional, as well as a permanent injunction against the requirement's enforcement.

Defendants Charles Judd, Kimberly Bowers, and Don Palmer (collectively “the Board”), members of the Virginia State Board of Elections, argue that the plaintiffs have not been injured by the law. The Board asks the Court to dismiss the plaintiffs' claim for lack of standing and, thus, lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Ultimately, the Court finds that the state-residency restriction on ballot circulation injures both plaintiffs; they have standing to challenge the law pursuant to their Constitutional rights to free speech and political expression. Accordingly, the defendants' motion for summary judgment will be denied.

Furthermore, the Court finds the restriction on out-of-state petition circulators to be unconstitutional. The law places a severe burden on the plaintiffs' freedom of speech and is not narrowly tailored to promote a compelling state interest. Accordingly, the plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment will be granted. The defendants shall be enjoined from enforcing the unconstitutional restriction contained in Va. Code § 24.2–543.

I. Background

The Libertarian Party of Virginia (“the LPVA”) is a third-party political organization that regularly fields candidates for various state and federal-elected positions. As a party that failed to garner 10 percent of the total votes cast in either of the two most recent statewide general elections, the LPVA is not recognized as a “political party” in Virginia. SeeVa. Code § 24.2–101. To appear on the ballot, non-political parties like the LPVA must submit a petition signed by at least 10,000 qualified Virginia voters, including at least 400 qualified voters from each of Virginia's eleven congressional districts. Va. Code § 24.2–543. In addition, each signature must be witnessed by a legal Virginia resident who is neither a minor nor a felon with restored voting rights—this is the specific restriction at issue in the case. Id.

In order to ensure its candidates appear on the ballot in Virginia, the LPVA uses both volunteer and paid professionals to circulate petitions and collect the requisite signatures. The LPVA states that it is aware of only two professional circulators who are members of the Libertarian party, residents of Virginia, and consistently available to circulate petitions. (Pls.' Compl. ¶ 16.) According to the LPVA, it has relied on these two paid circulators to obtain signatures in past elections and its continued success in obtaining ballot access depends on those individuals' efforts. The LPVA's national counterpart, the Libertarian National Committee, has existing relationships with paid circulators who could supplement the LPVA's petition circulation, but cannot because of Virginia's residency restriction.

Darryl Bonner, a New York resident and registered Libertarian, is a self-employed professional campaign circulator and canvasser. He has circulated petitions for nearly twenty years, working exclusively

[881 F.Supp.2d 722]

for third-party candidates and organizations in various states, including Virginia. ¹ Bonner is suffering from a knee injury, however, which requires surgery and limits his ability to physically circulate petitions at present. He currently works in Pennsylvania as a coordinator for the Libertarian Party.

Bonner considers circulating petitions an important means of expressing his political beliefs regarding third-party candidates, specifically their ability to appear on the ballot. In the past, Bonner has circulated petitions in states with residency requirements by working with a state resident who served as the official signature witness (“resident-witness”). He found this accompaniment cumbersome and a hindrance to effectively communicating his beliefs, as resident-witnesses were not consistently available and would often need to rest when Bonner wanted to continue collecting signatures. Additionally, resident-witnesses would sometimes interrupt Bonner's conversations with potential signatories to assert their own opinions, leading to argument and, in some instances, causing the individual to decide against signing the petition. (Bonner's Resp. to Defs.' Interrog. No. 5.) Bonner would like to circulate petitions in Virginia, but cannot do so without a resident-witness, which allegedly slows his signature-gathering efforts and inhibits his ability to effectively communicate with the voting public. (Pls.' Compl. ¶¶ 18–19.)

The LPVA and Bonner challenge Va. Code § 24.2–543 on the grounds that it inhibits their constitutional rights to free speech and political expression.

II. Standard of Review

Under Rule 56(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, summary judgment is appropriate “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). The relevant inquiry in a summary judgment analysis is “whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 251–52, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). In reviewing a motion for summary judgment, the Court must view the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Id. at 255, 106 S.Ct. 2505. In reviewing cross motions for summary judgment, as in the immediate case, the Court must review each motion separately on its own merits “ ‘to determine whether either of the parties deserves judgment as a matter of law.’ ” Rossignol v. Voorhaar, 316 F.3d 516, 523 (4th Cir.2003) (quoting Philip Morris, Inc. v. Harshbarger, 122 F.3d 58, 62 n. 4 (1st Cir.1997)).

Summary judgment must be granted if the nonmoving party “fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party's case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). To defeat an otherwise properly supported motion for summary judgment, the nonmoving party “must rely on more than conclusory allegations, mere speculation, the building of one inference upon another, the mere existence of a scintilla of evidence, or the appearance of some metaphysical doubt concerning a material fact.”

[881 F.Supp.2d 723]

Lewis v. City of Va. Beach Sheriff's Office, 409 F.Supp.2d 696, 704 (E.D.Va.2006) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). Of course, the Court cannot weigh the evidence or make credibility determinations in its summary judgment analysis. Williams v. Staples, Inc., 372 F.3d 662, 667 (4th Cir.2004).

III. Discussion

As a preliminary matter, the Court finds that the plaintiffs have standing to bring the present action challenging the constitutionality of the residency restriction on petition circulators for presidential candidates. Further, the Court finds that Va. Code § 24.2–543 is unconstitutional because it unduly restricts the plaintiffs' First Amendment right to free speech. The plaintiffs are entitled to an injunction for the reasons stated below.

A. Standing

Article III standing is a fundamental jurisdictional requirement that defines and limits a court's power to resolve cases and controversies. Miller v. Brown, 462 F.3d 312, 316–21 (4th Cir.2006); Emery v. Roanoke City Sch. Bd., 432 F.3d 294, 298 (4th Cir.2005). Standing requires that a litigant have a personal stake in the outcome of a controversy as a result of having suffered some actual or threatened injury. Kay v. Austin, 621 F.2d 809, 811 (6th Cir.1980) (citing Davis v. Passman, 442 U.S. 228, 239 n. 18, 99 S.Ct. 2264, 60 L.Ed.2d 846 (1979)); see Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 498–501, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975). Accordingly, a litigant must demonstrate: (1) a distinct and palpable injury, (2) a fairly traceable causal connection between the claimed injury and the challenged conduct, and (3) a substantial likelihood that the injury is redressable by the relief requested. Bennett v. Spear, 520 U.S. 154, 162, 117 S.Ct. 1154, 137 L.Ed.2d 281 (1997); Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560–61, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992); Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Envtl. Study Grp., Inc., 438 U.S. 59, 72, 75 n. 20, 98 S.Ct. 2620, 57 L.Ed.2d 595 (1978).

Here, the Board claims that...