San Jose Silicon Valley v. City of San Jose

• Decision Date: 14 October 2008
• Docket Number: No. 06-17001.,06-17001.
• Citation: 546 F.3d 1087
• Parties: SAN JOSE SILICON VALLEY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, an unincorporated association; COMPAC Issued Fund, Sponsored by the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, an unincorporated association, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. The CITY OF SAN JOSE; San Jose Elections Commission, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

546 F.3d 1087

SAN JOSE SILICON VALLEY CHAMBER OF COMMERCE POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, an unincorporated association; COMPAC Issued Fund, Sponsored by the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, an unincorporated association, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. The CITY OF SAN JOSE; San Jose Elections Commission, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 06-17001.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted June 12, 2008.

Filed October 14, 2008.

George Rios, Assistant City Attorney, and Lisa Herrick, Senior Deputy City Attorney, San Jose, CA, for the defendants-appellants.

James R. Sutton and Gabe Camarillo, The Sutton Law Firm, San Francisco, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellees.

Jonathan Givner, Deputy City Attorney, San Francisco, CA; Sean P. Trende, Hunton & Williams LLP, Richmond, VA; Daniel R. Ortiz, University of Virginia Law School, Charlottesville, VA; and Deborah B. Caplan, Olson Hagel & Fishburn LLP, Sacramento, CA, for amici curiae.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California; James Ware, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-06-04252-JW.

Before: J. CLIFFORD WALLACE and SUSAN P. GRABER, Circuit Judges, and GEORGE P. SCHIAVELLI,^* District Judge.

GRABER, Circuit Judge:

Defendant City of San Jose enacted a campaign finance reform measure, including San Jose Municipal Code section 12.06.310, that requires political organizations to collect no more than $250 per person for campaigning in certain local elections. Plaintiffs San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce Political Action Committee and COMPAC Issues Fund, which are local political organizations, collected more than $250 per person and actively campaigned in a qualifying local election. Defendant San Jose Elections Commission, the local governmental entity established by the City to enforce its campaign finance laws, investigated Plaintiffs' activities and concluded that Plaintiffs had violated section 12.06.310. The Commission decided to issue a public reprimand and to assess a fine against Plaintiffs.

After the Commission issued a public reprimand, but before it could assess the fine, Plaintiffs filed this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action in federal district court. The district court denied Defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings, which asked the court to abstain under Younger v. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746, 27 L.Ed.2d 669 (1971). The court held that the contributions limit was unconstitutional and granted declaratory and injunctive relief to Plaintiffs. We hold that the district court was required to abstain under Younger. We therefore vacate the judgment and remand with instructions to dismiss this action.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Voters in the city of San Jose, California, passed an amendment to the City Charter that required the mayor and city council to adopt limitations on campaign contributions for certain elected city positions. Pursuant to that directive, the city council enacted, among other laws, San Jose Municipal Code section 12.06.310:

Contribution limitations to independent committees.

A. No person shall make nor shall any person accept any contribution to or on behalf of an independent committee expending funds or making contributions in aid of and/or opposition to the nomination or election of a candidate for city council or mayor which will cause the total amount contributed by such person to such independent committee to exceed two hundred fifty dollars per election.

B. Independent committees contributing to election campaigns in addition to city of San José council or mayoral campaigns shall segregate contributions received and contributions or expenditures made for the purpose of influencing such San José elections from all other contributions or expenditures. Where an independent committee has segregated such contributions and expenditures for such city elections, contributors to that committee may contribute more than two hundred fifty dollars so long as no portion of the contribution in excess of two hundred fifty dollars is used to influence San José council or may-oral elections.

C. This section is not intended to prohibit or regulate contributions to independent committees to the extent such contributions are used on behalf of or in opposition to candidates for offices other than mayoral or council offices of the city of San José.

Beginning on May 16, 2006, Plaintiffs mailed informational flyers and placed automated telephone calls to voters in San Jose. The flyers and telephone messages referred to a specific candidate for mayor in the upcoming June 6, 2006, primary election.

In response to a citizen complaint filed on May 17, 2006, the Commission began an investigation into whether the flyers and telephone messages violated the contribution limits in San Jose Municipal Code section 12.06.310.¹ An independent evaluator conducted an investigation and presented its written report to the Commission ("Commission Report"). On May 31, 2006, the Commission adopted the Commission Report and concluded that Plaintiffs had violated the contribution limits in section 12.06.310.

The Commission decided to assess two penalties at a future date: a statement of public reprimand and a fine to be calculated based on the amount of contributions Plaintiffs received in excess of the contributions limit. On June 21, 2006, the Commission issued a statement of public reprimand. To date, the Commission has not assessed the fine against Plaintiffs, because it has been unable to calculate the amount of the fine. The Commission asserts that Plaintiffs have refused to provide the necessary financial information.

On July 11, 2006, Plaintiffs filed a complaint in federal district court, alleging that Defendants' actions violated 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiffs bring both a facial challenge and an as-applied challenge to San Jose Municipal Code section 12.06.310. Plaintiffs claim that, on its face, the ordinance is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, and that it impermissibly restricts Plaintiffs' right to free speech, in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Plaintiffs also assert that, as applied to their 2006 mailers and telephone messages, the Commission's decision and section 12.06.310 violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The complaint concludes with the following prayers for relief:

1. For declaratory judgment of this Court, declaring SJMC [San Jose Municipal Code] section 12.06.310 unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, and therefore invalid, as set forth above;

2. For declaratory judgment of this Court, declaring SJMC section 12.06.310 is unconstitutional and invalid under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, as set forth above;

3. For declaratory judgment of this Court, declaring the Commission Report, as a state action by the Commission, unconstitutional and invalid under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as set forth above;

4. For temporary, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief enjoining Defendants from enforcing SJMC section 12.06.310 against COMPAC or any others similarly situated, as set forth above;

5. For temporary, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief enjoining Defendants from enforcing SJMC section 12.06.310, as construed in the Commission Report, against COMPAC or any others similarly situated, as set forth above;

6. [Costs and attorney fees, as allowed by statute]; and

7. The Court grant such other relief as may be proper.

In the body of the complaint, Plaintiffs requested two specific forms of relief:

COMPAC is also entitled to the declaratory judgment of this Court ordering Defendants to rescind the formal reprimand of COMPAC issued on June 21, 2006 for COMPAC's alleged violation of section 12.06.310.

COMPAC is entitled to injunctive relief against Defendants enjoining them from enforcing SJMC section 12.06.310 against COMPAC as construed by the Commission Report, including but not limited to enjoining Defendants from levying any civil penalty or future administrative sanction against COMPAC for alleged violations of SJMC section 12.06.310.

(Paragraph number headings omitted.)

Defendants moved for judgment on the pleadings arguing, among other things, that the district court was required to abstain under Younger. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment. The district court denied Defendants' motion for judgment on the pleadings, denied Defendants' motion for summary judgment, and granted Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment. The district court held that the proper remedy was for the court "to invalidate the statute and enjoin its enforcement."

The district court's judgment included declaratory and injunctive relief:

1. The Court declares that San Jose Municipal Code Section 12.06.310 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

2. Defendants are permanently enjoined from enforcing San Jose Municipal Code Section 12.06.310 against Plaintiffs.

Defendants timely appeal.

DISCUSSION

Younger abstention² is a jurisprudential doctrine rooted in overlapping principles of equity, comity, and federalism. See Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U.S. 452, 460-73, 94 S.Ct. 1209, 39 L.Ed.2d 505 (1974) (explaining the history and purposes of the doctrine); Younger, 401 U.S. at 43-49 (discussing the jurisprudential background of abstention); Gilbertson v. Albright, 381 F.3d 965, 970-75 (9th Cir.2004) (en banc) (tracing the Supreme Court's application of the doctrine). We must abstain under Younger if four requirements are met: (1) a state-initiated proceeding is ongoing; (2) the proceeding implicates important state interests; (3) the federal plaintiff is not barred from litigating federal constitutional issues in the state proceeding; and (4) the federal court action would enjoin the proceeding or have the practical effect of doing so, i.e., would interfere with the state proceeding in a way that You...