Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski

• Decision Date: 08 March 2021
• Docket Number: No. 19-968,19-968
• Citation: 209 L.Ed.2d 94,141 S.Ct. 792
• Parties: Chike UZUEGBUNAM et al., Petitioners v. Stanley C. PRECZEWSKI, et al.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

141 S.Ct. 792

209 L.Ed.2d 94

Chike UZUEGBUNAM et al., Petitioners

v.Stanley C. PRECZEWSKI, et al.

No. 19-968

Supreme Court of the United States.

Argued January 12, 2021

Decided March 8, 2021

Kristen K. Waggoner, Scottsdale, AZ, for Petitioners.

Andrew A. Pinson, for Respondents.

Hashim M. Moopan for the United States as amicus curiae, by special leave of the Court, supporting the Petitioners.

David A. Cortman, Travis C. Barham, Jeremiah J. Galus, Katherine L. Anderson, Alliance Defending Freedom, Lawrenceville, GA, Kristen K. Waggoner, Counsel of Record, John J. Bursch, Tyson C. Langhofer, Alliance Defending Freedom, Washington, D.C., for Petitioners.

Kathleen M. Pacious, Deputy Attorney General, Roger Chalmers, Senior Assistant, Attorney General, Ellen Cusimano, Assistant Attorney General, Christopher M. Carr, Attorney General of Georgia, Ross W. Bergethon, Deputy Solicitor General, Drew F. Waldbeser, Assistant Solicitor General, Zack W. Lindsey, Miles C. Skedsvold, Assistant Attorneys General, Office of the Georgia, Attorney General, Atlanta, Georgia, for Respondents.

Justice THOMAS delivered the opinion of the Court.

At all stages of litigation, a plaintiff must maintain a personal interest in the dispute. The doctrine of standing generally assesses whether that interest exists at the outset, while the doctrine of mootness considers whether it exists throughout the proceedings. To demonstrate standing, the plaintiff must not only establish an injury that is fairly traceable to the challenged conduct but must also seek a remedy that redresses that injury. And if in the course of litigation a court finds that it can no longer provide a plaintiff with any effectual relief, the case generally is moot. This case asks whether an award of nominal damages by itself can redress a past injury. We hold that it can.

I

According to the complaint, Chike Uzuegbunam is an evangelical Christian who believes that an important part of exercising his religion includes sharing his faith. In 2016, Uzuegbunam decided to share his faith at Georgia Gwinnett College, a public college where he was enrolled as a student. At an outdoor plaza on campus near the library where students often gather, Uzuegbunam engaged in conversations with interested students and handed out religious literature.

A campus police officer soon informed Uzuegbunam that campus policy prohibited distributing written religious materials in that area and told him to stop. Uzuegbunam complied with the officer's order. To learn more about this policy, he then visited the college's Director of the Office of Student Integrity, who was directly responsible for promulgating and enforcing the policy. When asked if Uzuegbunam could continue speaking about his religion if he stopped distributing materials, the official said no. The official explained that Uzuegbunam could speak about his religion or distribute materials only in two designated "free speech expression areas," which together make up just 0.0015 percent of campus. And he could do so only after securing the necessary permit. Uzuegbunam then applied for and received a permit to use the free speech zone.

Twenty minutes after Uzuegbunam began speaking on the day allowed by his permit, another campus police officer again told him to stop, this time saying that people had complained about his speech. Campus policy prohibited using the free speech zone to say anything that "disturbs the peace and/or comfort of person(s)." App. to Pet. for Cert. 151(a). The officer told Uzuegbunam that his speech violated this policy because it had led to complaints. The officer threatened Uzuegbunam with disciplinary action if he continued. Uzuegbunam again complied with the order to stop speaking. Another student who shares Uzuegbunam's faith, Joseph Bradford, decided not to speak about religion because of these events.

Both students sued a number of college officials in charge of enforcing the college's speech policies, arguing that those policies violated the First Amendment. As relevant here, they sought nominal damages and injunctive relief. Respondents initially attempted to defend the policy, stating that Uzuegbunam's discussion of his religion "arguably rose to the level of ‘fighting words.’ " Id., at 155(a). But the college officials quickly abandoned that strategy and instead decided to get rid of the challenged policies. They then moved to dismiss, arguing that the suit was moot, because of the policy change. The students agreed that injunctive relief was no longer available, but they disagreed that the case was moot. They contended that their case was still live because they had also sought nominal damages. The District Court dismissed the case, holding that the students’ claim for nominal damages was insufficient by itself to establish standing.

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed. 781 Fed.Appx. 824 (2019). It stated that a request for nominal damages can save a case from mootness in certain circumstances, such as where a person pleads but fails to prove an amount of compensatory damages. But, because the students did not request compensatory damages, their plea for nominal damages could not by itself establish standing.

We granted certiorari to consider whether a plaintiff who sues over a completed injury and establishes the first two elements of standing (injury and traceability) can establish the third by requesting only nominal damages. 591 U.S. ––––, 141 S.Ct. 195, 207 L.Ed.2d 1118 (2020). We now reverse.

II

To satisfy the " ‘irreducible constitutional minimum’ " of Article III standing, a plaintiff must not only establish (1) an injury in fact (2) that is fairly traceable to the challenged conduct, but he must also seek (3) a remedy that is likely to redress that injury. Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins , 578 U.S. 330, 338, 136 S.Ct. 1540, 194 L.Ed.2d 635 (2016); see also Gill v. Whitford , 585 U.S. ––––, –––– – ––––, 138 S.Ct. 1916, –––– – ––––, 201 L.Ed.2d 313 (2018) (slip op., at 13–14). There is no dispute that Uzuegbunam has established the first two elements. The only question is whether the remedy he sought—nominal damages—can redress the constitutional violation that Uzuegbunam alleges occurred when campus officials enforced the speech policies against him.

A

In determining whether nominal damages can redress a past injury, we look to the forms of relief awarded at common law. "Article III's restriction of the judicial power to ‘Cases’ and ‘Controversies’ is properly understood to mean ‘cases and controversies of the sort traditionally amenable to, and resolved by, the judicial process.’ " Vermont Agency of Natural Resources v. United States ex rel. Stevens , 529 U.S. 765, 774, 120 S.Ct. 1858, 146 L.Ed.2d 836 (2000) (quoting Steel Co. v. Citizens for Better Environment , 523 U.S. 83, 102, 118 S.Ct. 1003, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998) ); cf. Memphis Community School Dist. v. Stachura , 477 U.S. 299, 306, 106 S.Ct. 2537, 91 L.Ed.2d 249 (1986) (relief for "§ 1983 plaintiffs ... is ordinarily determined according to principles derived from the common law of torts"). The parties here agree that courts at common law routinely awarded nominal damages. They, instead, dispute what kinds of harms those damages could redress.

Both sides agree that nominal damages historically could provide prospective relief. The award of nominal damages was one way for plaintiffs at common law to "obtain a form of declaratory relief in a legal system with no general declaratory judgment act." D. Laycock & R. Hasen, Modern American Remedies 636 (5th ed. 2019). For example, a trespass to land or water rights might raise a prospective threat to a property right by creating the foundation for a future claim of adverse possession or prescriptive easement. Blanchard v. Baker , 8 Me. 253, 268 (1832) ("If an unlawful diversion [of water] is suffered for twenty years, it ripens into a right, which cannot be controverted"). By obtaining a declaration of trespass, a property owner could "vindicate his right by action" and protect against those future threats. Ibid. Courts at common law would not declare property boundaries in the abstract, "but the suit for nominal damages allowed them to do so indirectly." Laycock, supra, at 636.

The parties disagree, however, about whether nominal damages alone could provide retrospective relief. Stressing the declaratory function, respondents argue that nominal damages by themselves redressed only continuing or threatened injury, not past injury.

But cases at common law paint a different picture. Early courts required the plaintiff to prove actual monetary damages in every case: "[I]njuria & damnum [injury and damage] are the two grounds for the having [of] all actions, and without these, no action lieth." Cable v. Rogers , 3 Bulst. 311, 312, 81 Eng. Rep. 259 (K. B. 1625). Later courts, however, reasoned that every legal injury necessarily causes damage, so they awarded nominal damages absent evidence of other damages (such as compensatory, statutory, or punitive damages), and they did so where there was no apparent continuing or threatened injury for nominal damages to redress. See, e.g., Barker v. Green , 2 Bing. 317, 130 Eng. Rep. 327 (C. P. 1824) (nominal damages awarded for 1-day delay in arrest because "if there was a breach of duty the law would presume some damage"); Hatch v. Lewis , 2 F. & F. 467, 479, 485–486, 175 Eng. Rep. 1145, 1150, 1153 (N. P. 1861) (ineffective assistance by criminal defense attorney that does not prejudice the client); Dods v. Evans , 15 C. B. N. S. 621, 624, 627, 143 Eng. Rep. 929, 930–931 (C. P. 1864) (breach of contract); Marzetti v. Williams , 1 B. & Ad. 415, 417–418, 423–428, 109 Eng. Rep. 842, 843, 845–847 (K. B. 1830) (bank's 1-day delay in paying on a check); id., at 424, 109 Eng. Rep., at 845 (recognizing that breach of contract could create a continuing injury but determining that the fact of breach of contract by itself justified nominal damages).

The latter approach was followed both before and after...