Justia Civil Rights Opinion Summaries

Plaintiffs filed suit alleging that social workers violated their constitutional rights to family unity and companionship, and as well as their small children's rights, by removing the children from home without a warrant or court order. Plaintiffs were the subject of a criminal investigation after they tried to print nude photos of their three children. Determining that the appeal was timely, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's order denying plaintiffs' motion to seal the summary judgment order where the district court protected the privacy of the children, Arizona law prohibits the Department of Economic Security from releasing the files, the district court order employed clinical, anatomically correct language to briefly describe the nudity depicted in the photographs, plaintiffs did not file their complaint under seal, and plaintiffs gave public interviews where they described the photos at issue. The panel reversed the district court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the social workers based on qualified immunity, holding that the social workers did not have reasonable cause to believe the children were at risk of serious bodily harm or molestation when they removed the children from their home without judicial authorization. The panel remanded for further proceedings. View "Demaree v. Pederson" on Justia Law

Section 647(b) of the California Penal Code, which criminalizes the commercial exchange of sexual activity, does not violate the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of ESP's action under 42 U.S.C. 1983, challenging the constitutionality of Section 647(b). In light of IDK, Inc. v. Clark Cnty., 836 F.2d 1185, 1193 (9th Cir. 1998), rather than Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, 562 (2003), the panel held that laws invalidating prostitution may be justified by rational basis review. The panel held that Section 647(b) is rationally related to several important governmental interests, any of which support a finding of no constitutional violation under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; Section 647(b) does not violate the freedom of intimate or expressive association; and Section 647(b) does not violate the right to earn a living. The panel also held that Section 647(b) does not violate the First Amendment freedom of speech because prostitution did not constitute protected commercial speech and therefore did not warrant such protection. View "Erotic Service Provider Legal Education and Research Project v. Gascon" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of an action challenging the constitutionality of California Family Code Section 7962. Section 7962 codified California cases that found gestational surrogacy contracts enforceable. The panel held that this case did not fall within the two limited categories of civil cases that define the scope of Younger abstention. Therefore, the district court erred by abstaining. However, notwithstanding this error, the panel affirmed on issue preclusion grounds the dismissal of the complaint because the California Court of Appeal's decision precluded further litigation of plaintiff's constitutional claims. View "Cook v. Harding" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit granted a petition for rehearing, filed an amended opinion reversing the denial of habeas relief challenging petitioner's death sentence, and remanded. The panel held that the Arizona Supreme Court denied petitioner his Eighth Amendment right to individualized sentencing by applying an unconstitutional causal nexus test to his mitigating evidence of a troubled childhood and mental health issues. Such error had a substantial and injurious effect or influence in determining the sentence. The panel denied habeas relief on petitioner's claim that the Arizona courts failed to consider his history of substance abuse as a nonstatutory mitigating factor. Finally, the panel agreed with the district court that petitioner's ineffective assistance of counsel claim was procedurally defaulted because it was fundamentally different from the claim he presented in state court. View "Poyson v. Ryan" on Justia Law

Idaho's criminalization of misrepresentations to enter a production facility, Idaho Code 18-7042(1)(a), and ban on audio and video recordings of a production facility's operations, Idaho 18-7042(1)(d), covered protected speech under the First Amendment and did not survive constitutional scrutiny. The Interference with Agricultural Production law was enacted after a secretly-filmed expose of operations at an Idaho dairy farm went live on the internet and depicted dairy workers committing various acts of animal cruelty. The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part the district court's entry of summary judgment in favor of ALDF and vacated in part its permanent injunction against enforcement of the statute. The panel upheld the provisions that fell within constitutional parameters, but struck down those limitations that impinged on protected speech. View "Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Wasden" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment for plaintiffs in an action challenging the constitutionality of California Civil Code Section 1748.1(a). Section 1748.1(a) prohibits retailers from imposing a surcharge on customers who make payments with credit cards, but permits discounts for payments by cash or other means. Determining that plaintiffs had standing, the panel held that the statute as applied to these plaintiffs violates the First Amendment. In this case, Section 1748.1 restricts plaintiffs' non-misleading commercial speech; this restriction did not directly advance the Attorney General's asserted state interest in preventing consumer deception; nor was it narrowly drawn to achieving that interest. View "Italian Colors Restaurant v. Becerra" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's order denying qualified immunity to defendant, the former-President of Southern Oregon University, in an action alleging that she violated plaintiff's liberty interest. Plaintiff, a university employee, alleged that defendant released stigmatizing information in the form of a letter in connection with his termination. The panel held that the district court's characterization of the letter's contents as stigmatizing was erroneous and thus defendant was entitled to qualified immunity. Furthermore, even if the content of the letter were stigmatizing, it was not clearly established law that charges other than fraud, dishonesty, and immorality would trigger the requirements of a name-clearing hearing. The panel remanded to the district court with directions to enter summary judgment in favor of defendant. View "Kramer v. Cullinan" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court's denial of habeas relief as to petitioner's guilt phase claims and vacated his convictions. In this case, a jury convicted defendant of two counts of first degree murder, two counts of rape, and two counts of forcible sodomy. The panel held that had counsel performed effectively and investigated and presented a diminished mental capacity defense based on mental impairment, there was a reasonable probability that at least one juror would have had a reasonable doubt as to whether petitioner could have formed the requisite mental state for first degree murder. View "Hernandez v. Chappell" on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of defendant's renewed motion for judgment as a matter of law on a claim of disability discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Oregon state law and the grant in part of plaintiff's motion for an award of attorney's fees. The panel held that the district court's instructional error by conflating the elements of plaintiff's disparate treatment and failure to accommodate claim was harmless where it was more probable than not that the jury's verdict was not affected. The panel also held that, construed in the light most favorable to plaintiff, the evidence supported the jury's verdict. In this case, the record reflected that plaintiff satisfied her burden to prove the existence of reasonable accommodations that would enable her to perform the essential job functions of her position. Finally, the district court adequately explained and calculated the attorney fee award and did not abuse its discretion. View "Dunlap v. Liberty Mutual Products, Inc." on Justia Law

The Ninth Circuit vacated the district court's grant of a writ of habeas corpus based on petitioner's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel (IAC) at sentencing and affirmed the district court's denial of relief on petitioner's other claims. The panel held that federal court review was not procedurally barred; vacated the district court's grant of relief because it could not find the Arizona Supreme Court's determination that petitioner's counsel's deficient performance at sentencing was not prejudicial to be clearly unreasonable; affirmed the denial of relief on petitioner's claims of inadequate funding to investigate mitigating evidence and mental disability; granted a certificate of appealability for petitioner's claims of an application of an unconstitutional causal nexus standard by the Arizona Supreme Court and for ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to challenge petitioner's competency to stand trial; and denied the claims on the merits. View "Apelt v. Ryan" on Justia Law