Kathleen E. Brody, AZ Bar No. 026331 

Darrell L. Hill, AZ Bar No. 030424 

ACLU Foundation of Arizona 

3707 North 7th Street, Suite 235 

Phoenix, AZ 85014 

Telephone: (602) 650-1854 

kbrody@acluaz.org

dhill@acluaz.org

Brian Hauss (pro hac vice application forthcoming) 

Vera Eidelman (pro hac vice application forthcoming) 

Ben Wizner (pro hac vice application forthcoming) 

ACLU Foundation, Speech, Privacy & Technology Project 

125 Broad Street, 18th Floor 

New York, NY 10004 

Telephone: (212) 549-2500 

bhauss@aclu.org 

veidelman@aclu.org 

bwizner@aclu.org

Attorneys for Plaintiffs 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA 

Mikkel Jordahl; Mikkel (Mik) Jordahl, P.C., ) No. CV17-08263 

 ) 

 Plaintiffs, ) DECLARATION OF 

v. ) MIKKEL JORDAHL 

 ) 

Mark Brnovich, Arizona Attorney General; Jim ) 

Driscoll, Coconino County Sheriff; Matt Ryan, ) 

Coconino County Board of Supervisors Chair; ) 

Lena Fowler, Coconino County Board of ) 

Supervisors Vice Chair; Elizabeth Archuleta ) 

Coconino County Board of Supervisors ) 

Member; Art Babbott, Coconino County Board ) 

of Supervisors Member; Jim Parks, Coconino ) 

County Board of Supervisors Member; Sarah ) 

Benatar, Coconino County Treasurer, all in ) 

their official capacities, ) 

 ) 

 Defendants. ) 

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I, Mikkel Jordahl, hereby declare and state as follows: 

 1. I am a resident of Sedona, Arizona. 

 2. I am the sole owner of a law firm, Mikkel (Mik) Jordahl, P.C., which has 

contracted with the Coconino County Jail District (“County”) to provide legal services to 

inmates for the past twelve years. 

 3. In my capacity as an individual consumer, I participate in a political 

boycott of consumer goods and services offered by businesses supporting Israel’s 

occupation of the Palestinian territories. My boycott participation currently does not 

extend to my law firm’s consumer choices or activities. 

 4. I object to having to sign a certification on behalf of my firm stating that it 

does not participate in a boycott of Israel or Israeli settlements in order to contract with 

the County. In 2016, I signed the certification included with my contract under protest. I 

have not signed the certification included with the renewal for my contract, and I do not 

want to sign it. 

My Boycott Participation 

 5. I come from three generations of Lutheran ministers, including my father, 

two uncles, both grandfathers, and one great grandfather. 

 6. I first became interested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict when I spent 

three months with my parents in the occupied West Bank in 1977. At the time, I was in 

college and my parents were living in the West Bank for the year. My parents and I were 

all profoundly affected by what we saw in the occupied Palestinian territories. Upon my 

return from that trip, I established the Oberlin College chapter of the Palestine Human 

Rights Campaign. 

 7. My son was raised Jewish. He and I took a trip to Israel and Palestine in the 

spring of 2017, after his Bar Mitzvah. We met with many Arab and Jewish people in 

Israel and the West Bank. We were disheartened to hear many people express the opinion 

that Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories would prevent an end to the 

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occupation. Many of the Palestinians we met expressed no hope that they would ever 

receive equal rights in the occupied territories. 

8. I remain active in my advocacy against both the occupation and the 

settlements, which I believe violate the human rights of Palestinians. I have written to my 

elected representatives to express my opposition to the Israeli occupation and settlements, 

and have asked my representatives to reduce funding to Israel in an amount proportional 

to Israeli spending on settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

 9. I have been moved by the “Peace Not Walls” campaign of the Evangelical 

Lutheran Church (“ELCA”), which seeks to promote the “equal human dignity and rights 

for all people in the Holy Land” and “an end to Israeli settlement building and the 

occupation of Palestinian land.” The campaign calls on individuals to “invest in 

Palestinian products to build their economy and to utilize selective purchasing to avoid 

buying products” made in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. 

 10. I am a non-Jewish member of Jewish Voice for Peace (“JVP”), which 

works “for a just and lasting peace according to the principles of human rights, equality, 

and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine.” JVP endorses the call 

from Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaigns to 

protest the Israeli government’s occupation of Palestinian land. 

 11. In conjunction with the ELCA and JVP calls for boycott, I personally 

boycott consumer goods and services offered by businesses supporting Israel’s 

occupation of the Palestinian territories. I participate in this boycott in order to protest 

both the occupation and the settlements. 

My Firm’s Contract with the County 

12. For the past twelve years, my firm has maintained a contract with Coconino 

County Jail District. My firm provides legal advice to inmates in the County regarding 

issues like conditions of confinement, civil rights, extradition, and habeas corpus. 

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13. My boycott participation has no bearing on my provision of legal services 

to inmates. Neither I nor my firm do, or would ever, discriminate against clients or 

employees based on their nationality or any legally protected characteristic.

14. Over the twelve years of our relationship, my firm and the County have 

entered into at least four contracts. Each one has governed my provision of legal advice 

to inmates in the County for a multi-year period, typically four years. Over that time, we 

have regularly renewed the contract each year. At the conclusion of the multi-year period, 

the County has opened up the contract for bids from all contractors. I have bid each time, 

and the County has selected me to provide these services at least four times. 

15. We entered into our current contract in November 2016. It is for a multiyear period, with annual renewals. Under the contract, my firm receives a monthly 

payment of $1,533, or more than $18,000 per year. This represents approximately 10 

percent of my annual income. 

16. When my firm and the County were entering into the current contract, an 

official from the County asked me to sign not only the standard paperwork, but also a 

new form entitled “Certification Pursuant to A.R.S. § 35-393.01.” 

17. I read the certification and saw that it stated, “Pursuant to the requirements 

of A.R.S. § 35-393.01(A), the Independent Contractor hereby certifies that the 

Independent Contractor [and its subsidiaries, parent companies, or affiliates are] not 

currently engaged [nor shall engage] in a boycott of Israel.” A true and correct copy of 

the Certification is attached as Exhibit 1. 

18. I was extremely surprised by this new requirement. Because I believed it to 

be unconstitutional, I strongly opposed signing the certification. At the same time, I 

feared losing the contract, which represents a substantial portion of my income, and I 

wanted to continue providing my services to the County. 

19. On October 14, 2016, I signed the certification under protest. I returned the 

signed certification to an official with the County. I also sent a copy of the signed form to 

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Rose Winkeler, Deputy County Attorney of Coconino County, along with a letter entitled 

“Re: Israel Boycott Addendum to Inmate Civil Rights Advising Contract.” A true and 

correct copy of the Signing Under Protest Letter is attached as Exhibit 2. 

20. In the letter, I voiced my strong opposition to the certification. I wrote, “I 

understand this is a new state law and the county is bound to follow it. I will comply as 

long as the law is in effect, however I wanted it on record that I strongly oppose the law 

as I believe it is an unconstitutional violation of the 1st Amendment. I do reserve my right 

to challenge the law in the courts.” 

21. In my letter, I also clarified that I signed the certification “in my capacity as 

a sole-proprietor contractor on behalf of my professional corporation and not in my 

personal capacity unrelated to any government contract.” And I specified that I 

interpreted “the term ‘affiliate’ . . . to apply only to formal business relationships.” 

22. The County accepted my signed certification. Our contract commenced on 

November 10, 2016. A true and correct copy of the Contract is attached as Exhibit 3. 

The Certification’s Effects on My Boycott Participation 

23. Because of the certification, I have been careful to separate my personal 

boycott participation from the operation of my firm, which currently does not participate 

in my boycott of consumer goods and services offered by businesses supporting Israel’s 

occupation of the Palestinian territories. 

24. Were it not for the Act’s certification requirement, I would extend my 

personal boycott participation to my firm’s consumer choices. For example, I would 

refuse to purchase Hewlett Packard equipment for my firm because of Hewlett Packard’s 

provision of information technology services used by Israeli checkpoints throughout the 

West Bank. 

25. I have also been careful not to use my firm to support or affiliate with 

entities participating in boycotts of Israel or Israeli settlements. JVP, which employs 

boycott, divestment, and sanctions tactics to put political pressure on Israel, has asked my 

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firm to contribute office support and financial contributions to its boycott activities. 

Though I want to say yes, I have rejected these requests in order to comply with the 

certification. 

26. Were it not for the certification requirement, my firm would provide 

support services and financial contributions, as well as pro bono legal services, to JVP 

and other boycott participants. 

27. Although I do not understand the certification to apply to my personal 

activities, I reasonably fear that vocal advocacy about my personal boycott participation 

would lead to suspicion about whether my firm is complying with the certification. As a 

result, I feel chilled from publicly promoting or discussing my personal boycott 

participation. 

2017 Certification Requirement 

28. On November 14, 2017, I received a letter from the County regarding the 

regular, annual renewal of the contract. The letter, signed by Kathleen Levinson, the 

Administrative Manager of Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, asked me to sign and 

notarize the enclosed “agreement[] approved by [the County’s] Board of Directors.” 

After the request, Ms. Levinson wrote, “We look forward to our continuing partnership.” 

A true and correct copy of the County Letter is attached as Exhibit 4. 

29. I read the enclosed agreement. It stipulated to a one-year renewal of our 

existing contract; it did not change the contract’s scope or compensation. A true and 

correct copy of the Contract Renewal is attached as Exhibit 5. 

30. The enclosed agreement also included another Certification Pursuant to 

A.R.S. § 35-393.01, which was substantially unchanged from the certification I signed 

under protest in 2016. 

31. I object to signing the certification. I continue to view it as a violation of 

my First Amendment rights, and I have spent the last year experiencing its chilling 

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effects, as described above. As a result, I have not signed and returned the 2017 

agreement. 

32. Although I do not want to sign the certification, I would otherwise like my 

firm to continue providing legal services under contract with the County. 

Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, I hereby declare and state under penalty of perjury 

that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge, information, and 

belief. 

DATED this 7th day of December, 2017. 

/s/ Mikkel Jordahl g

Mikkel Jordahl 

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EXHIBIT 2

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EXHIBIT 5

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