Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/13pdf/13-193_omq2.pdf
Page Number: 19.0

Cite as:  573 U. S. ____ (2014) 

17 

Opinion of the Court 

COAST  has  alleged  an  intent  to  engage  in  the  same 
speech  that  was  the  subject  of  a  prior  enforcement  pro-
ceeding.  Also unlike the intervenors in Younger, who had 
never been threatened with prosecution, COAST has been 
the  subject  of  Commission  proceedings  in  the  past.    See, 
e.g.,  COAST  Candidates  PAC  v.  Ohio  Elections  Comm’n, 
543 Fed. Appx. 490 (CA6 2013).  COAST is far more akin 
to  the  plaintiff  in  Steffel,  who  was  not  arrested  alongside 
his  handbilling  companion  but  was  nevertheless  threat-
ened  with  prosecution  for  similar  speech.    415  U. S.,  at 
459. 

In sum, we find that both SBA and COAST have alleged 

a credible threat of enforcement. 

V 
In  concluding  that  petitioners’  claims  were  not  justicia-
ble,  the  Sixth  Circuit  separately  considered  two  other 
factors:  whether  the  factual  record  was  sufficiently  devel-
oped, and whether hardship to the parties would result if
judicial  relief  is  denied  at  this  stage  in  the  proceedings. 
525  Fed.  Appx.,  at  419.  Respondents  contend  that  these
“prudential  ripeness”  factors  confirm  that  the  claims  at
issue  are  nonjusticiable.    Brief  for  Respondents  17.    But 
we have already concluded that petitioners have alleged a 
sufficient  Article  III  injury.    To  the  extent  respondents 
would have us deem petitioners’ claims nonjusticiable “on 
grounds  that  are  ‘prudential,’  rather  than  constitutional,” 
“[t]hat  request  is  in  some  tension  with  our  recent  reaffir-
mation of the principle that ‘a federal court’s obligation to
hear  and  decide’  cases  within  its  jurisdiction  ‘is  virtually
unflagging.’ ”  Lexmark Int’l, Inc. v. Static Control Compo-
nents, Inc.,  572 U. S. ___, ___ (2014) (slip op., at 6) (quot-
ing  Sprint Communications, Inc. v. Jacobs, 571 U. S. ___, 
___  (2013)  (slip  op.,  at  6);  some  internal  quotation  marks
omitted).

In any event, we need not resolve the continuing vitality