Source: https://openjurist.org/391/us/353
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 11:49:12+00:00

Document:
The motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis is granted. The motion to affirm is also granted and the judgment is affirmed. Cameron v. Johnson, 390 U.S. 611, 88 S.Ct. 1335, 20 L.Ed.2d 182.
Appellants are graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin and are active in student political and civil rights organizations. They brought an action in the District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, seeking a declaratory judgment that the Wisconsin disorderly conduct statute1 is overbroad and therefore unconstitutional on its face, or an injunction restraining state criminal prosecutions under that statute which were pending against them.
Appellants alleged in their complaint that preceding their arrests they were engaged only in peaceful and constitutionally protected protest activities. Appellants were protesting against American policy in Vietnam. The arrests were made in various buildings of the University of Wisconsin in which appellants and others had gathered to object to a chemical manufacturer of napalm being permitted to conduct employment interviews in the buildings. Appellants were arrested under a 'disorderly conduct' statute. We know that such statutes historically have been used in reprisal against unpopular groups or persons who espouse unpopular causes. Cf. Brown v. State of Louisiana, 383 U.S. 131, 86 S.Ct. 719, 15 L.Ed.2d 637; Cox v. State of Louisiana, 379 U.S. 536, 85 S.Ct. 453, 13 L.Ed.2d 471; Taylor v. State of Louisiana, 370 U.S. 154, 82 S.Ct. 1188, 8 L.Ed.2d 395; Garner v. State of Louisiana, 368 U.S. 157, 82 S.Ct. 248, 7 L.Ed.2d 207. But that is a practice no longer permissible now that the First Amendment is applicable to the States by reason of the Fourteenth.
A three-judge court was convened which dismissed the complaint after oral argument but without conducting an evidentiary hearing. Judge Fairchild, concurring, believed that 28 U.S.C. § 22832 prohibited the issuance of an injunction; Judge Doyle, dissenting, was of the contrary opinion. Judge Gordon found it unnecessary to reach that question, deciding rather to abstain in favor of the state criminal proceedings.
In addition to attacking the statute as void on its face for overbreadth, appellants alleged that their arrests were made and prosecutions instituted for purposes of harassment and in a discriminatory manner on account of their political beliefs.3 Appellees in their answer denied these allegations and attached copies of the complaints filed in the state criminal proceedings which alleged that appellants were interfering with classes or interviews in the buildings by speaking in loud voices or by refusing to leave when requested to do so.
Where there are allegations of bad faith, harassment, and discrimination, critical evidence on the matter can only be drawn out upon cross-examination of the officials involved. The question is not the guilt or innocence of the persons charged, but whether their arrests were made and prosecutions commenced in bad faith, for purposes of harassment and in a discriminatory manner. See Cameron v. Johnson, 390 U.S. 611, 619-620, 621, 88 S.Ct. 1335, 1340-1341, 20 L.Ed.2d 182. If the charge that the statute was used in bad faith were shown, a federal claim would be established.7 And it would not matter what the state courts later did, for the interim 'continuing harassment' of appellants for exercising their First Amendment rights would entitle them to relief. See Dombrowski v. Pfister, 380 U.S., AT 490, 85 S.Ct., at 1123.
For these reasons I would note probable jurisdiction, vacate the judgment below, and remand the case for a preliminary hearing on the issue of the use of a disorderly conduct statute to punish people for expression of their unpopular views.
'Plaintiffs allege that their arrest under this Statute is basically for the lawful purpose of depriving them of their rights of freedom of speech assembly association, and petitioning their Government for a redress of grievances guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Further enforcement of Section 947.01, Wisconsin Statutes, the Disorderly Conduct Statute, will have the effect of punishing those plaintiffs now being prosecuted for the exercise of rights, privileges and immunities secured to them by the Constitution and laws of the United States; has [sic] and will deter plaintiffs and others similarly situated from the future exercise of these rights, privileges and immunities; has encouraged and will encourage defendants and other State, County or local officials, acting under color of law, to engage in further acts of intimidation, harassment, threats and other actions meant to prevent and deter plaintiffs and others similarly situated from the exercise of these rights, privileges, and immunities.
'3. Or otherwise publicly express unpopular and unorthodox views on public issues of vital concern.
Whether § 2283 constitutes a bar to issuance of an injunction is a question the Court has refrained from deciding in circumstances where it appears that an injunction might be improper on other grounds. See Cameron v. Johnson, 390 U.S. 611, 613, n. 3 (majority opinion), 628, n. 5 (dissenting opinion), 88 S.Ct. 1335, 1337, 1344, 20 L.Ed.2d 182.
The complaint alleges that appellant Cohen attempted to enter the university's Commerce Building carrying signs protesting the use of napalm in Vietnam and the university's policy permitting a chemical manufacturer of napalm to conduct employment interviews in the building. Cohen, who was alone, was stopped just inside the door by police officers and told he could not enter the building with signs. He attempted to enter with the signs and was grabbed by an officer and pushed away. Appellee Hansen (chief of the university's department of protection and security) was summoned. He allegedly grabbed Cohen's signs and threw them out the door into the snow. When Cohen asked why he did that, Hansen allegedly replied, 'Because you make me nervous all the time, you make me nervous.' Hansen then allegedly jostled Cohen and stated, 'I don't like you.' Cohen and Hansen then moved to a point in the building where some other students, including appellant Zwicker, were conducting a discussion. Cohen told the group that his signs had been destroyed; other signs appeared and one was handed to Cohen. Hansen allegedly began yelling that people could not talk in the building and could not have signs, and then began tearing up the signs. Some jostling and shoving apparently ensued as police allegedly attempted to grab the signs. Another university official then told Cohen to leave the building. When Cohen asked what regulation of the university he had broken, the official allegedly replied, 'I dont know, but the looks of you is enough.' Cohen was then arrested and taken from the building.
These documents suggest that the arrests may have been made because the appellants were a nuisance to the university rather than because of 'disorderly conduct under circumstances in which such conduct tends to cause or provoke a disturbance.' Wis.Stat. § 947.01(1).

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