Opinion ID: 2972456
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Health and safety inspections

Text: After concluding that Deja Vu was likely to establish that the warrantless health-and-safetyinspection provisions contained in §§ (L)(1) and (M)(2) of Resolution No. 99-15 violated the Fourth Amendment, the district court enjoined Union Township from enforcing those provisions. Resolution No. 99-15 § (L)(1) provided that “Township personnel or agents may at all reasonable times inspect permit premises to insure continued compliance with the laws of Ohio and these regulations.” Section (M)(2) stated that “[t]he owner, operator, or person in charge of the adult cabaret shall allow state or local authorities, including law enforcement officers, access to any and all parts of the premises for the purpose of making any health or safety inspection pursuant to these regulations, and shall cooperate in any background investigation.” Union Township amended the resolution in response to the district court’s ruling that Deja Vu was likely to prevail in its argument that the warrantless health and safety inspections violate the Fourth Amendment. The current resolution no longer contains those provisions, and Union Township has not appealed the district court’s order enjoining it from performing health and safety inspections. Ohio’s Attorney General, however, has filed a cross-appeal in the present case, asking us to reverse the district court’s injunction on this ground. But the Attorney General’s ability to seek appellate review of this issue, when neither Union Township nor Deja Vu has appealed from the district court’s decision, is limited by his status as an intervenor. The controlling statute is 28 U.S.C. § 2403(b), which provides in pertinent part as follows: In any action, suit, or proceeding in a court of the United States to which a State . . . is not a party, wherein the constitutionality of any statute of that State affecting the public interest is drawn in question, the court . . . shall permit the State to intervene for presentation of evidence . . . and for argument on the question of constitutionality. The State shall, subject to the applicable provisions of law, have all the rights of a party . . . to the extent necessary for a proper presentation of the facts and law relating to the question of constitutionality. The Ohio Attorney General was permitted to intervene in the present suit in order to defend the constitutionality of Ohio’s enabling statute, Ohio Revised Code §§ 503.51-59. This is the statute that permits townships to pass local ordinances regulating the operations of adult cabarets within their borders. In finding that the warrantless health and safety inspections provided for by the Union Township resolution were violative of the Fourth Amendment, the district court made no ruling with respect to the constitutionality of the Ohio enabling statute. See Int’l Paper Co. v. Inhabitants of the Town of Jay, 887 F.2d 338, 342 (1st Cir. 1989) (“[T]he relevant authority as well as the statutory language indicate that a local ordinance is not a statute within section 2403(b), and we are not aware of any substantial support for [a] broader interpretation.”). Absent from the district court’s discussion is any mention whatsoever of Ohio Revised Code §§ 503.53 or 503.56, the sections of the enabling statute that permit townships to conduct health and safety inspections of adult cabarets. The district court concluded that the Union Township resolution was likely to be unconstitutional because the resolution required adult cabarets to submit Nos. 00-4420/4529 Deja Vu of Cincinnati v. Union Township et al. Page 16 to warrantless inspections “at all reasonable times.” Resolution No. 99-15 § (L)(1). Because it failed to define “reasonable,” the district court found that the Union Township resolution “vest[ed] unfettered discretion in township officials.” Ohio’s enabling statute, in contrast, contains no such language, and instead simply requires that adult cabarets “[u]ndergo periodic health and safety inspections to determine continual compliance with applicable health and safety codes.” Although it enjoined the enforcement of the Union Township resolution, the district court left open the possibility that a township might enact a local resolution pursuant to the Ohio enabling statute that was in fact constitutional. Because neither Union Township nor Deja Vu has raised this issue on appeal, and because the constitutionality of the Ohio enabling statute is not at issue, we decline to review the district court’s grant of a preliminary injunction against the enforcement of the health-and-safety-inspection provisions of now-repealed Union Township Resolution No. 99-15. See Blair v. Shanahan, 38 F.3d 1514, 1522 (9th Cir. 1994) (holding that “28 U.S.C. § 2403(b) does not allow a State standing to participate in a motion where questions of constitutionality [of a state statute] are not among the issues argued”); see also Ruotolo v. Ruotolo, 572 F.2d 336, 339 (1st Cir. 1978) (“There is . . . a difference between permitting the [§ 2403 intervenor] to play an active role during the pendency of private litigation, and permitting it to go forward with the litigation in its own right after the private parties have composed their differences.”). Even though we express no opinion on the constitutionality of the warrantless health and safety inspections, the district court’s temporary injunction remains in effect, and we find nothing in the record to indicate that Union Township will attempt to reenact the provisions already deemed offensive to the Fourth Amendment. If the district court should abruptly change course on remand and fail to permanently enjoin Union Township from conducting the warrantless health and safety inspections, that determination would of course be reviewable by this court on appeal from a final judgment below.