Opinion ID: 716733
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Hardship of Denying Review

Text: 41 The first factor for determining ripeness is the hardship of denying review. Abbott Labs., 387 U.S. at 149, 87 S.Ct. at 1515-16. The district court considered this factor, but failed to distinguish between the registration and notification aspects of Megan's Law. The hardship factor inquires whether the threat of prosecution is credible, and not merely speculative, so as to be concrete for purposes of Article III. See Babbitt v. United Farm Workers Nat'l Union, 442 U.S. 289, 298, 99 S.Ct. 2301, 2308-09, 60 L.Ed.2d 895 (1979). Although preenforcement review is the exception rather than the rule, [w]hen the plaintiff has alleged an intention to engage in a course of conduct arguably affected with a constitutional interest, but proscribed by a statute, and there exists a credible threat of prosecution thereunder, he should not be required to await and undergo a criminal prosecution as the sole means of seeking relief. Id. (internal quotations omitted); accord Steffel v. Thompson, 415 U.S. 452, 459, 94 S.Ct. 1209, 1216, 39 L.Ed.2d 505 (1974) ([I]t is not necessary that petitioner first expose himself to actual arrest or prosecution to be entitled to challenge a statute he claims deters the exercise of his constitutional rights.); Abbott Labs., 387 U.S. at 154, 87 S.Ct. at 1518-19 (holding a business's challenge to a labeling statute ripe even though the company had not been threatened specifically with prosecution). 42 This Court has afforded review even when the state has taken no active measures toward prosecution. For example, in Presbytery of Orthodox Presbyterian Church v. Florio, 40 F.3d 1454 (3d Cir.1994), we held that a church pastor's preenforcement challenge to New Jersey's anti-discrimination law was ripe for adjudication when the pastor had announced his intention to speak against homosexuality even though the government had not actually threatened to prosecute. That the state would not disavow the possibility of prosecution for activities outside the church was enough to make the threat real and substantial. Id. at 1468. 43 On the other hand, [m]any cases deny ripeness on the straight-forward ground that the anticipated events and injury are simply too remote and uncertain to justify present adjudication. 13A Charles A. Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure § 3532.2, at 138 (1984). A substantial contingency is the classic impediment to a preenforcement challenge. For example, in New Hanover Township v. United States Army Corps of Engineers, 992 F.2d 470, 473 (3d Cir.1993), we held that a challenge to construction of a municipal waste landfill was unripe because the state had not yet granted a necessary water quality certificate. Although the Army Corps of Engineers had granted another permit that the plaintiffs sought to challenge, we explained, construction of the landfill still could not commence: [T]he effects of the Corps' deciding that [the project] may proceed ... will not be felt in a concrete way unless and until the [state] grants [the project] a water quality certificate. Id.; see also Acierno v. Mitchell, 6 F.3d 970, 975-77 (3d Cir.1993) (holding challenge to zoning decision unripe when review board had not yet made final decision); Wilmington Firefighters Local 1590 v. City of Wilmington, Fire Dept., 824 F.2d 262, 266 (3d Cir.1987) (holding challenge to yet uncreated promotion lists unripe because they were purely a matter of conjecture). 44 Artway urges that both the registration and notification components of Megan's Law constitute unconstitutional punishment under the Ex Post Facto, Double Jeopardy, and Bill of Attainder Clauses. Artway's challenge to the registration provisions of Megan's Law satisfies the hardship prong. Like the petitioners in Babbitt, Steffel, Abbott Labs. and Florio, he faces the decision of complying with a putatively invalid law or suffering prosecution. Registration presents no contingency for Artway. If he resides in New Jersey, he must provide certain information to local law enforcement. And the high profile of Megan's Law, and Artway's case in particular, virtually assures that Artway will be prosecuted if he engages in his allegedly protected conduct: returning to New Jersey without registering. In fact, the Attorney General assured the district court at oral argument that she would prosecute Artway if he failed to register. See Artway v. Attorney General, 876 F.Supp. 666, 670 n. 4 (D.N.J.1995). Under these circumstances, the threat of prosecution Artway faces satisfies any test of the Supreme Court and of this Court: these threats are credible, real, and substantial. 45 In sharp contrast, Artway's challenge to the notification provisions of Megan's Law fails this prong. Unlike registration, notification involves a crucial contingency: only if, after registering, Artway is classified as a moderate or high risk of re-offense will he face notification. This classification hinges on a New Jersey prosecutor's future decision to be reached after applying the Attorney General's Registrant Risk Assessment Scale. See supra page 1244. The State prosecutor, possessing the pertinent information not present in this record, scores these thirteen categories for different levels of risk, employing the corresponding eleven pages of guidelines. The prosecutor then multiplies by differing coefficients, tabulates the data for a risk assessment score, and considers whether exceptions apply. 46 As in New Hanover Township, Acierno, and Wilmington Firefighters, whether this contingency will ever come to pass is a matter of speculation. We may not pass upon hypothetical matters. And Artway faces no hardship from denying review of his notification challenges at this point. If he registers, and if the State decides that his situation warrants community notification, he may seek to enjoin that action at that time. Thus, the hardship factor alone precludes review of Artway's notification claims. 8