Opinion ID: 782210
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Proof Fails to Support Aims of Curfew

Text: 60 When reviewing a law under the lens of intermediate scrutiny, the Equal Protection Clause requires more than the mere incantation of a proper state purpose. Trimble v. Gordon, 430 U.S. 762, 769 (1977). Accordingly, it is not enough for defendants to recite interests that have been used to support curfew ordinances in other municipalities. Instead, defendants must show that this ordinance, which restricts constitutional rights, is the product of reasoned analysis. Hogan, 458 U.S. at 725-26. 61 Although the Town of Vernon's curfew aims to reduce juvenile crime and victimization at night, defendants produced nothing to show that any consideration was given to the nocturnal aspect of the curfew ordinance. Wakefield's personal observations, both pre- and post-curfew, were primarily at hours that were not covered by the curfew. Clemons also admitted that her evening observations of groupings of people on the streets occurred between the evening hours of 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m., a period of time in which the curfew was not in effect. The defendants have the burden of proof under the intermediate scrutiny standard, and they failed to present any persuasive reason for the curfew hours chosen by the town. In fact, there is a disconnect between the proof of purportedly problem hours and the curfew hours set out in the ordinance. 62 Similarly, the curfew, by its terms, keeps the under-18 set off the streets at night, but no effort seems to have been made by the town to ensure that the population targeted by the ordinance represented that part of the population causing trouble or that was being victimized (or that was even in particular danger of being victimized). For all we know, gang members and intimidating idlers might have been mostly over 18 years old. 63 After all, though Clemons thought that the loiterers she observed were teens, she guessed that they were anywhere from 15 to 19 years of age. Similarly, the age of victims and the vulnerable does not appear to have been specifically examined beyond the general assumption that children are more vulnerable than adults. Although assumptions about children may suffice to establish the significance of the government's interests and may even sustain the validity of a legislative enactment under a lower level of scrutiny, assumptions will not carry the government's burden of showing the presence of the requisite direct, substantial relationship, Hogan, 458 U.S. at 725, between the factual premises that motivated the enactment of a curfew and its terms. 64 Likewise, the concerns expressed in the 1994 youth survey do not translate into a mandate for the instant curfew. Significantly, the survey results do not identify any hours as particularly dangerous, and they do not indicate that the schoolchildren themselves are the source of the problem or any more likely than adults to be victims. We see no direct connection therefore between the survey results and the curfew. Finally, the murder of the Vernon teen provides scant support for the existing Vernon curfew ordinance. That murder, as shocking as it was, occurred inside the victim's home in the afternoon, not on the streets at night. The circumstances surrounding that particular crime (i.e., time and place) are therefore outside the scope of Vernon's curfew ordinance. 65 Because defendants have failed to demonstrate that Vernon's curfew ordinance is substantially related to an important governmental interest, we hold that it is unconstitutional. We do not intend by our holding to rule that the Equal Protection Clause prohibits the enactment of a juvenile curfew ordinance. Nor do we think communities need to bide their time waiting for unspeakable tragedies to befall them before responding with legislation. But equal protection demands that the municipality carefully stud[y] the contours of the problem it [is] seeking to address and legislate[] in accordance with its findings. Buzzetti v. City of N.Y., 140 F.3d 134, 142 (2d Cir.1998). Such careful study of the problem and the requisite findings are lacking in the case before us. In other words, there is a conspicuous lack of relationship between the contours of the problem identified by the Vernon Town Council and the curfew ordinance enacted in response. Even one of defendants' own expert witnesses acknowledged the randomness of the ordinance by stating that [t]he adoption of the curfew itself probably could be considered a knee jerk reaction. Consistent with this characterization, the expert report submitted by defendants suggests that [t]he murder may have been the deciding factor for the town council to pass a juvenile curfew. Moreover, were we to hold that the curfew's validity could be measured by its success in accomplishing the goals that prompted its enactment in the first place, it does not pass that test, given the equivocal nature of the evidence. In addition to the equal protection claims here addressed, we have before us Janet Ramos' assertion that her due process right to parent has been violated by the ordinance. Because in our view the curfew ordinance is unconstitutional under the Equal Protection Clause, we need not reach or rule upon plaintiffs' other constitutional challenges.