Opinion ID: 745299
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Plaintiffs' Standing to Challenge the Anti-Stalking and

Text: Harassment Statutes 62 The plaintiffs' final argument is that the district court erred in granting Ms. Hamilton summary judgment in ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the Kansas Anti-Stalking Statute, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-3438; and telefacsimile amendment to the Kansas Telephone Harassment Statute, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-4113. In the underlying § 1983 action, the plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of these two statutes, in addition to the Kansas Funeral Picketing Act, although none of them were ever charged under either statute. The plaintiffs claimed that they have standing to challenge the statutes because they are threatened with prosecution under both statutes. In their second amended complaint, they complained that the threat of prosecution is illustrated by: 63 (a) [Ms. Hamilton's] public statements of intent to prosecute for what she perceives as 'harassment' in connection with faxes and pickets; (b) [Ms. Hamilton's] long standing and oft announced hostility toward plaintiffs and the anti-homosexual pickets; (c) the fact that [Ms. Hamilton] has filed ten criminal actions against plaintiffs in the past four months, all directly related to and arising out of faxes and pickets; (d) the history and context of the passage of these laws; and (e) [Ms. Hamilton's] recent refusal to communicate her interpretation of the funeral picketing law despite a good faith request by plaintiffs that she do so. 64 Aplts' App. vol. II, at 705-06 (Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint, dated Nov. 15, 1993). 65 On December 23, 1993, in response to Ms. Hamilton's motion for summary judgment, the district court ruled that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the Kansas Telephone Harassment Statute and Kansas Anti-Stalking Statute because they failed to establish facts demonstrating a genuine threat of prosecution under the statutes or that the statutes were enacted or amended in response to the plaintiffs' activities. Phelps v. Hamilton, 840 F.Supp. at 1461. Our review, as stated earlier, is de novo. See supra, at 1317. 66
67 The first issue we must address is whether the plaintiffs' constitutional challenge to the Kansas Anti-Stalking Statute is moot because of a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in an unrelated case that the statute is unconstitutional. Subsequent to the district court's ruling in the underlying case, the Kansas Supreme Court in State v. Bryan, 259 Kan. 143, 910 P.2d 212 (1996), held that the Kansas Anti-Stalking Statute was unconstitutionally vague. Id. at 220-21. Specifically, the court found that the terms alarms, annoys, and harasses, as used in the statute without any definition or objective standard to measure the prohibited conduct were unconstitutionally vague. Id. Because the court held the statute unconstitutional, Ms. Hamilton argues in her supplemental memorandum that the issue of the plaintiffs' standing to challenge the Kansas Anti-Stalking Statute is now moot. 68 The constitutional mootness doctrine is grounded in Article III's requirement that federal courts only decide actual, ongoing cases or controversies. Lewis v. Continental Bank Corp., 494 U.S. 472, 477, 110 S.Ct. 1249, 1253, 108 L.Ed.2d 400 (1990). [I]f an event occurs while a case is pending on appeal that makes it impossible for the court to grant 'any effectual relief whatever' to a prevailing party, the appeal must be dismissed. Osborn v. Durant Bank & Trust Co., 24 F.3d 1199, 1203 (10th Cir.1994) (citation omitted). The central question in determining whether a case has become moot is whether the issues presented are no longer 'live' or the parties lack a legally cognizable interest in the outcome. Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486, 496, 89 S.Ct. 1944, 1951, 23 L.Ed.2d 491 (1969). 69 In applying the constitutional mootness test, we hold that the plaintiffs' claims related to the Kansas Anti-Stalking Statute are now moot due to the Kansas Supreme Court's ruling in Bryan. The plaintiffs no longer have a live or redressable claim as related to the Kansas Anti-Stalking Statute because the statute has been held unconstitutional. Therefore, the plaintiffs no longer face any threat of prosecution under the statute as alleged in their Second Amended Complaint. Accordingly, we dismiss the plaintiffs' appeal of the district court's denial of their standing to challenge the Kansas Anti-Stalking Statute. 70
71 As stated earlier, Article III of the Constitution requires a plaintiff to present an actual case or controversy, which, among other things, requires a plaintiff to show that they have standing. See Allen v. Wright, 468 U.S. at 750, 104 S.Ct. at 3324. To meet this requirement at an irreducible constitutional minimum, a plaintiff must demonstrate that (1) he or she has suffered an injury in fact; (2) there is a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of; and (3) it is likely that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 2136, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992); see also, United States v. Colorado Supreme Court, 87 F.3d 1161 (10th Cir.1996). These three elements of standing are an indispensable part of the plaintiff's case, and thus the plaintiff must support each element with the manner and degree of evidence required at the successive stages of the litigation. Lujan, at 561, 112 S.Ct. at 2136. At the summary judgment stage, a plaintiff's standing must be supported by specific evidentiary facts and not by mere allegations. Id. at 562, 112 S.Ct. at 2137. Furthermore, [i]t is a long-settled principle that standing alone cannot be 'inferred argumentatively from averments in the pleadings,' but rather 'must affirmatively appear in the record.'  FW/PBS, Inc., v. City of Dallas, 493 U.S. 215, 231, 110 S.Ct. 596, 608, 107 L.Ed.2d 603 (1990) (citations omitted). 72 We are also mindful that, because of the significance of First Amendment rights, the Supreme Court has enunciated other concerns that justify a lessening of prudential limitations on standing. Secretary of State of Md. v. Joseph H. Munson Co., 467 U.S. 947, 956, 104 S.Ct. 2839, 2847, 81 L.Ed.2d 786 (1984); ACORN v. City of Tulsa, Oklahoma, 835 F.2d 735, 738 (10th Cir.1987). Because the mere threat of prosecution under the allegedly unlawful statute may have a chilling effect on an individual's protected activity, the concern that constitutional adjudication be avoided whenever possible may be outweighed by society's interest in having the statute challenged. Munson, 467 U.S. at 956, 104 S.Ct. at 2847. Regardless of this concern, however, a plaintiff bringing a facial challenge to a statute on First Amendment grounds must still satisfy the injury-in-fact requirement in order to demonstrate standing. Id. at 958, 104 S.Ct. at 2847-48. Allegations of a subjective 'chill,' however, are not an adequate substitute for a claim of specific present objective harm or a threat of specific future harm. Laird v. Tatum, 408 U.S. 1, 13-14, 92 S.Ct. 2318, 2325-26, 33 L.Ed.2d 154 (1972). A plaintiff generally has standing only if he or she has alleged an intention to engage in a course of conduct arguably affected with a constitutional interest, but proscribed by statute, and there exists a credible threat of prosecution thereunder. Babbitt v. United Farm Workers Nat'l Union, 442 U.S. 289, 298, 99 S.Ct. 2301, 2309, 60 L.Ed.2d 895 (1979); accord, ACORN, 835 F.2d at 739. 73 In this case, the district court first determined that because none of the statutes had been applied against the plaintiffs, they were without standing to challenge the statutes as applied. 840 F.Supp. at 1461. Therefore, in analyzing their claims as facial challenges, the court then held that while plaintiffs had offered evidence to demonstrate that the Kansas Funeral Picketing Act was directed towards them and that their conduct was chilled because of uncertainties concerning language in that act, they had no similar basis for demonstrating standing to challenge the Kansas Telephone Harassment Statute. Specifically, the court found that: 74 The plaintiffs have not come forth with proper Rule 56 evidence demonstrating that these statutes were amended or passed in response to the plaintiffs' activities; that these statutes target the plaintiffs; ... that their First Amendment rights have been chilled by threats of prosecution under these statutes; and that [Ms. Hamilton] intends or plans to prosecute the plaintiffs under these statutes for conduct arguably protected under the Constitution. 75 Id. at 1462. 76 We agree with the district court that the plaintiffs have failed to put forth any objective evidence that they intend to engage in activities prohibited by the telefacsimile amendment to the Kansas Telephone Harassment Statute or that they face an imminent threat of prosecution under the amendment. First, the plaintiffs have not alleged any intention to violate the amendment through the transmission of telefacsimiles arguably covered under the amendment. This failure to allege an intention and to support such intention with objective evidence leaves it entirely speculative whether the plaintiffs will face any actual or imminent injury from future prosecution. See ACORN, 835 F.2d at 737-38, 739 (finding standing where plaintiffs offered evidence of the dates and plans for events in which the challenged ordinance would be violated). As the Supreme Court has observed, even  'some day' intentions--without any description of concrete plans, or indeed even any specification of when the some day will be--do not support a finding of the 'actual or imminent' injury that our cases require. Lujan, 504 U.S. at 564, 112 S.Ct. at 2138. 77 Second, the plaintiffs offer no evidence to support their allegation that they are threatened with prosecution under the amendment. Unlike ACORN, where the city had made clear its intentions to enforce the city ordinance requiring permits for demonstrations, there is no evidence that Ms. Hamilton has made any threat to prosecute the plaintiffs for violation of the telefacsimile amendment. The plaintiffs' allegation that Ms. Hamilton has threatened to prosecute them generally is not enough to confer standing. See Poe v. Ullman, 367 U.S. 497, 501, 81 S.Ct. 1752, 1754-55, 6 L.Ed.2d 989 (1961) (plurality opinion) (holding that mere allegation that state attorney intended to prosecute any offense committed under state law was insufficient to confer standing). Furthermore, although the plaintiffs allege that Ms. Hamilton's intent to prosecute can be demonstrated by past prosecutions, none of those prosecutions arose under the challenged amendment or, for that matter, any of the state laws challenged by the plaintiffs. Because the plaintiffs have failed to put forth any objective evidence in the face of Ms. Hamilton's summary judgment motion to support their standing to bring this action, we hold that the district court properly declined to exercise jurisdiction over this claim.