Opinion ID: 769722
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prudential Component

Text: 15 Even were we to conclude that Thomas and Baker present a ripe case or controversy in the constitutional sense, we would decline to exercise jurisdiction under the prudential component of the ripeness doctrine. In evaluating the prudential aspects of ripeness, our analysis is guided by two overarching considerations: the fitness of the issues for judicial decision and the hardship to the parties of withholding court consideration. Abbott Laboratories, 387 U.S. at 149; see also Hodgers-Durgin v. De La Vina, 199 F.3d 1037, 1040-41 (9th Cir. 1999) (en banc); San Diego County, 98 F.3d at 1132. 16 The manner in which the intersection of marital status discrimination and the First Amendment is presented here, devoid of any specific factual context, renders this case unfit for judicial resolution. The record before us is remarkably thin and sketchy, consisting only of a few conclusory affidavits. A concrete factual situation is necessary to delineate the boundaries of what conduct the government may or may not regulate. San Diego County, 98 F.3d at 1132. And yet, the landlords ask us to declare Alaska laws unconstitutional, in the absence of any identifiable tenants and with no concrete factual scenario that demonstrates how the laws, as applied, infringe their constitutional rights. This case is a classic one for invoking the maxim that we do not decide  `constitutional questions in a vacuum.'  American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm. v. Thornburgh, 970 F.2d 501, 511 (9th Cir. 1992) (quoting W.E.B. DuBois Clubs of America v. Clark , 389 U.S. 309, 312 (1967) (per curiam)). 17 We disagree with the landlords that this case is purely legal. Unlike the situation in Abbott Laboratories, in which the partiesagreed that the constitutionality of the challenged regulation boiled down to a question of congressional intent, the issues presented in the landlords' pre-enforcement challenge here are not purely legal. See San Diego County, 98 F.3d at 1132 (stating that case devoid of any factual context whatsoever is not fit for review); American-Arab, 970 F.2d at 510-11 (stating that case with many unknown facts and a sketchy record is not fit for review). Just as a challenge involving the Sixth Amendment right to counsel was rejected on ripeness grounds in Portman because the entire argument about the effect of the . . . statute rests upon hypothetical situations and hypothetical clients, 995 F.2d at 903, so too the landlords' claim rests upon hypothetical situations with hypothetical tenants. Similar to the pre-enforcement challenge to the constitutionality of gun control legislation in San Diego County and the challenge to the constitutionality of certain immigration provisions in American-Arab, the First Amendment challenge presented in this case requires an adequately developed factual record to render it ripe for our review. That record, at this point, does not exist. 8 18 Turning to the second consideration -the hardship to the parties if jurisdiction is withheld -the landlords have not persuaded us that any hardship will result from deferring resolution of this matter to a time when a real case arises. The hardship analysis of our ripeness jurisprudence dovetails, in part, with the constitutional consideration of injury. Although the constitutional and prudential considerations are distinct, the absence of any real or imminent threat of enforcement, particularly criminal enforcement, seriously undermines any claim of hardship. Moreover, by being forced to defend the housing laws in a vacuum and in the absence of any particular victims of discrimination, the State and the City would suffer hardship were we to adjudicate this case now. 19 Prudential considerations of ripeness are discretionary, and here we exercise our discretion to decline jurisdiction over a dispute that is too remote. At this juncture, neither landlord has been charged with violating either the statute or the ordinance. Nor is there any reasonable or imminent threat of enforcement. If and when an enforcement action is brought against Thomas or Baker, that will be the appropriate time to raise the constitutional arguments. Postponing judicial review to a time when the landlords actually face an enforcement proceeding, or at least an imminent threat of one, poses insufficient hardship to justify the exercise of jurisdiction now.