Opinion ID: 2785103
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Void for Vagueness Challenge

Text: California Penal Code § 403 states, in its entirety: Every person who, without authority of law, willfully disturbs or breaks up any assembly or meeting that is not unlawful in its character, other than an assembly or meeting referred to in Section 302 of the Penal Code or Section 18340 of the Elections Code, is guilty of a misdemeanor. The first exception identified in § 403 is § 302 of the Penal Code. It concerns meetings “for religious worship” and states, in relevant part: Every person who intentionally disturbs or disquiets any assemblage of people met for religious worship at a tax-exempt place of worship, by profane discourse, rude or indecent behavior, or by any unnecessary noise, either within the place where the meeting is held, or so near it as to disturb the order and solemnity of the meeting, is guilty of a misdemeanor . . . . The second exception listed in § 403, and the one particularly relevant to this case, is § 18340 of the Elections Code. It states, in its entirety: 8 CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES Every person who, by threats, intimidations, or unlawful violence, willfully hinders or prevents electors from assembling in public meetings for the consideration of public questions is guilty of a misdemeanor. The Elections Code defines “elector” as any person who is a United States citizen 18 years of age or older and . . . is a resident of an election precinct at least 15 days prior to an election[, or is not a resident but either] (1) He or she was a resident of this state when he or she was last living within the territorial limits of the United States or the District of Columbia[, or] (2) He or she was born outside of the United States or the District of Columbia, his or her parent or legal guardian was a resident of this state when the parent or legal guardian was last living within the territorial limits of the United States or the District of Columbia, and he or she has not previously registered to vote in any other state. Cal. Elec. Code § 321.
CPR contends that § 403 is void for vagueness because it is not clear what conduct is subject to the criminal penalties of § 403 and what conduct is covered by § 18340 and thus CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES 9 excluded from the reach of § 403. Section 18340 refers to “public meetings for the consideration of public questions,” a category of meetings that, argues CPR, appears from the face of the statute to encompass the type of meeting at issue in this case. Electors, similarly, by the statutory definition, include anyone over 18 who resides in any election precinct. That is a vast group of potential participants that, again, encompasses the participants in the meeting at issue here. This is significant, argues CPR, because § 18340 sets forth a standard for a misdemeanor that is different from, and higher than, the standard for a misdemeanor under § 403. While a person is subject to criminal penalties under § 403 if he “willfully disturbs or breaks up” a meeting, under § 18340 he is subject to penalties only if he uses “threats, intimidations, or unlawful violence”—more egregious conduct—to hinder or prevent the meeting in question from assembling. Thus, knowing what type of meeting is covered by § 18340, and therefore excluded from coverage under § 403, is critical to understanding what type of conduct exposes a person to criminal penalties under § 403. A penal statute must “define the criminal offense with sufficient definiteness that ordinary people can understand what conduct is prohibited and in a manner that does not encourage arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement.” Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 357 (1983). An insufficiently definite statute is void for vagueness. Id. “[S]tandards of permissible statutory vagueness are strict in the area of free expression.” NAACP v. Button, 371 U.S. 415, 432 (1963). “Laws that are insufficiently clear are void for three reasons: (1) To avoid punishing people for behavior that they could not have known was illegal; (2) to avoid subjective enforcement of the laws based on arbitrary or discriminatory 10 CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES interpretations by government officers; and (3) to avoid any chilling effect on the exercise of First Amendment freedoms.” United States v. Wunsch, 84 F.3d 1110, 1119 (9th Cir. 1996). “[W]here a vague statute abuts upon sensitive areas of basic First Amendment freedoms, it operates to inhibit the exercise of those freedoms. Uncertain meanings inevitably lead citizens to steer far wider of the unlawful zone than if the boundaries of the forbidden areas were clearly marked.” Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 109 (1972) (internal quotation marks, footnote, and alterations omitted). That § 403 “abuts upon sensitive areas of basic First Amendment freedoms” is evident in the facts of this case and in every available case involving the statute, all of which involve not merely speech or expressive conduct but core political speech. See, e.g., In re Kay, 1 Cal. 3d 930, 936 (1970) (rhythmic clapping during a congressman’s speech); McMahon v. Albany Unified Sch. Dist., 104 Cal. App. 4th 1275, 1280–81 (Cal. Ct. App. 2002) (dumping gallons of garbage on the floor during a school board meeting as part of a speech about the problem of litter in the area of the high school); Saraceni v. City of Roseville, No. C041085, 2003 WL 21363458, at  (Cal. Ct. App. June 13, 2003) (attempting to address the city council and city attorney at a city council meeting after the public comment period had ended); Norse v. City of Santa Cruz, 629 F.3d 966, 970 (9th Cir. 2010) (en banc) (giving a silent Nazi salute and whispering to another meeting attendee in city council meetings); Sanchez v. City of Los Angeles, No. CV 07–5132 GHK (JC), 2011 WL 6951822, at  (C.D. Cal. Oct. 31, 2011) (attending a city council meeting with a pillow case, attached to a shirt, that read “CRA Destroys Communities”). CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES 11 “[A] plaintiff seeking to vindicate his own constitutional rights may argue that an ordinance is unconstitutionally vague or impermissibly restricts a protected activity.” Santa Monica Food Not Bombs v. City of Santa Monica, 450 F.3d 1022, 1033 (9th Cir. 2006) (citations, alterations, and internal quotation marks omitted). Where, as here, plaintiffs make a facial constitutional challenge to a state law, “a federal court must, of course, consider any limiting construction that a state court or enforcement agency has proffered.” Vill. of Hoffman Estates v. Flipside, Hoffman Estates, Inc., 455 U.S. 489, 494 n.5 (1982). The California Supreme Court has interpreted § 403 only once. In re Kay, 1 Cal. 3d 930, 936–37 (1970), concerned the arrest and conviction of four people for engaging in “rhythmical clapping” and “some shouting for about five or ten minutes” during the speech of a congressman in a public park at an Independence Day celebration. The California Supreme Court noted that § 403 could be read to cover speech protected by the First Amendment. Applying the common presumption that the legislature intended to enact a valid statute, however, it interpreted the statute more narrowly to render it constitutional. It held that § 403 requires “that the defendant substantially impair[] the conduct of the meeting by intentionally committing acts in violation of implicit customs or usages or of explicit rules for governance of the meeting, of which he knew, or as a reasonable man should have known.” Id. at 943. The court specified that criminal sanctions could be imposed “only when the defendant’s activity itself—and not the content of the activity’s expression—substantially impairs the effective conduct of a meeting.” Id. at 942. 12 CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES In so construing § 403, the California Supreme Court did not consider the statute’s exceptions for political meetings and religious meetings. In fact, the court omitted all reference to the exceptions when citing the statute and in its discussion of the statute’s origins.2 Nonetheless, the court set aside the criminal conviction at issue, concluding that the defendants’ rhythmical clapping did not rise to the level of a misdemeanor under § 403.
Because no state or federal court has expressly construed § 403 in relation to § 18340, we interpret those statutes by applying California’s rules of statutory construction. In re First T.D. & Inv., Inc., 253 F.3d 520, 527 (9th Cir. 2001). Under California law, the “fundamental task” of statutory interpretation is “to determine the Legislature’s intent so as to effectuate the law’s purpose.” People v. Cornett, 53 Cal. 4th 1261, 1265 (2012) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). Where the plain language of a statute is ambiguous or uncertain, we may consider “the purpose of the statute, the evils to be remedied, the legislative history, public policy, and the statutory scheme encompassing the statute.” Id. (internal citations and quotation marks omitted); see People v. Van Alstyne, 46 Cal. App. 3d 900, 911–14 (Cal. Ct. App. 1975) (consulting the legislative history after finding that the statutory definition of marijuana as Cannabis sativa L. was ambiguous despite its specificity). 2 The court quoted an expurgated version of § 403: “Section 403 of the Penal Code provides: ‘Every person who, without authority of law, willfully disturbs or breaks up any assembly or meeting, not unlawful in its character, . . . is guilty of a misdemeanor.’” Kay, 1 Cal. 3d at 937–38 (alteration in original). CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES 13 By its express terms, § 403 does not apply to activity in connection with “an assembly or meeting referred to in Section 302 of the Penal Code or Section 18340 of the Elections Code.” It is the latter exception for meetings covered by § 18340, namely “public meetings for the consideration of public questions,” that is at issue in this case. CPR argues that there is uncertainty as to the type of meetings excluded from § 403 because they are covered by § 18340. We turn to the legislative history for guidance as to the legislature’s intent in excluding meetings covered by § 18340 from coverage by § 403. See People v. Yoshimura, 62 Cal. App. 3d 410, 415–16 (Cal. Ct. App. 1976) (where a defendant asserted that the terms “substance” and “material” in a criminal statute were unconstitutionally vague, the court considered the legislative history of the criminal statute, determined the statute’s legislative purpose, and found the terms not to be vague). The legislative history, although complex, shows that § 403 and the other two statutes it identifies as exceptions were intended to apply to three different types of meetings: religious meetings, political meetings, and all other meetings. Originally enacted in 1872 as part of the first California Penal Code, § 403 had the headnote “Disturbance of public meetings, other than religious or political”3 and provided, in terms very similar to today’s statute: 3 See Farraher v. Superior Court of Kern County, Dept. 3, 45 Cal. App. 4, 5–6 (Cal. Ct. App. 1919) (the heading of the 1872 version of § 403 “must be deemed a part of the substance of the enactment and accorded the same effect as though written into the body of the law” and, therefore, a meeting must be public to fall within this section). 14 CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES Every person who, without authority of law, willfully disturbs or breaks up any assembly or meeting, not unlawful in its character, other than such as is mentioned in Sections 59 and 302, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Cal. Penal Code § 403 (Haymond & Burch 1874).4 The Code Commentator’s note to the 1872 Code explained the coverage of the three sections as follows: The assembly specified in Sec. 59 is a meeting of electors, held for the discussion of public questions, and that in Sec. 302 a religious meeting. This section includes funerals, and like lawful meetings, and corresponds with the N. Y. Penal Code, Sec. 473. 4 Compare to the current version of § 403 (differences indicated in bold): Every person who, without authority of law, willfully disturbs or breaks up any assembly or meeting that is not unlawful in its character, other than an assembly or meeting referred to in Section 302 of the Penal Code or Section 18340 of the Elections Code, is guilty of a misdemeanor. CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES 15 Cal. Penal Code § 403 (Haymond & Burch 1874).5 Cf. People v. Stuart, 47 Cal. 2d 167, 175 (1956) (using the Code Commissioner’s note from 1872 as an indication of prior legislative intent). In 1872, § 302, the religious-meetings exception to § 403, was very similar to today’s version of that section,6 but the 5 Section 473 stated: Every person who, without authority of law, willfully disturbs or breaks up any assembly or meeting, not unlawful in its character, other than such as are mentioned in sections 55, 79, and 359, of this Code, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Draft of a Penal Code for the State of New York (“Fields Draft”) § 473 (1864). The annotation to the Fields Draft explains that “The assemblies specified in the sections referred to are religious meetings, meetings of electors held for discussion of public questions, and funerals.” Id. The California version of the statute does not have a separate statutory section covering funerals and instead incorporates funerals into § 403. 6 The 1872 version of § 302 provided: Every person who willfully disturbs or disquiets any assemblage of people met for religious worship by noise, profane discourse, rude, or indecent behavior, or by any unnecessary noise, either within the place where such meeting is held, or so near it as to disturb the order and solemnity of the meeting, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Cal. Penal Code § 302 (Haymond & Burch 1874). Compare to the current version of § 302 (deletions indicated by strike-through; additions indicated by bold):
disquiets any assemblage of people met for religious 16 CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES political-meetings exception, § 59, was notably different from today’s § 18340. Section 59, under the headnote “Disturbance of public meetings, misdemeanor,” stated, using a structure and a standard very similar to § 403: Every person who willfully disturbs or breaks up any public meeting of electors or others, lawfully being held for the purpose of considering public questions, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Cal. Penal Code § 59 (1874). This section is not the historical predecessor of the current political meetings exception, Elections Code § 18340, however. Section 18340 derived from a different section of the original 1872 Penal Code, specifically § 58. That section was not, in 1872, exempted from coverage under § 403. Section 58 had the heading “Preventing public meetings” and stated: Every person who, by threats, intimidations, or unlawful violence, willfully hinders or prevents electors from assembling in public worship at a tax-exempt place of worship, by [noise,] profane discourse, rude or indecent behavior, or by any unnecessary noise, either within the place where the meeting is held, or so near it as to disturb the order and solemnity of the meeting, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. The current statute also contains sections (b)–(f), which provide additional details on penalties for violation of § 302. CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES 17 meeting for the consideration of public questions, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Cal. Penal Code § 58 (1874). This is identical to the language in current Elections Code § 18340, exempted from § 403. In short, §§ 58 and 59 both applied to “public meetings for the consideration of public questions,” but the two sections had different standards for a misdemeanor. Under § 58, it was a misdemeanor to hinder such a meeting “by threats, intimidations, or unlawful violence,” while under § 59, it was a misdemeanor simply to “willfully disturb[] or break[] up” such a meeting. Only § 59 was referred to and excluded from the coverage of § 403; § 58 was not mentioned in § 403 at all. How did it happen that the original 1872 version of § 403 referred to the now-extinct Cal. Penal Code § 59 (“Disturbance of public meetings”) but the current version of § 403 refers to a section identical to the 1872 version of § 58 (“Preventing public meetings”)? The first step in this shift occurred in 1905 when § 59 of the Penal Code was amended and its text wholly replaced with § 41 of the Purity in Elections Act,7 which had been passed in 1893. The amended § 59 had the headnote “Force, violence or restraint used to influence votes” in place of the original headnote “Disturbance of public meetings, misdemeanor,” and it contained lengthy prohibitions on voting intimidation and 7 The full title was “An Act to promote the purity of elections by regulating the conduct thereof, and to support the privilege of free suffrage by prohibiting certain acts and practices in relation thereto, and providing for the punishment thereof.” 1893 Cal. Stat. 12. 18 CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES interference. Cal. Penal Code § 59 (1905).8 Although § 59 8 The amended § 59 stated, in full: It is unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by himself or any other person in his behalf, to make use of, or threaten to make use of, any force, violence, or restraint, or to inflict or threaten the infliction, by himself or through any other person, of any injury, damage, harm, or loss, or in any manner to practice intimidation upon or against any person, in order to induce or compel such person to vote or refrain from voting at any election, or to vote or refrain from voting for any particular person or persons at any election, or on account of such person or persons at any election, or on account of such person having voted or refrained from voting at any election. And it is unlawful for any person, by abduction, duress, or any forcible or fraudulent device or contrivance whatever, to impede, prevent, or otherwise interfere with the free exercise of the elective franchise by any voter; or to compel, induce, or prevail upon any voter either to give or refrain from giving his vote at any election, or to give or refrain from giving his vote for any particular person or persons at any election. It is not lawful for any employer, in paying his employees the salary or wages due them, to inclose their pay in “pay envelopes” upon which there is written or printed the name of any candidate, or any political mottoes, devices, or arguments containing threats, express or implied, intended or calculated to influence the political opinions or actions of such employees. Nor is it lawful for any employer, within ninety days of any election, to put up or otherwise exhibit in his factory, workshop, or other establishment or place where his workmen or employees may be working, any hand-bill or placard containing any threat, notice, or information, that in case any particular ticket of a political party, or organization, or candidate shall be elected, work in his place or establishment will lease, in whole or in part, or CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES 19 no longer had anything to do with public meetings, § 403’s exclusion of § 59 was not modified to reflect the change in the function of § 59. The amendment of § 59 thus rendered § 403’s exclusion of meetings covered by § 59 nonsensical, as § 59 was concerned not with meetings at all but with voting interference. This problem was likely due to an error by the legislature in failing to consider the effect of the amendment of § 59 on § 403 and failing to amend § 403 accordingly. The error was noticed by Deering editors as early as 1915, but the legislature did not take any steps to amend § 403 at that time.9 In 1939, Penal Code §§ 58 and 59, among others, were repealed as part of the adoption of California’s first Elections Code. Section 58 (“Preventing public meetings”) became Elections Code § 5004, and § 59 (“Force, violence, or restraint used to influence vote”) was split among Elections his place or establishment be closed up, or the salaries or wages of his workmen or employees be reduced, or other threats, express or implied, intended or calculated to influence the political opinions or actions of his workmen or employees. This section applies to corporations as well as individuals, and any person or corporation violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor, and any corporation violating this section shall forfeit its charter. Cal. Penal Code § 59 (1905). 9 In the 1915 edition of the California Penal Code, although the statutory text of § 403 still referred to § 59, the Deering’s annotations now pointed to a Penal Code § 58, which had not previously been associated with § 403 in any way. Similarly, the Deering’s annotations pertaining to § 58, and not to § 59, referred to § 403. Cal. Penal Code §§ 403, 58, 59 (Deering 1915). 20 CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES Code §§ 11581, 11582, 11584–86. See Cal. Elec. Code §§ 11581–82, 11584–86 (Deering Supp. 1939). Finally, in 1949, the California Special Crime Study Commission on Criminal Law and Procedure reported that “[a] study of the code indicates that the reference to Section 59 of the Penal Code contained in Section 403 should have been to Section 58 which is now Section 5004 of the Elections Code,” and recommended amending § 403. SPECIAL CRIME STUDY COMMISSION, FINAL REPORT ON CRIMINAL LAW AND PROCEDURE, Recommendation 13, at 23–24 (1949). In accordance with this recommendation, § 403 was amended, and its reference to Penal Code § 59 was replaced with a reference to Elections Code § 5004, the successor to Penal Code § 58 and predecessor to § 18340. 1949 Cal. Stat. 2119; Cal. Penal Code § 403 (1955). Since 1949, § 403 has not been amended substantively.10 Thus, § 18340, which is currently exempted from coverage by § 403, is the successor section to § 58, which was not the original exemption. The substance of § 59, the original exemption from § 403, no longer exists in any form in the California Codes. 10 A mysterious legislative comment appeared in 1976, stating that the Elections Code section (then § 12046, now § 18340) “is needed to prevent conduct which would prevent a meeting from taking place at all, including verbal threats, etc. since Penal Code 403 does not deal with verbal behavior.” Cal. Elec. Code § 29440 (Deering 1977). This comment contradicts all other indications of the legislative purpose of the exceptions to § 403 and also contradicts the Kay court’s 1970 interpretation of § 403 as very much covering “verbal behavior,” as is clear in its extended First Amendment analysis. We therefore give this comment little weight. CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES 21 In the face of this tortuous history of § 403 and its exceptions, one thing remains clear. The original version of § 403 was enacted with the intent to exempt political meetings from coverage by § 403. This intent was reaffirmed in 1949, when the legislature, after careful consideration, chose to exclude from § 403’s coverage a statutory section as close as possible to the original exception, with the result that the revised version of § 403 excluded the same meetings as had the original version of the statute: political and religious meetings. As to political meetings, however, unlike general meetings and religious meetings, the legislature established a higher threshold for unlawful conduct than the original exception had done. The amended political-meetings statute made it a misdemeanor to hinder or prevent such meetings by “threats, intimidations, or unlawful violence,” but not to “disturb or break up” such meetings by non-violent means.
The plain language of the statute and its legislative history demonstrate that § 403 does not cover political meetings, including the meeting at issue here. It is a misdemeanor to disrupt such meetings only under § 18340 and only if the disruption consists of “threats, intimidations, or unlawful violence.” The “meeting” at issue here involved the consideration of public questions, namely the conditions on Skid Row, and involved people within the broad definition of “electors.” Those invited to participate in the Walk were people whom the CCEA refers to as “stakeholders” in downtown business. As discussed below at 29, this conclusion leads us to reverse the judgment of the district court in part and remand for further proceedings. 22 CPR FOR SKID ROW V. CITY OF LOS ANGELES
Based on this understanding of the statute, though, we affirm the portion of the district court’s judgment that rejected CPR’s facial challenge to § 403 as unconstitutionally vague. A facial challenge is “the most difficult challenge to mount successfully.” United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745 (1987).