Opinion ID: 565995
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Appellees' First Amendment Claim

Text: 47 Appellees' final challenge to the redistricting regulation before the district court was their claim that the regulation's prohibition on the use of private funds for redistricting activities violates the First Amendment. As with appellees' argument that LSC acted arbitrarily and capriciously in promulgating the regulation, however, the district court declined to reach the First Amendment issue because it had resolved the statutory issues in appellees' favor. 48 Although we would hesitate to reach the merits of this claim in any event given the district court's failure to reach them, we find added reason to do so in our remand of appellees' arbitrary and capricious claim. [I]t is an elementary canon that American courts are not to 'pass upon a constitutional question ... if there is also present some other ground upon which the case may be disposed of.'  Syracuse Peace Council v. FCC, 867 F.2d 654, 657 (D.C.Cir.1989) (quoting Ashwander v. Tennessee Valley Authority, 297 U.S. 288, 347, 56 S.Ct. 466, 483, 80 L.Ed. 688 (1936) (Brandeis, J., concurring)), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 717, 107 L.Ed.2d 737 (1990). See also Massachusetts v. Westcott, 431 U.S. 322, 323, 97 S.Ct. 1755, 1756, 52 L.Ed.2d 349 (1977); Mikva, Jumping at Constitutional Questions is Risky Business, LITIGATION, Spring 1988, at 5. Because this case may be resolved against LSC on the basis of the arbitrary and capricious claim, we decline to reach the First Amendment challenge. 49 On remand, the district court, if it reaches the merits of this claim and finds that the appellee organizations have a First Amendment interest in representing clients in redistricting matters, should of course be guided by the Supreme Court's decisions on the constitutionality of placing speech-related conditions on the receipt of governmental funds. See Rust v. Sullivan, U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 1759, 1773-75, 114 L.Ed.2d 233 (1991) (upholding regulations barring family planning clinics that receive federal funds from providing abortion counselling or referrals, but noting that challenged regulations explicitly permit recipients to establish financially distinct affiliates, financed by private funds, for engaging in prohibited activities); FCC v. League of Women Voters of Cal., 468 U.S. 364, 400, 104 S.Ct. 3106, 3127-28, 82 L.Ed.2d 278 (1984) (federal statute that barred editorializing by public television and radio stations violated First Amendment because it extended to affiliated organizations financed entirely by private funds). 50 We note, finally, that it is implicit in our discussion of appellees' statutory claims that LSC, which is entrusted with the duty to administer a federal statute and to interpret its terms, is a state actor for First Amendment purposes when it issues regulations pursuant to that statute. LSC's contentions to the contrary should therefore provide no pause to the district court if it reaches appellees' First Amendment claim.