Court Opinion

ID: 9370485
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-13 20:00:52.016758+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:20.818469
License: Public Domain

Appellate Case: 22-1082     Document: 010110812136      Date Filed: 02/13/2023   Page: 1
                                                           FILED
                                               United States Court of Appeals
                    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS     Tenth Circuit

                                                                     February 13, 2023
                            FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT
                          _______________________________________   Christopher M. Wolpert
                                                                        Clerk of Court
     GREG LOPEZ; RODNEY PELTON;
     STEVEN HOUSE,

           Plaintiffs - Appellants,

     v.                                                    No. 22-1082
                                                  (D.C. No. 1:22-CV-00247-JLK)
     JENA GRISWOLD, Colorado                                (D. Colo.)
     Secretary of State, in her official
     capacity; JUDD CHOATE, Director
     of Election, Colorado Department of
     State, in his official capacity,

           Defendants - Appellees.

                       __________________________________________

                            ORDER AND JUDGMENT *
                       __________________________________________

 Before BACHARACH, EID, and ROSSMAN, Circuit Judges.
               ___________________________________________

          The Colorado Constitution is designed to encourage political

 candidates to limit their expenditures. This design is based on statutory

 limitations on contributions. If candidates agree to limit their expenditures,

 supporters of these candidates can contribute up to twice the statutory

 *
       This order and judgment does not constitute binding precedent except
 under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel.
 But the order and judgment may be cited for its persuasive value if
 otherwise appropriate. Fed. R. App. P. 32.1(a); 10th Cir. R. 32.1(A).
Appellate Case: 22-1082   Document: 010110812136   Date Filed: 02/13/2023   Page: 2

 limits in some circumstances. Colo. Const. art. XXVIII, § 4(5). By

 allowing supporters to double their contributions, the state constitutional

 provision was intended to encourage candidates to limit their expenditures.

       This appeal arises from a challenge to these provisions. Two

 candidates and a contributor challenged these provisions during the 2022

 election cycle. In confronting these challenges, the district court denied a

 request for a preliminary injunction that would have suspended these

 provisions during the pendency of the underlying suit. This appeal

 challenges the denial of the preliminary injunction.

       The defendants argue that the entire appeal is moot, noting that the

 2022 election has passed. For this argument, the defendants bear the

 burden. WildEarth Guardians v. Public Serv. Co. of Colo., 690 F.3d 1174,

 1183 (10th Cir. 2012). We conclude that the defendants have satisfied their

 burden.

 1.    The Colorado Constitution’s method of limiting spending

       Colorado generally limits the amount that someone can contribute to

 a candidate in primary and general elections. See 8 Colo. Code Regs.

 § 1505-6:10.17.1(i) (2019) (setting limits on spending for candidates

 running for governor and state senate). But a candidate’s supporters can

 make contributions that double the general limits if

             the candidate agrees to limit campaign spending to a specified
              amount and

                                        2
Appellate Case: 22-1082   Document: 010110812136   Date Filed: 02/13/2023   Page: 3

             an opponent raises at least 10% of the applicable limit and
              declines to cap expenses at the specified limit.

 Colo. Const. art. XXVIII, § 4(5).

       The challengers to this scheme included

             candidates running in 2022 for governor (Greg Lopez) and the
              state senate (Rodney Pelton) and

             a contributor (Steven House).

 2.    Challenge by the gubernatorial candidate (Mr. Lopez)

       Mr. Lopez lost in the 2022 primary, and he concedes that his appeal

 is moot. Given Mr. Lopez’s concession, we dismiss his appeal as moot. See

 Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, 569 U.S. 66, 72–73 (2013)

 (assuming without deciding that the claim was moot in light of the

 claimant’s concession in earlier proceedings that an offer of judgment

 would moot the claim).

 3.    Challenge by the senatorial candidate (Mr. Pelton)

       The defendants argue that Mr. Pelton’s claim became constitutionally

 moot when the 2022 election ended. But we need not address constitutional

 mootness because Mr. Pelton’s appeal is at least prudentially moot. 1

 1
       We need not address constitutional mootness before prudential
 mootness. See Sinochem Int’l Co. v. Malaysia Int’l Shipping Corp., 549
 U.S. 422, 431 (2007) (“[A] federal court has leeway ‘to choose among
 threshold grounds for denying audience to a case on the merits.’” (quoting
 Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co., 526 U.S. 574, 585 (1999))); see also
 Charles Allen Wright, Arthur R. Miller, and Edward H. Cooper, 13B Fed.
 Prac. & Proc. Juris § 3533.1, at 763 (3d ed. 2008) (“It also is appropriate
                                        3
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       Under the doctrine of prudential mootness, we can treat an appeal as

 moot when the potential injuries are remote enough for the district court to

 withhold equitable relief. Jordan v. Sosa, 654 F.3d 1012, 1024, 1029,

 1033–34 (10th Cir. 2011). This doctrine applies here.

       Mr. Pelton opposes mootness, arguing that when he campaigns again,

 he would again confront the same provisions that encourage spending

 limits. 2 A future candidacy might ordinarily prevent mootness. See Citizen

 Ctr. v. Gessler, 770 F.3d 900, 907 (10th Cir. 2014) (concluding that a

 claim for a prospective injunction wasn’t moot because the requested relief

 could affect future elections). Here, though, an injury to Mr. Pelton’s

 future candidacy would require us to indulge two layers of speculation.

       First, it is unclear when the disputed spending provisions would

 affect Mr. Pelton. These provisions would affect Mr. Pelton only when he

 campaigns again. Colo. Rev. Stats. § 1-45-110(1); Colo. Const. art.

 XXVIII, § 4(3). Mr. Pelton won the 2022 general election, 3 so he wouldn’t

 to invoke a prudential principle without confronting the uncertain line
 between Article III and prudential grounds . . . .”).
 2
        Mr. Pelton also argues that the spending limit hurts his ability to pay
 off his campaign debts for the 2022 election. But the disputed spending
 provision doesn’t restrict his ability to raise money. Given the absence of a
 restriction on raising money, Mr. Pelton doesn’t explain how the disputed
 spending provision impairs his ability to pay off his existing campaign
 debts.
 3
       We take judicial notice of Mr. Pelton’s victory in the 2022 election
 for state senate. See Senator Rodney Pelton, Colorado General Assembly
                                        4
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 face reelection until 2026. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 3(1) (“Senators shall

 be elected for the term of four years.”). Although Mr. Pelton intends to run

 for office in the future, he has not indicated which office he intends to

 seek or when he would accept the spending limit.

       He could conceivably start raising money now for a campaign four

 years away. But Mr. Pelton doesn’t need to decide whether to limit

 spending until he starts campaigning for a future election. See Colo. Rev.

 Stats. § 1-45-110(1); Colo. Const. art. XXVIII, § 4(3).

       Second, we can’t predict how long the preliminary injunction would

 last, for it would end when the district court issues a final judgment.

 United States ex rel. Bergen v. Lawrence, 848 F.2d 1502, 1512 (10th Cir.

 1988). And the district court has plowed ahead during the pendency of this

 appeal. For example, the district court set deadlines

             in April 2023 for discovery and

             in May 2023 for dispositive motions.

 In light of these deadlines, the district court will likely enter a final

 judgment before Mr. Pelton could reach the spending limit.

       Given the two layers of speculation, Mr. Pelton’s appeal is

 prudentially moot because the possibility of an interim injury rests on

 (last accessed Jan. 26, 2023), https://leg.colorado.gov/legislators/rod-
 pelton; see also Mont. Green Party v. Jacobsen, 17 F.4th 919, 927 (9th Cir.
 2021) (taking judicial notice of election results under Federal Rule of
 Evidence 201(b)(2) based on the state’s public website).
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 speculation. See Jordan v. Sosa, 654 F.3d 1012, 1024–25 (10th Cir. 2011)

 (noting that a request for injunctive relief would become moot if continued

 susceptibility to an injury was speculative).

 4.    Challenge by the contributor (Mr. House)

       Mr. House challenges the provisions increasing the statutory caps on

 contributions to candidates.

       The disputed spending provisions don’t restrict the amount of money

 that Mr. House can contribute. Granted, state law elsewhere caps

 contributions. But Mr. House isn’t challenging those caps; he challenges

 only the provision that allows an increase in those caps.

       For this challenge, Mr. House argues that other contributors might be

 able to contribute more than he can. But any complaint about this

 difference would be prudentially moot for two reasons. First, no

 contributor can contribute more to a particular candidate than he can.

 Second, any possible injury to Mr. House would rest on too much

 speculation to justify a preliminary injunction. We don’t know who Mr.

 House will support in future elections, whether those candidates will

 accept or decline the spending limit, whether those candidates will face

 opponents, or whether those opponents would accept or decline the

 spending limit. Without knowing these things, a court could just speculate

 whether another contributor would be able to donate more than Mr. House.

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 So his appeal is prudentially moot. See Jordan v. Sosa, 654 F.3d 1012,

 1024–25 (10th Cir. 2011).

 5.    Conclusion

       We lack appellate jurisdiction because

             Mr. Lopez concedes that his appeal is moot,

             Mr. Pelton’s appeal is prudentially moot because the
              applicability of the disputed spending provision rests on
              speculation, and

             Mr. House’s appeal is prudentially moot because the possibility
              of an injury in future elections would rest on speculation.

 So we dismiss the appeal as moot. 4

                                Entered for the Court

                                Robert E. Bacharach
                                Circuit Judge

 4
       Because we dismiss the appeal as moot, we don’t address the merits
 of the plaintiffs’ appellate arguments.
                                        7