Court Opinion

ID: 9490192
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:35:37.789729+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:56.756586
License: Public Domain

WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge,
concurring and dissenting.
I agree with the court that Stephenson’s tattoo was not protected by the first amendment, that Stephenson’s overbreadth claim is moot, that Stephenson’s failure to exhaust her state remedies moots her procedural due process violation claim, and that the district court was not guilty of failing to train its employees.
Although I disagree with the court’s holding that the regulation in question is void for vagueness, I would not reach that issue, for in the unique circumstances of this case I believe that Stephenson waived that claim by agreeing to have her tattoo removed. Had Stephenson utilized the procedural steps that would have allowed her to challenge the district’s finding that the tattoo was a gang symbol, this lawsuit might well have been averted. Stephenson has long since graduated from high school, and there is no possibility that she might ever again be affected by the regulation. Thus, there is no threatened injury that might otherwise give her standing to challenge the regulation. Cf. Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464, 472, 102 S.Ct. 752, 758, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982). Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment.