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BENJAMIN K. ORIN, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
RICHARD BARCLAY, and his marital community, in his
individual and official capacity; ROBERT WALLACE, and his marital
community, in his individual capacity; ALAN HORNBERG, and his
marital community, in his individual capacity; RICK MCCLUSKEY,
and his marital community, in his individual capacity; CITY OF
BREMERTON, a municipal corporation, Defendants-Appellees.
No. 00-35177
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
D.C. No. CV-99-05125-RJB
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western
District of Washington Robert J. Bryan, District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted August 10, 2001--Seattle, Washington Before:
Robert Boochever, A. Wallace Tashima, and Richard C. Tallman,
Circuit Judges.
COUNSEL
A. Chad Allred, Ellis, Li & McKinstry, Seattle,
Washington, for the plaintiff-appellant.
Catherine Hendricks, Attorney General' s Office, Tort Claims
Division, Seattle, Washington; Steven T. Reich, Bremerton, Washington,
for the defendants-appellees.
Filed November 9, 2001
TALLMAN, Circuit Judge:
Plaintiff Benjamin Orin was told by a community college
official that he could protest abortion on campus only if he
did not create a disturbance, interfere with students' access
to school buildings, or couch his protest in overtly religious
terms. After four factious hours of demonstration, campus security
asked Orin to leave because he was violating these conditions.
When he refused, campus security called City of Bremerton police
officers who, after asking Orin to leave twice more, arrested
him for criminal trespass and failure to disperse.
We must determine whether the conditions imposed on
the protest violated Orin' s clearly established First Amendment
rights such that the school officials, the police officers, or
the City of Bremerton may be liable to Orin for damages under
42 U.S.C. § § 1983 and 1985(3). We must also determine
whether the district court properly held that none of Orin' s
state tort law causes of action can survive summary judgment.
We have jurisdiction, and affirm in part and reverse in part.
I
Orin is a member of Positively Pro-Life, an anti-abortion
group that demonstrates at high schools, colleges, and medical
clinics around the Northwest. On October 30, 1997, Orin and Jim
McIntyre appeared unannounced in the office of Richard Barclay,
Interim Dean of Students at Olympic Community College ("OCC"
).[FOOTNOTE 1] They warned Barclay that they and a third Positively
Pro-Life member intended to stage an anti-abortion protest on
OCC' s main quad. The protest was to include display of two large
posters graphically depicting aborted fetuses in various states
of dismemberment. They warned Barclay that the signs had elicited
strong responses at prior protests, including physical violence.
Barclay informed the protestors that they must apply
for and obtain a permit from OCC if they wished to hold an event
on the quad. Orin responded, "We have a prior permit. The
Bill of Rights says we can be here." Barclay told Orin that
he could conduct the demonstration without a permit so long as
he did not: (1) breach the peace or cause a disturbance; (2)
interfere with campus activities or access to school buildings;
or (3) engage in religious worship or instruction. The protestors
then left for the main quad. Barclay dispatched two security
guards to monitor the demonstration.
The Dean' s Office began receiving student complaints
about the protestors and their posters soon after the protest
began. OCC accommodated the demonstration for approximately four
hours. The size and temperament of the crowd attracted by the
demonstration waxed and waned. At times there were only five
or six students; at other times there were more than one hundred.
On two occasions campus security had to interpose themselves
between the crowd and the protestors to avert physical violence.
Shortly after 4:00 p.m., OCC security chief Robert "Rocky"
Wallace asked the protestors to leave. When they refused, he
called to request police assistance. He called again moments
later to ask dispatch to expedite the response because the situation
was "turning physical." The parties hotly dispute the
events that precipitated Wallace' s call to the police.
The demonstrators allege that Barclay appeared at the
protest and informed them that if they "mentioned God or
referred to th[e] Bible [he] would have [them] arrested and physically
removed from campus." Orin allegedly responded that he would
continue to decry abortion in religious terms and that Barclay
would have to have him arrested. Barclay responded that he would
do so, and the police arrived ten to fifteen minutes later. The
demonstrators allege that they uttered no incendiary epithets
and that they never felt threatened by the crowd.
By contrast, the security officers allege that the demonstration
degenerated into an openly hostile incitement of an already angry
crowd. Four students submitted declarations in support of the
officers, indicating that they felt the demonstrators were "verbally
assaulting students" and "attempting to pick a fight."
They claim they heard the protestors call students "baby
killers" and use incendiary racial and sexist epithets.
In the security officers' estimation, physical conflict between
the students and the demonstrators was inevitable. The security
guards asked the demonstrators to leave because they "could
no longer control the situation and the situation was turning
physical."
Officer Alan Hornberg of the Bremerton Police Department
was dispatched to OCC to respond to "a reported group of
protesters that were refusing to leave and a large unruly crowd
that was getting out of hand." Wallace met Hornberg at the
edge of campus. As they walked to the quad, where the demonstration
was being held, Wallace told Hornberg that the protestors had
violated the conditions placed on them by Barclay, "the
student crowd was agitated to the point of physical violence
against the protesters," and "the security staff didn'
t feel that they had the manpower to protect the anti-abortion
protesters from the students." He also informed Hornberg
that McIntyre had hit one of the security officers, knocking
his hat off his head.[FOOTNOTE 2]
Upon arriving at the quad, Hornberg observed a crowd
of forty to fifty students shouting angrily at the demonstrators.
Hornberg approached the demonstrators and asked them to leave.
Orin told Hornberg that campus officials only wanted him arrested
because he was talking about religion. Orin then exclaimed that
he was exercising his First Amendment right to free speech and
"was not going anywhere." Hornberg again asked Orin
to leave. When Orin again refused, Hornberg arrested him for
criminal trespass and failure to disperse.
Bremerton Police Officer Rick McCluskey arrived after
Orin' s arrest. Hornberg reported that Orin was under arrest
for trespassing and failing to disperse. McCluskey told Hornberg
to take Orin to jail for booking.
Orin alleges that, upon reaching the jail, Hornberg
questioned him without first reading him his Miranda rights.
According to Orin, however, when he asked about his rights, Hornberg
recited them to him. Orin also alleges a number of constitutional
violations arising out of the conditions of his jail cell (it
was cold, dirty, and uncomfortable), the ingredients used in
the jail food (it was not vegetarian), and the conduct of jail
personnel.
Orin sued Dean Barclay, security officer Wallace, police
officers Hornberg and McCluskey, and the City of Bremerton, stating
five causes of action: (1) violation of his First Amendment rights[FOOTNOTE
3] compensable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983; (2) conspiracy to
violate those rights compensable under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3);
(3) false arrest; (4) intentional infliction of emotional distress;
and (5) negligent infliction of emotional distress. Defendants
moved for summary judgment on all claims.
The district court found that the individual defendants
were entitled to qualified immunity against Orin' s First Amendment
claims. The district court granted all defendants' motions for
summary judgment as to Orin' s remaining claims. Orin timely
appealed.
II
A district court order granting summary judgment as
to all claims and all parties constitutes a "final order"
over which we have jurisdiction. 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (2000).
We review a district court order granting summary judgment de
novo, construing all evidence and drawing all reasonable inferences
in favor of the non-moving party. See Wong v. Regents
of the Univ. of Cal., 192 F.3d 807, 817 (9th Cir. 1999).
A
Section 1983 permits an individual whose federal statutory
or constitutional rights have been violated by a public official
acting under color of state law to sue the official for damages.
42 U.S.C. § 1983 (2000). Public officials are afforded protection,
however, "from undue interference with their duties and
from potentially disabling threats of liability." Harlow
v. Fitzgerald, 457 U.S. 800, 806 (1982). Qualified immunity
shields them "from liability for civil damages insofar as
their conduct does not violate clearly established statutory
or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have
known." Id. at 818. If a public official could reasonably
have believed that his actions were legal in light of clearly
established law and the information he possessed at the time,
then his conduct falls within the protective sanctuary of qualified
immunity. Hunter v. Bryant, 502 U.S. 224, 227 (1991) (per
curiam).
To determine whether each individual defendant is entitled
to qualified immunity, we must first determine whether Orin has
stated a prima facie claim that a defendant violated his
constitutional rights. Saucier v. Katz, ___ U.S. ___,
__, 121 S. Ct. 2151, 2155 (2001). If we determine that Orin has
stated a prima facie claim that a particular defendant
violated his constitutional rights, then we must determine whether
the rights allegedly violated were clearly established by federal
law. Id.
The Supreme Court has explained that a right is clearly
established by federal law if:
The contours of the right [are] sufficiently clear
that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing
violates that right. This is not to say that an official action
is protected by qualified immunity unless the very action in
question has been previously held unlawful, but it is to say
that in the light of pre-existing law the unlawfulness must be
apparent.
Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640 (1987) (internal
citations omitted). In other words, Orin' s rights were clearly
established if reasonable public officials in the defendants'
respective positions would have known, "in light of clearly
established law and the information the officers possessed,"
that their conduct violated his rights. Hunter, 502 U.S.
at 227 (emphasis added).
Orin argues that the conditions imposed by Barclay and
enforced by Wallace violated his First Amendment rights to free
speech and the free exercise of religion. Barclay imposed three
conditions on Orin' s demonstration. The first two -- not to
create a public disturbance and not to interfere with campus
activities or access to school buildings -- are content-neutral
regulations. See Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703, 719 (2000)
(holding that regulation of expressive activity is content-neutral
if it is justified without reference to the content of regulated
speech). So long as such content-neutral regulations are narrowly
tailored to accomplish a legitimate government purpose they are
not proscribed by the First Amendment. Ward v. Rock Against
Racism, 491 U.S. 781, 798 (1989). The first two conditions
survive constitutional scrutiny because they do not distinguish
among speakers based on the content of their message and they
are narrowly tailored to achieve OCC' s pedagogical purpose.
See Widmar v. Vincent, 454 U.S. 263, 268-69 (1981) (holding
that a public university may "impose reasonable regulations
compatible with [its educational] mission upon the use of its
campus and facilities" ); Healy v. James, 408 U.S.
169, 184 (1972) ("[A] college has a legitimate interest
in preventing disruption on the campus." ).
The third condition -- to refrain from religious worship
or instruction -- is more problematic. "[P]rivate religious
speech, far from being a First Amendment orphan, is as fully
protected under the Free Speech Clause as secular private expression."
Capitol Square Review & Advisory Bd. v. Pinette, 515
U.S. 753, 760 (1995). "Accordingly, we have not excluded
from free-speech protections religious proselytizing, or even
acts of worship." Id. (citations omitted). Protection
of such expression on public property is not absolute, however.
Id. The measure of protection afforded such expression
is determined by the status of the public property on which it
occurs. Public property may be designated, by law or tradition,
as a public forum or may be set aside for some other public purpose.
Id.
The record before us does not indicate whether OCC has,
in general, designated its quad as a public forum. See Widmar,
454 U.S. at 267 n.5 ("We have not held . . . that a campus
must make all of its facilities equally available to students
and nonstudents alike, or that a university must grant free access
to all of its grounds or buildings." ); Souders v.
Lucero, 196 F.3d 1040, 1044 (9th Cir. 1999) (noting that a public
university may exclude from its campus a nonstudent whose conduct
endangers a student). The parties do not dispute, however, that
Dean Barclay told the demonstrators that they could use OCC'
s quad for expressive purposes so long as they observed three
conditions. Having created a forum for the demonstrators' expression,
Barclay could not, consistent with the dictates of the First
Amendment, limit their expression to secular content. See
Widmar, 454 U.S. at 267 (holding that once a university creates
a forum, it must "justify its discriminations and exclusions
under applicable constitutional norms" ).
The third condition imposed by Barclay constitutes a
content-based regulation that we may uphold only if it "is
necessary to serve a compelling state interest and . . . is narrowly
drawn to achieve that end." Widmar, 454 U.S. at 270.
Barclay informed Orin that this condition was required by the
Establishment Clause in order to maintain the separation of Church
and State. The Supreme Court has ruled, however, that the First
Amendment does not require public institutions to exclude religious
speech from fora held open to secular speakers. In fact, it prohibits
them from doing so.
In Widmar, a public university defended its regulation
excluding religious student organizations from campus facilities
on the grounds that it was required by the Establishment Clause
to observe a strict separation of Church and State. Id.
at 263. The Court rejected the university' s argument, holding
that allowing religious organizations the same access to school
facilities enjoyed by secular organizations did not violate the
Establishment Clause. Since the governmental interest that purported
to justify regulation was based on a misunderstanding of the
Establishment Clause, the Court struck the regulation down as
a content-based regulation of First Amendment rights of assembly,
free exercise, and free speech that was not narrowly tailored
to serve a compelling government interest. Id. at 278.
Barclay' s "no religion" condition runs squarely
afoul of Widmar. Having permitted Orin to conduct a demonstration
on campus, Barclay could not, consistent with the First Amendment'
s free speech and free exercise clauses, limit his demonstration
to secular content. Widmar and its progeny clearly establish
this proposition. See, e.g., Rosenberger v. Rectors and
Visitors of the Univ. of Va., 515 U.S. 819, 842 (1995). See
also Good News Club v. Milford Cent. Sch., 121 S. Ct. 2093,
2104 (2001). Orin' s First Amendment rights, in the context of
this case, were clearly established. A reasonable public official
should have known that permitting Orin to express his views on
abortion only so long as those views were not religious in nature
violated his First Amendment rights. We reverse the district
court' s holding that Barclay has qualified immunity against
Orin' s First Amendment claim and remand for trial.
We must also reverse the district court' s determination
that security officer Wallace had qualified immunity against
Orin' s First Amendment claim. At the summary judgment stage,
the "threshold question" in determining whether a public
official has qualified immunity is whether, "[t]aken in
the light most favorable to the party asserting the injury, .
. . the facts alleged show the officer' s conduct violated a
constitutional right." Saucier, 121 S. Ct. at 2156.
It is unclear on the record before us whether Wallace asked Orin
to leave campus because he had violated Barclay' s "no religion"
condition or because he had violated one of the other two, inoffensive
conditions. Construing the facts in the light most favorable
to Orin, as we must at this stage, he has properly alleged that
Wallace violated his clearly established First Amendment rights.
Accordingly, we reverse the district court' s determination that
Wallace is entitled as a matter of law to qualified immunity
against Orin' s First Amendment claim.
The district court properly held that police officers
Hornberg and McCluskey have qualified immunity. The undisputed
evidence indicates that they arrested Orin not because of the
religious content of his speech, but rather because they reasonably
believed they had probable cause to arrest him for trespass and
failure to disperse. Police dispatch informed Hornberg only that
a group of protestors was inciting a large, unruly crowd. Security
officer Wallace told Hornberg only that the demonstrators had
violated the conditions of their revocable license to remain
on campus and were creating an unsafe, potentially riotous situation.
Hornberg' s personal observation of the demonstration confirmed
these reports -- he witnessed forty to fifty angry people shouting
at the demonstrators. The record confirms that Hornberg could
reasonably have believed that he was not violating Orin' s First
Amendment rights because he had probable cause to arrest Orin
for violating Washington' s laws pertaining to trespass and failure
to disperse.
Similarly, Hornberg informed McCluskey that he asked
Orin to leave because he was creating a disturbance and blocking
entrance to school buildings and that he arrested Orin for trespass
and failure to disperse. Based on this information, McCluskey
could reasonably have believed that his direction to Hornberg
to take Orin to jail for booking did not violate any of Orin'
s constitutional rights. We affirm the district court' s decision
that, because police officers Hornberg and McCluskey had probable
cause to act against Orin under the Fourth Amendment, they did
not violate his First Amendment rights.
Finally, the City of Bremerton is not liable on Orin'
s First Amendment claim. A plaintiff properly alleges a §
1983 action against a local government entity only if "the
action that is alleged to be unconstitutional implement[ed] or
execute[d] a policy statement, ordinance, regulation, or decision
officially adopted and promulgated by that body' s officers,"
Monell v. Dep' t of Soc. Servs. of N.Y., 436 U.S. 658,
690 (1978), or "the city made a ' deliberate' or ' conscious'
choice to fail to train its employees adequately." Mackinney
v. Nielsen, 69 F.3d 1002, 1010 (9th Cir. 1995). A §
1983 action against a city fails as a matter of law unless a
city employee' s conduct violates one of the plaintiff' s federal
rights. Because the record reveals that neither Officer Hornberg
nor Officer McCluskey violated Orin' s First Amendment rights,
it follows as a matter of course that Orin' s action against
the City of Bremerton fails. The district court' s grant of summary
judgment in favor of the City of Bremerton is therefore affirmed.
B
Orin argues that the district court erred by dismissing
his claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1985(3). Section 1985(3), originally
enacted by the Reconstruction Congress as the Klu Klux Klan Act
of 1871, provides in pertinent part:
If two or more persons . . . conspire . . . for the
purpose of depriving, either directly or indirectly, any person
or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of
equal privileges and immunities under the laws . . . the party
so . . . deprived may have an action for the recovery of damages
occasioned by such . . . deprivation, against any one or more
of the conspirators.
42 U.S.C. § 1985(3) (2000).
To prove a violation of § 1985(3), Orin must show
"some racial, or perhaps otherwise class-based, invidiously
discriminatory animus behind the conspirators' action. The
conspiracy, in other words, must aim at a deprivation
of the equal enjoyment of rights secured by the law to all."
Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, 102 (1971) (emphasis
added). Nothing in the record indicates that any of the defendants'
actions were motivated by "invidiously discriminatory animus."
Accordingly, we hold that the district court properly granted
summary judgment in favor of the defendants on Orin' s §
1985(3) claim because Orin failed "to make a showing sufficient
to establish the existence of an element essential to" his
claim. Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 322 (1986).[FOOTNOTE
4]
C
Orin' s state law claim of false arrest fails because
Hornberg and McCluskey had probable cause to arrest him. A police
officer has probable cause to effect an arrest if "at the
moment the arrest was made . . . the facts and circumstances
within [his] knowledge and of which [he] had reasonably trustworthy
information were sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing"
that the suspect had violated a criminal law. Beck v. Ohio,
379 U.S. 89, 91 (1964).
The information conveyed to Hornberg by police dispatch
and security officer Wallace indicated only that the demonstrators
had violated the conditions pursuant to which they had been permitted
on campus, and that OCC security could no longer protect the
demonstrators from a large, unruly crowd stirred to violence
by the demonstrators' conduct. Orin offers no evidence that the
police officers knew what those conditions were. Hornberg confirmed
the dispatcher' s information with his own observations upon
his arrival at the OCC quad.
The facts then known to Hornberg were sufficient to
establish probable cause to arrest Orin for criminal trespass
under RCW § 9A.52.080 because a reasonable officer could
have concluded that Orin had remained unlawfully on OCC' s premises
after being asked by college officials to leave. Hornberg also
had probable cause to arrest Orin under Washington' s failure
to disperse statute, RCW § 9A.84.020. A person fails to
disperse in violation of RCW § 9A.84.020 if he "congregates
with a group of three or more other persons . . . [that] create[s]
a substantial risk of causing injury to any person, or substantial
harm to property" and "refuses or fails to disperse
when ordered to do so by a peace officer." Orin was amidst
an angry crowd of forty to fifty people. A prudent man observing
the scene could easily have believed that the crowd created a
substantial risk of injury or property damage.
"[P]robable cause is a complete defense to an action
for false arrest and imprisonment." Hanson v. City of
Snohomish, 852 P.2d 295, 301 (Wash. 1993) (en banc). The
district court properly granted summary judgment dismissing Orin'
s false arrest claim.
D
Under Washington law, the elements of intentional infliction
of emotional distress, also known as outrage, are: "(1)
extreme and outrageous conduct; (2) intentional or reckless infliction
of emotional distress; and (3) actual result to the plaintiff
of severe emotional distress." Rice v. Janovich,
742 P.2d 1230, 1238 (Wash. 1987). To establish the tort of outrage,
Orin must show that the conduct giving rise to his claim was
"so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as
to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded
as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community."
Grimsby v. Samson, 530 P.2d 291, 295 (Wash. 1975) (en
banc). Orin has simply not alleged that any named defendant engaged
in any conduct that rises to the level of atrocity and incivility
required by Washington law.[FOOTNOTE 5]
E
To establish negligent infliction of emotional distress
under Washington law, Orin must show that defendants breached
a legal duty thereby causing Orin to suffer objective symptoms
of emotional distress. See Hunsley v. Giard, 553 P.2d
1096, 1102-03 (Wash. 1976) (en banc). Such symptoms must be "susceptible
to medical diagnosis and proved through medical evidence."
Marzolf v. Stone, 960 P. 2d 424, 431 (Wash. 1998). Orin
properly states that the defendants had a duty not to arrest
him without probable cause. But Orin' s arrest was supported
by probable cause. Defendants therefore did not breach the duty
alleged by Orin, and cannot be found negligent. Accordingly,
the district court did not err by granting summary judgment dismissing
Orin' s claim for negligent infliction of emotional distress.
III
Each party shall bear its own costs on appeal. See
Fed. R. App. P. 39. The judgment of the district court is
AFFIRMED in part; REVERSED in part; and REMANDED.
BOOCHEVER, Circuit Judge, concurring:
I concur in the result reached by the majority. Because
I believe Officers Hornberg and McCluskey are entitled to qualified
immunity, I agree that we should affirm the district court' s
grant of summary judgment to these defendants. However, the majority
opinion goes beyond what is necessary for qualified immunity
analysis, concluding that Officers Hornberg and McCluskey did
not violate Orin' s First Amendment rights because they had probable
cause to arrest him for trespass and failure to disperse. In
my view, these additional conclusions are unnecessary and unwarranted.
Because the qualified immunity question is sufficient to dispose
of the case against Officers Hornberg and McCluskey, our analysis
need not go further. Moreover, I cannot agree with the majority'
s conclusion that the officers had probable cause to arrest Orin.
Probable cause to arrest without a warrant exists when
the facts and circumstances known to the arresting officer are
sufficient to lead a prudent person to believe the suspect has
committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime. Mackinney
v. Nielsen, 69 F.3d 1002, 1005 (9th Cir. 1995). Viewing the
facts in the light most favorable to Orin, as we must on summary
judgment, no prudent person would have thought Orin was doing
anything illegal. To the contrary, the record suggests that Orin
was arrested because the police and campus security were afraid
that observers of the protest were getting violent and
would harm the protesters. The majority cites no authority, and
I am aware of none that indicates the hostile reaction of an
audience to a speaker creates probable cause to arrest that speaker.
Under Washington law, the elements of failure to disperse
are 1) "congregat[ing] with a group of three or more
other persons [when] there are acts of conduct within
that group which create a substantial risk of causing injury,"
and 2) "fail[ing] to disperse when ordered to do so by a
peace officer." Wash. Rev. Code § 9A.84.020(1) (2001)
(emphasis added). However, there were only two other members
of Orin' s group, so the police could not have observed Orin
congregating with "three or more persons." More importantly,
viewing the facts in Orin' s favor, neither he nor members of
his group were engaging in conduct that created a substantial
risk of injury.[FOOTNOTE 1] Even if members of the crowd were
engaging in such conduct, that did not create probable cause
to arrest Orin for failure to disperse.
A person is guilty of trespass if "he knowingly
enters or remains unlawfully in or upon premises of another."
Wash. Rev. Code § 9A.52.080(1) (2001). If the property in
question is a public place, however, a person' s presence there
is not unlawful as long as the person has complied with "all
lawful conditions imposed on access to or remaining in the premises."
Id. § 9A.52.090(1); State v. Finley, 982 P.2d 681,
686 (Wash. Ct. App. 1999); State v. R.H., 939 P.2d 217,
219-220 (Wash. Ct. App. 1997). In other words, if the premises
are open to the public, violating a lawful condition of access
is a necessary element of criminal trespass under Washington
law. See R.H., 939 P.2d at 220.
In the present case, Orin provided evidence that the
protesters were complying with the lawful, content-neutral
conditions imposed by Dean Barclay. The campus security officers
admitted that the protesters complied when asked to move away
from entrances to buildings. Officer Hornberg, in his deposition,
did not mention seeing Orin blocking access to buildings or otherwise
violating Dean Barclay' s lawful conditions. Upon arriving on
campus, Officer Hornberg observed the protesters standing with
their backs against a planter box, and feared violence on the
part of a crowd encircling the protesters, not violence by the
protesters themselves. Thus, the only information available to
Hornberg that indicated Orin might be breaking the law was Wallace'
s statement that the protesters were violating conditions imposed
on them by Dean Barclay. Before Orin was arrested, however, Orin
specifically told Hornberg that Barclay and Wallace wanted the
protesters to leave only because they were talking about religion.
This undermined Hornberg' s reason for believing Orin was trespassing,
and should have put him on notice that Orin was not violating
any lawful conditions placed on access to the campus.
Under these circumstances, I cannot agree with the majority'
s conclusion that there was probable cause to arrest Orin for
trespass.
In performing their jobs, police officers must often
make split-second judgments in dangerous situations. Qualified
immunity recognizes that they sometimes make mistakes, and protects
them from liability when their mistakes are reasonable. See,
e.g., Saucier v. Katz, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 2158 (2001). Because
I believe Officers Hornberg and McCluskey were mistaken, but
reasonably so, I agree they are entitled to summary judgment.
I cannot join the majority opinion, however, to the extent it
concludes that the hostile reaction of an audience to a speaker
creates probable cause to arrest that speaker. In my view, "the
proper response to potential and actual violence is . . . to
arrest those who actually engage in such conduct, rather than
to suppress legitimate First Amendment conduct as a prophylactic
measure." Collins v. Jordan, 110 F.3d 1363, 1372
(9th Cir. 1996).
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: FOOTNOTE(S):::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
FN1. OCC is a two-year junior college operated by the
State of Washington.
FN2. McIntyre alleges that he was gesticulating to
emphasize a point and that he struck the officer accidentally.
FN3. Orin also argues that the defendants violated
his rights under the Fourth Amendment and the Equal Protection
Clause. The Fourth Amendment claim was not alleged in Orin' s
Complaint, so we do not address it at length. It suffices to
say that our analysis of qualified immunity with regard to Orin'
s First Amendment claim is equally applicable to his Fourth Amendment
claim.
Orin made only passing reference to Equal Protection
in his Complaint and dedicated to it only one sentence in his
opening brief on appeal. Because Orin' s Equal Protection claim
appears to be no more than a First Amendment claim dressed in
equal protection clothing, we heed the advice of an enlightened
treatise:
It is generally unnecessary to analyze laws which burden the
exercise of First Amendment rights by a class of persons under
the equal protection guarantee, because the substantive guarantees
of the Amendment serve as the strongest protection against the
limitation of these rights.
John E. Nowak, Ronald D. Rotunda & J. Nelson Young, Handbook
on Constitutional Law (1978). Accordingly, we treat Orin' s equal
protection claim as subsumed by, and co-extensive with, his First
Amendment claim.
FN4. Nor is it clear that Orin qualifies as a member
of a class to which the protections of § 1985(3) apply,
either by being an abortion protestor or by being a speaker who
would convey a religious message on a public college' s campus.
The term "class," as used in the statute "unquestionably
connotes something more than a group of individuals who share
a desire to engage in conduct that the § 1985(3) defendant
disfavors." Bray v. Alexandria Women' s Health Clinic,
506 U.S. 263, 269 (1993). The Supreme Court has held that "opposition
to abortion" does not identify a "class" protected
by § 1985(3). Id. We have held that § 1985(3)
extends "beyond race only when the class in question can
show that there has been a governmental determination that its
members require and warrant special federal assistance in protecting
their civil rights." Sever v. Alaska Pulp Corp.,
978 F.2d 1529, 1536 (9th Cir. 1992). Orin has made no such showing.
FN5. We need not address whether the conduct of Orin'
s jailers would constitute outrage because Orin did not name
them as defendants. We also need not address whether the City
of Bremerton can be held liable for the jailers' conduct because
Orin does not allege that their conduct was the result of lack
of training or a pattern, practice, or custom of mistreating
prisoners.
FN1. There was evidence that one of the protesters,
McIntyre, swung at a campus security officer, knocking the officer'
s hat off his head. However, McIntyre claimed this was an accident.
At any rate, viewing the facts in Orin' s favor, this incident
does not amount to conduct on the part of the protesters that
would create a "substantial risk of injury."
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