Schain v. Schmidt

10-1191-cv Schain v. Schmidt UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT SUMMARY ORDER R ULINGS BY SUMMARY ORDER DO NOT HAVE PRECEDENTIAL EFFECT . C ITATION TO A SUMMARY ORDER FILED ON OR AFTER J ANUARY 1, 2007, IS PERMITTED AND IS GOVERNED BY F EDERAL R ULE OF A PPELLATE P ROCEDURE 32.1 AND THIS COURT ’ S L OCAL R ULE 32.1.1. W HEN CITING A SUMMARY ORDER IN A DOCUMENT FILED WITH THIS COURT , A PARTY MUST CITE EITHER THE F EDERAL A PPENDIX OR AN ELECTRONIC DATABASE ( WITH THE NOTATION “ SUMMARY ORDER ”). A PARTY CITING A SUMMARY ORDER MUST SERVE A COPY OF IT ON ANY PARTY NOT REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL . 1 At a stated term of the United States Court of Appeals 2 for the Second Circuit, held at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan 3 United States Courthouse, 500 Pearl Street, in the City of 4 New York, on the twenty-third day of September, two thousand 5 and ten. 6 7 PRESENT: ROGER J. MINER, 8 PIERRE N. LEVAL, 9 RICHARD C. WESLEY, 10 Circuit Judges. 11 12 13 14 MARISSA SCHAIN, DANIEL BOGATIN, OLIVIA ALMENGOR, 15 16 Plaintiff-Appellants, 17 18 -v.- 10-1191-cv 19 20 BENNO C. SCHMIDT, PHILIP A. BERRY, VALERIE L. BEAL, RITA 21 DIMARTINO, JOSEPH J. LHOTA, HUGO M. MORALES, PETER S. 22 PANTALEO, KATHLEEN M. PESILE, CAROL A. ROBLES-ROMÁN, MARC V. 23 SHAW, CHARLES A. SHORTER, SAM A. SUTTON, JEFFREY S. 24 WIESENFELD, CHRISTOPH KIMMICH, FREIDA D. FOSTER-TOLLBERT, 25 26 Defendant-Appellees. * 27 28 29 * The Clerk of the Court is respectfully directed to amend the official caption in this action to conform to the caption in this order. 1 FOR APPELLANTS: PHINEAS E. LEAHEY, Jones Day (Todd R. 2 Geremia and Briana R. Hulet, of counsel), 3 New York, NY. 4 5 FOR APPELLEES: ROBERT C. WEISZ, Assistant Solicitor 6 General of the State of New York, New 7 York, NY. 8 9 Appeal from the United States District Court for the 10 Southern District (Kaplan, J.). 11 12 UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED 13 AND DECREED that the judgment of the District Court be 14 AFFIRMED. 15 Appellants appeal from a judgment of the United States 16 District Court for the Southern District of New York 17 (Kaplan, J.). Having earlier dismissed most of their claims 18 on a motion for summary judgment, the District Court 19 disposed of the remaining claim on a motion for judgment on 20 the pleadings, issuing its final Order on March 11, 2010. 21 Appellants commenced the action below pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 22 § 1331, the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United 23 States Constitution, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983, seeking 24 declaratory and injunctive relief voiding Brooklyn College’s 25 procedure for refunding mandatory NY-PIRG fees to students 26 who object to funding NY-PIRG, as well as CUNY’s regulations 27 governing expenditures by student organizations. We assume 28 the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, the 2 1 procedural history, and the issues presented for review. 2 Appellants seek reversal of the District Court’s ruling 3 that the challenged refund procedure is adequate as a matter 4 of law. They ground their argument on the line of precedent 5 known collectively as the “union cases.” See, e.g., Chicago 6 Teachers Union Local No. 1 v. Hudson, 475 U.S. 292 (1986); 7 see also Seidemann v. Bowen, 499 F.3d 119 (2d Cir. 2007). 8 However, the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled 9 that the “union cases” do not apply to a university’s 10 assessment and distribution of a mandatory student activity 11 fee. Southworth v. Bd. of Regents of the Univ. Of Wis. 12 Syst., 529 U.S. 217, 232 (2000). Thus, the procedural 13 requirements informing Seidemann cannot be imposed in the 14 instant action, and the challenged refund procedure, 15 supported as it is by explanations offered by defendants 16 below, is adequate as a matter of law. 17 Appellants further seek to overturn the District 18 Court’s dismissal of their challenge to the fiscal 19 regulations governing NY-PIRG’s campus activities. However, 20 neither a facial nor an as-applied challenge to these 21 regulations was presented in a manner sufficient to survive 22 summary judgment. First, the regulations are facially 3 1 unobjectionable, since they categorize organizations 2 receiving student funds by their organizational structure, 3 rather than their ideological viewpoint. Second, the record 4 below does not support an as-applied challenge to the 5 regulations, as no plaintiffs allege either that they or 6 their organization were denied a particular classification 7 under the regulations or that they suffered a cognizable 8 injury as a result of the regulations’ operation. Finally, 9 the record below does not support a reasonable inference 10 that the regulations, although facially neutral, operate as 11 a pretext for viewpoint-based discrimination. 12 We decline to rule on Appellants’ ancillary motions 13 regarding retention of plaintiffs and reaffirmation of 14 jurisdiction, since these motions were crafted with an eye 15 to a possible remand for further proceedings, which 16 possibility we hereby forego. 17 For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district 18 court is hereby AFFIRMED. 19 20 FOR THE COURT: 21 Catherine O’Hagan Wolfe, Clerk 22 23 4