dissenting:
I.
The appellant, the Communication Workers of America (CWA), is a national labor organization. CWA leased the Miami Beach Convention Center from the City of Miami Beach for the period July 23 through August 1, 1987, for the purpose of holding its annual convention there. A number of candidates for the Presidency of the United States were scheduled to speak at CWA’s convention on the evenings of July 28 and 30.
On July 28, the national television networks sent broadcast crews, consisting of cameramen and reporters, to the convention center to videotape the candidates’ speeches. CWA issued press credentials and granted admission to all of the network crews except the one from the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), the appel-lee. CWA refused to issue press credentials to NBC because NBC was refusing to accede to the demands of the National Association of Broadcast Employees & Technicians (NABET), the labor union that represented a number of NBC employees who were on strike. CWA advised NBC that it was taking such action to support the striking employees.
On the morning of July 29, NBC brought this action against CWA, seeking preliminary and permanent injunctive relief and money damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1982). NBC alleged that CWA’s decision to exclude NBC from the convention hall violated its right to freedom of the press guaranteed by the first and fourteenth amendments,1 and asked the court to order CWA to issue it press credentials so that it could videotape the candidates’ speeches scheduled for the following evening, July 30.
Later in the morning, the district court convened a hearing on NBC’s application for a preliminary injunction. NBC established the historical facts recited above, and after hearing argument of counsel for *1029the parties, the court issued an injunction.2 It ordered CWA either to admit NBC to, or to exclude all other networks from, the convention center the next evening, July 30. CWA immediately filed a notice of appeal, and then moved the district court to stay its injunctive order pending our disposition of the appeal. The district court denied the motion. CWA thereafter sought a stay from this court, which was denied the next morning, July 30. On the evening of July 30, CWA chose to comply with the district court’s injunctive order: it excluded all networks from the convention center during the candidates’ speeches.
II.
The first question this panel must decide is whether we can entertain CWA’s appeal. Article III, section 2, of the Constitution restricts the jurisdiction of the federal courts to actual “cases or controversies.” For constitutional purposes, a case or controversy does not exist if the court cannot grant the aggrieved party the relief it seeks, that is, the court is unable to remedy the injury the aggrieved party has suffered. See DeFunis v. Odegaard, 416 U.S. 312, 316, 94 S.Ct. 1704, 1705-06, 40 L.Ed.2d 164 (1974); North Carolina v. Rice, 404 U.S. 244, 246, 92 S.Ct. 402, 404, 30 L.Ed.2d 413 (1971). In such a situation, it is said that the case is “moot.” The moment a case becomes moot, whether during proceedings in the trial court or on appeal, the court loses its authority to act and must terminate the litigation. See DeFunis, 416 U.S. at 319, 94 S.Ct. at 1707.
It is basic hornbook law that a party’s compliance with an injunctive order may render the case moot. Suppose, for example, that a trial court enjoins a party in a case to perform an act which, if performed, could not be undone. The party takes an appeal from the injunction, and pending the appeal the party performs the act. His performance of the enjoined act has ended the controversy; the appellate court can do nothing to help him and must dismiss the appeal. See, e.g., Honig v. Students of the Calif. School for the Blind, 471 U.S. 148, 149, 105 S.Ct. 1820, 1821, 85 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985); Newman v. Alabama, 683 F.2d 1312, 1317 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1083, 103 S.Ct. 1773, 76 L.Ed.2d 346 (1983); Bagby v. Beal, 606 F.2d 411, 414 (3d Cir.1979); see generally C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice & Procedure § 3533.2 (1984 & Supp.1988).
The majority concedes that there is no relief we can afford CWA; CWA, having complied with the district court’s injunction, has mooted the case. See, e.g., Students of the Calif. School for the Blind, 471 U.S. at 149, 105 S.Ct. at 1821. Nonetheless, the majority holds that even though the case is moot, it has jurisdiction to hear this appeal because the case falls within the “capable of repetition yet evading review” exception to the mootness doctrine.3 See ante at 1029. In my view, the controversy before us — the validity of the district court’s injunctive order — is not capable of repetition, nor does it evade review. The case is therefore moot, and I would dismiss this appeal.
*1030A.
A dispute is not “capable of repetition,” unless “there [is] a ‘reasonable expectation’ or a ‘demonstrated probability’ that the same controversy will recur” between the same two litigants. See, e.g., Honig v. Doe, — U.S. -, -, - n. 6, 108 S.Ct. 592, 601 n. 6, 98 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988); Murphy v. Hunt, 455 U.S. 478, 482, 102 S.Ct. 1181, 1184, 71 L.Ed.2d 353 (1982); Weinstein v. Bradford, 423 U.S. 147, 149, 96 S.Ct. 347, 349, 46 L.Ed.2d 350 (1975). “Demonstrated probability,” however, does not mean that the chance of recurrence is more likely than not, see Honig v. Doe, — U.S. at - n. 6, 108 S.Ct. at 601 n. 6; rather, the chance of recurrence need only be substantial, not speculative.
For the present dispute to recur, the following must transpire: (1) CWA must lease a government facility; (2) the lease must reserve to the government the right “to control or supervise ... television broadcasting or recording” within the facility; (3) CWA must give the television media access to its proceedings; and (4) CWA must refuse to grant such access to NBC. The chance that all of these events will recur is, quite obviously, highly remote, at best.
The majority states that the controversy here is nonetheless “capable of repetition” because “NBC has sought emergency in-junctive relief in similar situations in the past [against other defendants, and] we can expect the network to do the same in the future.” Ante at 1024. That NBC has in the past sought, and may in the future seek, injunctive relief to gain access to a facility is of no moment. The “capable of repetition” test is not satisfied unless there is a “demonstrated probability” or “reasonable expectation” that the same dispute will recur between the same parties. No such showing has been made here.
B.
The majority holds that an injunction “evades review,” and thus an appeal therefrom must be entertained, if appellate review cannot be completed before the enjoined act is to be performed.4 In other words, an enjoined party has a right to have the appellate court decide the validity of the injunction entered against him even though he has performed the enjoined act and the appellate court is powerless to afford him any relief. Such a holding makes a mockery of article Ill’s “case or controversy” requirement. The holding is reached, I believe, because the majority fails to recognize that a party can always obtain appellate review of an adjudicative order that enjoins him to perform an act, as the following discussion illustrates.
Assume that a trial court enjoins a party to perform a specific act. In such a situation, the party has two choices. First, he can comply with the trial court's order. If he does, he ends the controversy.5 See, e.g., Students of the Calif. School for the Blind, 471 U.S. at 149, 105 S.Ct. at 1821; Burnett v. Kindt, 780 F.2d 952, 954-55 (11th Cir.1986); Newman v. Alabama, 683 F.2d 1312, 1317 (11th Cir.1982), cert. denied, 460 U.S. 1083, 103 S.Ct. 1773, 76 L.Ed.2d 346 (1983).
Second, the party can refuse to comply with the trial court’s injunctive order and take an appeal.6 If he pursues this course and the injunctive order is not stayed pending the appeal, the party runs the risk of being held in civil contempt and subjected *1031to a coercive sanction, usually a fine or incarceration, for refusing to comply with the order. Should civil contempt proceedings be initiated and a coercive sanction imposed, he will have to reassess his position and decide once again whether to perform the enjoined act. If he performs it, he can avoid the sanction, but he will moot his appeal. To obtain appellate review of the injunctive order, then, the party will have to suffer the sanction unless its execution is stayed to permit him to appeal the contempt adjudication. Contrary to the majority’s view, suffering a contempt adjudication is a well-recognized means of preserving appellate review of an injunctive order. See B & B Chem. Co. v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, 806 F.2d 987, 990 (11th Cir.1986); Boston Teachers Union, Local 66 v. Edgar, 787 F.2d 12, 18 (1st Cir.1986); Burnett v. Kindt, 780 F.2d 952, 955 (11th Cir.1986); Bagby v. Beal, 606 F.2d 411, 414 (3d Cir.1979); see also Pierce v. Winograd, 757 F.2d 714, 716 (5th Cir.1985) (A good faith test of a court’s injunctive order through noncompliance implies no disrespect toward the court. “Rather, such a test of the court’s order is consistent with the highest standards of the legal profession.”).
Thus, an enjoined party has two separate means of obtaining appellate review of the injunctive order that has been entered against him. The first is an appeal from the injunctive order itself. The second is an appeal from a civil contempt adjudication; in such an appeal, the enjoined party asks the appellate court to set aside the contempt adjudication on the ground that the adjudication was based on an invalid injunction.7 If the court finds that the trial court erred in issuing the injunction, it will set aside the civil contempt adjudication and any sanction that may have been imposed. See United States v. Koblitz, 803 F.2d 1523, 1527 (11th Cir.1986). In sum, as long as the appealing party refuses to perform the enjoined act, the controversy will remain live and consequently will not “evade review.”
The majority disagrees with my analysis, stating that “it would be contrary to Supreme Court precedent to dismiss [a] case [for mootness] merely because [the defendant] complied with [the] injunction.” See ante at 1024. Apparently, in the majority’s view, a defendant need not — and in fact should not — disobey an injunctive order merely to ensure appellate review of the order. The majority cites three Supreme Court cases which, it believes, support such a proposition. See ante at 1024 (citing United States v. New York Tel. Co., 434 U.S. 159, 98 S.Ct. 364, 54 L.Ed.2d 376 (1977), Nebraska Press Ass’n v. Stuart, 427 U.S. 539, 96 S.Ct. 2791, 49 L.Ed.2d 683 (1976), and Carroll v. President & Comm’rs of Princess Anne, 393 U.S. 175, 89 S.Ct. 347, 21 L.Ed.2d 325 (1968)). These cases are apposite only at first blush. When subjected to a careful reading, they reveal no support for the majority’s position.
In Carroll v. President & Commissioners of Princess Anne, 393 U.S. 175, 89 S.Ct. 347, 21 L.Ed.2d 325 (1968), officials of the town of Princess Anne, Maryland, proceeding ex parte, sought a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction in state court barring the National States’ Rights Party (NSRP) from holding racist rallies in the town. Town officials contended that NSRP was planning to hold the rallies in the town in the near future, and feared that the rallies, if held, would result in breaches of the peace and other violations of the town’s ordinances. The state court issued a ten-day temporary restraining order and, twenty-three days later, a preliminary injunction prohibiting NSRP from holding rallies in the town for a period of ten months. NSRP appealed, and the Maryland Court of Appeals vacated the injunction, which had not yet run its course. See Carroll v. President & Comm’rs of Princess Anne, 247 Md. 126, 230 A.2d 452 (Md.1967). The court, weigh*1032ing the need for an injunction against the injunction’s infringement on NSRP’s first amendment rights, held that the duration of the injunction was unnecessarily long.
NSRP then petitioned the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of certiorari, presenting the question whether the ex parte granting of the temporary restraining order had denied it due process of law, in violation of the fourteenth amendment. The town, in response, suggested that the case was moot and that the Court dismiss the petition because NSRP had complied with the restraining order, which had long since expired. The Court disagreed with the town, observing that although the order had expired, it “continues to play a substantial role in the response of [town] officials to [NSRP’s] activities.” 393 U.S. at 178, 89 S.Ct. at 350. Because it could provide NSRP some relief by declaring the restraining order invalid, the Court held that the case was not moot. The Court did not have to reach the question we face: whether the parties’ dispute was “capable of repetition yet evading review.”
The second case relied upon by the majority is Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, 427 U.S. 539, 96 S.Ct. 2791, 49 L.Ed.2d 683 (1976). In that case, a Nebraska state court issued a gag order commanding the news media not to publish prejudicial information concerning a defendant on trial for murder until an impartial jury could be empaneled. The media complied with the order. Meanwhile, the Nebraska Press Association, an association representing members of the media, petitioned the Nebraska Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus — in effect, an injunctive order — directing the trial court to lift the gag order. The supreme court denied the petition, and before the association could obtain review of the decision in the United States Supreme Court, the jury was empaneled, and the gag order was lifted. The Court, responding to the suggestion that the case had become moot, held that article III did not preclude it from reviewing the Nebraska Supreme Court’s decision because the controversy the decision had resolved was “capable of repetition yet evading review.”
Nebraska Press Association thus did not involve the grant of injunctive relief, but rather the denial of such relief. Contrary to the majority’s assertion, then, Nebraska Press Association stands only for the proposition that the denial of an injunction may evade review, a proposition that has no application here.
The last case cited by the majority is United States v. New York Telephone Co., 434 U.S. 159, 98 S.Ct. 364, 54 L.Ed.2d 376 (1977). In that case, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) wished to install a pen register on a suspect’s telephone line, and the United States Attorney applied to the district court for an order directing the New York Telephone Company to assist the FBI in installing the device. No “case or controversy” concerning the matter was pending against the telephone company at the time, and the United States Attorney did not request the court to make it a party to the proceeding he had initiated. In essence, what the government was seeking was not an adjudicative order, but an administrative directive. The district court granted the government’s application and issued the directive. The telephone company subsequently refused to comply with the court’s directive, and requested leave to intervene in the proceeding. The court granted its request. The telephone company then moved the court to vacate its administrative directive; in effect, it requested the court to enjoin the enforcement of its directive — as if it were an invalid administrative regulation. The court denied the motion. The telephone company appealed the ruling, but, pending appeal, complied with the order, ending the controversy.
The court of appeals, without discussing the obvious mootness problem, reached the merits of the case and reversed, holding that the district court should have granted the telephone company relief. See Application of the United States in the Matter of an Order Authorizing the Use of a Pen Register, 538 F.2d 956 (2d Cir.1976). The Government thereafter sought review in the Supreme Court. The Court recognized that the case appeared to be moot because of the telephone company’s compliance *1033with the district court’s directive, but nevertheless held that the matter was reviewable because it fell within the category of cases that are “capable of repetition yet evading review” and therefore not treated as moot. See New York Tel. Co., 434 U.S. at 165 n. 6, 98 S.Ct. at 368 n. 6.
New York Telephone Co., like Nebraska Press Association, thus involved a challenge to the denial, rather than the grant, of an adjudicative injunctive order. Both cases stand for the proposition that denial of relief may “evade review” and are therefore inapposite to the case before us.
The “capable of repetition, yet evading review” doctrine was fashioned to do justice in cases in which injunctive relief has been denied, the party seeking the relief has been injured, and it can reasonably be expected that he will be injured again by his adversary unless the appellate court intervenes. To illustrate this point, I posit such a case. Assume that a party will suffer irreparable injury at the hands of a wrongdoer unless the district court enjoins the wrongdoer to perform a certain act. The court denies the party’s request for injunctive relief, and he appeals. Pending the appeal, the party suffers irreparable injury, such that a decision reversing the district court and requiring the wrongdoer to perform the act would provide him no relief. In other words, the case appears to be moot.8 Assume, however, that the dispute between the parties is likely to recur. If the appellate court dismisses the appeal as moot, thus leaving intact the district court’s decision, it should expect that when the dispute recurs, and suit is brought, the district court will adhere to its earlier decision and deny relief. The appellate court should also expect that if an appeal ensues and the irreparable injury is suffered before a decision on the merits can be reached, it will, once again, dismiss the appeal as moot. In short, as long as the appellate court views this recurring controversy as having ended — because it can no longer provide the injured party any relief — the district court’s ruling, even if erroneous, will stand unreviewed.
The federal courts have solved this dilemma by holding that a case is not moot if it is “capable of repetition yet evading review.” This solution, first employed by the Supreme Court in Southern Pacific Terminal Co. v. ICC, 219 U.S. 498, 515, 31 S.Ct. 279, 283, 55 L.Ed. 310 (1911), enables a court to exercise jurisdiction over a narrow class of cases, which includes, in particular, the hypothetical scenario I have posited. See, e.g., Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330, 333 n. 2, 92 S.Ct. 995, 998 n. 2, 31 L.Ed.2d 274 (1972); Moore v. Ogilvie, 394 U.S. 814, 816, 89 S.Ct. 1493, 1494, 23 L.Ed.2d 1 (1969).
*1034The case before us, I submit, does not fall within that narrow class, for CWA’s claim that the district court erred in granting NBC injunctive relief does not evade review. CWA had the unfettered power to obtain appellate review of the district court’s order. All that it had to do to obtain review was to refuse to comply with the order. Instead, it chose to comply and, in effect, to abandon its appeal. The majority errs in entertaining CWA’s appeal, and I therefore dissent.
. NBC alleged that CWA, in barring NBC from the convention center, acted under color of state law. NBC based its allegation on the provision of CWA’s lease with the city which provided that the city retained the right “to control or supervise ... television broadcasting or recording" within the convention center. According to NBC, CWA was exercising this right on behalf of the city when it excluded it from the center.
. As the majority correctly states, the district court labeled its dispositive ruling a “temporary restraining order.” I would have labeled it a preliminary injunction because it did not merely preserve the status quo ante, the traditional purpose of a temporary restraining order; rather, it required an affirmative act on the part of CWA. See Zardui-Quintana v. Richard, 768 F.2d 1213, 1215 n. 7 (11th Cir.1985). "This court's jurisdiction, therefore, is based upon 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1) (1982) under which preliminary injunctions are reviewable, even when characterized as temporary restraining orders.” Id. (citing Fernandez-Roque v. Smith, 671 F.2d 426, 429-31 (11th Cir.1982)).
. Conceptually, I have difficulty with the notion that "capable of repetition yet evading review” is an "exception” to the mootness doctrine. I believe that a case is either moot or it is not. The "capable of repetition yet evading review" doctrine merely defines those situations in which a seemingly moot case still meets article Ill’s requirement of a genuine, concrete controversy. Where the conduct complained of has ceased for the time being but a demonstrated probability exists that it will recur, a concrete controversy between parties with a personal stake in the outcome continues to exist; “Art. Ill is no more violated than it is violated by entertaining a declaratory judgment action.” See Honig v. Doe, — U.S. -, 108 S.Ct. 592, 613, 98 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988) (Scalia & O’Connor, JX, dissenting).
. As the majority observes, CWA’s appeal from the district court’s injunctive order could not have been "fully litigated in the time between the exclusion of NBC and the occurrence of the ‘newsworthy’ event." See ante at 1023.
. This is true if, as posited in the text, the enjoined act is a single event that cannot be undone. If, however, the act can be undone and the enjoined party restored to the status quo ante or its equivalent, or if the enjoined act calls for a performance that would continue beyond the time necessary to complete appellate review of the injunctive order, then the controversy— notwithstanding the enjoined party’s compliance with the order — remains live for article III purposes.
.If the party complies with the order before the appeal is completed, however, he will end the controversy and moot the appeal. See DeFunis v. Odegaard, 416 U.S. 312, 319, 94 S.Ct. 1704, 1707, 40 L.Ed.2d 164 (1974); see also University of Texas v. Camenisch, 451 U.S. 390, 394, 101 S.Ct. 1830, 1833, 68 L.Ed.2d 175 (1981).
. In a given case, the enjoined party also might ask the appellate court to vacate the contempt adjudication on the ground that changed circumstances counselled against the contempt adjudication and, moreover, may have required the trial court to modify the underlying injunc-tive order.
. An example of such a case is Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973). In that case, the plaintiff, Jane Roe, then a pregnant single woman, brought a class action in the district court in 1970 on behalf of herself and all other women similarly situated, i.e., single and pregnant. In her complaint, she named the Dallas County, Texas, district attorney as the defendant, and requested the court to enjoin him from enforcing the Texas anti-abortion statute against them on the ground that it abridged their constitutional right to privacy. The three-judge district court denied Roe’s application, and Roe applied to the United States Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari. The Court granted the writ, and the case was argued in 1971, well over a year after the complaint was filed.
The county district attorney contended that because no member of the plaintiff class was still subject to a 1970 pregnancy, the case was moot. The Court agreed, but nonetheless held that the plaintiff's appeal from the district court’s denial of injunctive relief "evaded review":
[Wjhen, as here, pregnancy is a significant fact in the litigation, the normal 266-day human gestation period is so short that the pregnancy will come to term before the usual appellate process is complete. If that termination makes a case moot, pregnancy litigation seldom will survive much beyond the trial stage, and appellate review will be effectively denied. Our law should not be that rigid. Pregnancy often comes more than once to the same woman, and in the general population, if man is to survive, it will always be with us. Pregnancy provides a classic justification for a conclusion of nonmootness. It truly could be "capable of repetition, yet evading review.”
Id. at 125, 93 S.Ct. at 713. Another example of a case in which the denial of an injunction evades review is Nebraska Press Association v. Stuart, 427 U.S. 539, 96 S.Ct. 2791, 49 L.Ed.2d 683 (1976), discussed at length in the text following note 7, supra.