Case: 09-10808 Document: 00511268636 Page: 1 Date Filed: 10/20/2010
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT United States Court of Appeals
Fifth Circuit
FILED
October 20, 2010
No. 09-10808
Lyle W. Cayce
Clerk
RONALD C. PEARSON,
Plaintiff-Appellant
v.
ERIC HOLDER, et al.,
Defendants-Appellees
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Texas
Before DAVIS, WIENER, and DENNIS, Circuit Judges.
WIENER, Circuit Judge:
Plaintiff-Appellant Ronald Pearson, currently incarcerated in Texas,
challenges the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) 1 and
state sex-offender laws as unconstitutional on the grounds that they
impermissibly label those convicted of receipt of images of child pornography as
“sex offenders.” Pearson was convicted of this crime and will be required to
register as a sex offender when his sentence expires.2 He brought this action
under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, suing numerous federal, state, county, and city officers
1
See 42 U.S.C. §§ 16901 et seq.
2
42 U.S.C. § 16913(b) (mandating a sex offender to register before the completion of his
sentence).
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No. 09-10808
in their official capacities. The district court dismissed the case pursuant to
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1), after determining that Pearson’s claims
were not ripe because he will not be required to register as a sex offender until
he completes his sentence in 2012 or 2013.3 We reverse and remand for further
proceedings consistent with this opinion.
I. STANDARD OF REVIEW
“We review a district court’s determination that there existed a justiciable
controversy de novo.” 4
II. ANALYSIS
Based on our de novo review, we disagree with the district court’s
conclusion that this case is not ripe. Pearson has shown that he “has sustained
or is immediately in danger of sustaining some direct injury as the result of the
challenged official conduct and the injury or threat of injury [is] both real and
immediate, not conjectural or hypothetical.”5 When determining ripeness, we
must balance the fitness of the issues for judicial decision with the hardship to
the parties of withholding court consideration.6 Both of these factors weigh in
favor of Pearson.
A. FITNESS FOR DECISION
The issues presented by this case make it fit for judicial decision. Pearson
correctly asserts that it is inevitable that he will have to register as a sex
offender on his release from prison. “[T]he ripeness inquiry focuses on whether
an injury that has not yet occurred is sufficiently likely to happen to justify
3
42 U.S.C. § 16913(a).
4
Am. States Ins. Co. v. Bailey, 133 F.3d 363, 368 (5th Cir. 1998).
5
City of Los Angeles v. Lyons, 461 U.S. 95, 101-02 (1983) (internal quotation marks and
citations omitted).
6
Texas v. United States, 497 F.3d 491, 498 (5th Cir. 2007).
2
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No. 09-10808
judicial intervention.”7 “Where the inevitability of the operation of a statute
against certain individuals is patent, it is irrelevant to the existence of a
justiciable controversy that there will be a time delay before the disputed
provisions will come into effect.”8 “[I]ssues have been deemed ripe when they
would not benefit from any further factual development and when the court
would be in no better position to adjudicate the issues in the future than it is
now.”9 There is no need for further factual development here: The only potential
contingency that could affect Pearson’s case would be action by Congress, which
we find unlikely.
Other circuits have held that prisoners need not wait until the completion
of their sentences to challenge their supervised release,10 and we have implied
as much.11 The Eleventh Circuit, however, has held that a prisoner may not
bring a constitutional challenge to a sex offender registration law while he is still
in prison.12 That court held that a challenge to the sex offender statutes was
unripe when the prisoner had three years left on his sentence, reasoning that
there would be no hardship in waiting and the laws at issue could be changed
before the release date.13 In contrast, the court saw no problem with allowing
the prisoner to challenge his supervised release on direct appeal.14
7
Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Traillour Oil Co., 987 F.2d 1138, 1153 (5th Cir. 1993).
8
Regional Rail Reorganization Act Cases, 419 U.S. 102, 143 (1974).
9
Simmonds v. INS, 326 F.3d 351, 359 (2d Cir. 2003).
10
See, e.g., United States v. Loy, 237 F.3d 251 (3d Cir. 2001); United States v. Zinn, 321
F.3d 1084 (11th Cir. 2003).
11
See generally United States v. Paul, 274 F.3d 155 (5th Cir. 2001) (failing to address
the ripeness issue, but allowing a prisoner to challenge a supervised release before the
completion of a sentence).
12
See United States v. Veal, 322 F.3d 1275, 1278-79 (11th Cir. 2003).
13
Id. at 1278.
14
Id.
3
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No. 09-10808
As we perceive no difference between a constitutional challenge to a
statute and a direct appeal of a supervised release, we conclude that the ripeness
inquiry for both should be coextensive. If there were to be a problem with
bringing a separate constitutional challenge, it would be handled through the
Supreme Court’s admonishment against collaterally challenging a conviction
through a § 1983 action, as laid out in Heck v. Humphrey.15 We will not decide
this issue without briefing in either the district court or here, and we think it
prudent for the district court to engage this issue first, which it can do on
remand.
B. HARDSHIP
“[E]ven where an issue presents purely legal questions, the plaintiff must
show some hardship in order to establish ripeness.”16 Failure to resolve this case
now could be harmful to Pearson. He is scheduled to be released from prison in
the next few years, and there is no assurance that an already pending case or
one filed after Pearson’s would conclude before he is required to register as a sex
offender.17 Most cases in which prisoners’ supervised releases were held to be
unripe involved situations in which the remaining duration of the sentence was
much longer than Pearson’s.18
15
512 U.S. 477 (1994).
16
Texas v. United States, 497 F.3d at 498.
17
See Edwards v. I.N.S., 393 F.3d 299, 306 (2d Cir. 2004) (holding a claim ripe because
if the courts did not adjudicate the claim at that time, the convict might be deported).
18
See, e.g., Simmonds, 326 F.3d at 360-61 (holding that the claim was unripe because
the prisoner would not be released for at least ten years, but also holding that the prisoner
need not wait until after his release to bring his claim); United States v. Thomas, 198 F.3d
1063, 1065 (8th Cir. 1999) (holding that a remaining sentence of over a decade was too long
to grant ripeness, but noting that the prisoner may petition for relief before his supervised
release begins).
4
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III. CONCLUSION
Inasmuch as Pearson’s release date is only some two years hence, we
conclude that his case is sufficiently ripe for adjudication. There is no further
factual uncertainty, and Pearson could suffer harm if his claims are not
adjudicated as soon as practicable.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
5