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Christian Action League of Minnesota, et al., v. Mike Freeman, in His Official Capacity as Hennepin County Attorney
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 20-3618
Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel with five or more prior petitions here and an Eighth Circuit decision below.
Question presented
Two Minnesota statutes authorize private parties to commence civil actions against others based on their speech, but also authorize criminal prosecution by county attorneys. In two different cases, plaintiffs brought Free Speech Clause pre-enforcement lawsuits against county attorneys authorized to criminally prosecute the respective laws. In both cases, the county attorneys successfully defended on the ground they would not actually prosecute under the statutes authorizing them to do so. The Eighth Circuit affirmed the judgments in both cases. If a law authorizes both private and public enforcement, and a credible threat of private enforcement exists, may a plaintiff bring a pre-enforcement challenge to the law against a government official with enforcement authority?
Counsel of record
For petitioner
Erick G. Kaardal
Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson P.A.
For respondent
Christiana M. Martenson
Hennepin County Attorney's Office
Case
Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference
Proceedings
- Oct 11 2022Petition DENIED.
- Sep 14 2022DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/7/2022.
- Aug 25 2022Waiver of right of respondent Mike Freeman to respond filed.
- Aug 05 2022Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 8, 2022)