JORDAN, Circuit Judge.
In October 2011, a group of protesters calling themselves "Occupy Nashville" established an around-the-clock presence on the Nashville War Memorial Plaza (the
Two of those officials — William L. Gibbons, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Safety ("DOS"), and Steven L. Cates, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services ("DGS") (collectively, the "State Officials") — now appeal from a ruling of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee that they are not entitled to qualified immunity and are personally liable for damages. While this appeal raises a number of important First Amendment issues, the dispositive question before us is whether, pursuant to a policy that may have been promulgated in derogation of Tennessee's version of the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act (the "UAPA"), the State Officials violated clearly established constitutional rights by authorizing the arrest of people violating the curfew established for the Plaza. We hold that the State Officials are protected by qualified immunity because, regardless of the specifics of Tennessee's administrative law, the Protesters' claimed First Amendment right to unrestricted 24-hour access to the Plaza is not clearly established. We will therefore reverse the District Court's order.
The Plaza, site of the Occupy Nashville demonstration, serves as an open-air monument "to the soldiers who served for the State of Tennessee during World War I." (D.I. 80 at 3.)
In October 2011, the use of the Plaza was governed by what was called the Public Use of War Memorial Plaza Policy (the "Old Policy"), as implemented by the DGS.
By October 9, 2011, the Occupy Nashville participants had established a 24-hour-a-day protest on the Plaza. They brought food, drinks, supplies, and political signs, and set up tents for camping.
Problems surfaced quickly: "[t]here were issues with human feces, urine, trash, damage to the Plaza, and other issues...." (Id. at 17.) Nevertheless, the first weeks of the protest went "fairly smoothly." (Id.) For instance, Carpenter, Donaldson, and Watkins, communicated with Hunt about an event called the Southern Book Festival, which was scheduled to occur on the Plaza October 14-16, 2011, and, by cooperative effort, the protest and the festival were able to occur on the Plaza simultaneously.
By the end of October, however, the size of the protest had grown, and conditions had deteriorated. Many homeless people had moved onto the Plaza, "enjoying the sleeping bags and tents and food" of Occupy Nashville, and it became difficult to distinguish between Occupy Nashville participants and non-participants. (D.I. 72, ex. 4 at 15.) There was also an increase in the number of assault complaints and damage to public property. Carpenter noted increased problems from sewage, trash that was piling up, power cords that posed tripping hazards, damage to lighting, broken Plaza stones, the use of open flames, damaged electrical outlets, and other health and safety issues on the Plaza. According to Carpenter, there were "jugs of human feces in and around the tents, or jugs of human urine in and around the tents," and sewage was being "dump[ed]... into the bushes." (D.I. 69, ex. 8 at 36.) Carpenter's observations led him to say in an e-mail at the time that the demonstrators "have lost control of the situation with the homeless and the environment has become unsanitary and unsafe." (Id., ex. 7 at 9.) Speaking through their attorney-liaison Hunt, the Occupy Nashville participants told Watkins in an e-mail dated October 25, 2011, that they had experienced "some bad problems with being attacked by the homeless or gangs in the middle of the night. One woman [was] assaulted and this weekend one person was sent to the hospital." (Id., ex. 23 at 39.) Lieutenant Donaldson also described receiving complaints regarding indecent exposure, public fornication, and possible drug activity.
At the request of the demonstrators, a meeting was held on October 26, 2011, at which Occupy Nashville representatives — Hunt and a woman named Jane Hussain — discussed with Commissioner Cates, Watkins, Carpenter, Lieutenant Donaldson, and other state personnel the problems arising from the protest on the Plaza. Hunt and Hussain requested that the state provide portable toilets and additional security. Commissioner Cates denied those requests and said that, while the demonstrators would be allowed to return to the Plaza every day, a curfew would be necessary as a matter of health and safety. Commissioner Cates then directed Watkins to draft a new policy that would incorporate a curfew and a permit requirement for use of the Plaza.
Relying in part on the Supreme Court's decision in Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, 468 U.S. 288, 104 S.Ct. 3065, 82 L.Ed.2d 221 (1984), Watkins determined that the State could impose restrictions on the timing and manner of use of the Plaza. He then drafted a new policy (the "Use Policy"), with assistance from a staff attorney. On October 27, 2011, Watkins met with Commissioner Cates, Commissioner Gibbons, DOS's General Counsel, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam's Chief of Staff, Governor Haslam's
The Governor's Counsel made some suggestions following Watkins's presentation about the Use Policy, which Watkins incorporated into the document. It is undisputed that no public hearings were held, nor was there a notice and comment period. Although the UAPA provides procedures for implementing rules on an emergency basis, those procedures were not utilized either.
Relevant to this appeal, the Use Policy included a curfew provision which directed that, notwithstanding new permitting requirements, the Plaza would close to the public from 10:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. daily.
At 3:00 a.m. on October 28, 2011, officers of the Tennessee Highway Patrol enforced the Use Policy's curfew.
The following night, October 29, 2011, shortly after midnight, police officers repeated the process, arresting several demonstrators, and the magistrate again refused to sign the warrants.
On October 31, 2011, the Protesters filed their Complaint in the District Court asserting, among other things, § 1983 claims against Governor Haslam, Commissioner Cates, and Commissioner Gibbons in their
The Protesters then filed an Amended Complaint on January 5, 2012, which asserted claims against the same defendants named in the original complaint but also named the State Officials — Commissioners Gibbons and Cates — as defendants in their individual capacities.
The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, and the District Court granted in part and denied in part both motions. Occupy Nashville, 949 F.Supp.2d at 782. The Court determined that declaratory and injunctive relief were no longer at issue, as the offending policy was no longer in effect. Id. at 790. Furthermore, the Court granted summary judgment in favor of the State Officials on the Protesters' claims alleging violations of the Tennessee Constitution and the UAPA and seeking the return of personal property, because the Protesters had implicitly abandoned those claims. Id. at 791.
As to those remaining claims, the District Court granted summary judgment for the Protesters, holding that the State Officials were not entitled to qualified immunity. Id. at 806. Specifically, the District
The State Officials argue that the Protesters had no First Amendment right to "occupy" the Plaza indefinitely and therefore, because there was no constitutional violation, qualified immunity applies. The Protesters, in response, argue that the First Amendment right at issue is simply the freedom to air grievances on public property — a right they contend was most assuredly violated by enforcement of the Use Policy, which they describe as a facially invalid regulation of speech and one promulgated in violation of state procedures. The District Court did not define the right in question, and instead provided several different characterizations of it. Compare Occupy Nashville, 949 F.Supp.2d at 797 (asking "[w]hether the Plaintiffs Had a Clearly Established Right to Occupy the Plaza") with id. at 798 (characterizing the right as "utiliz[ing] the Plaza for free speech activity"), and id. at 798 (stating that "the plaintiffs here were not arrested for `camping' as such; they were arrested for being present on the Plaza between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., regardless of whether they were among the protestors who had set up sleeping arrangements"), id. at 799 (stating that "the plaintiffs had a clearly established right to utilize the Plaza for their free speech activities."), id. at 799 (characterizing the right as "overnight free speech activities"). For reasons more fully described herein, we agree with the State Officials that the claimed right must be defined as one of indefinite occupation of a public park, and that, even if the Protesters had a First Amendment right to occupy the Plaza indefinitely, that right certainly was not, and is not, clearly established.
Qualified immunity operates "to ensure that before they are subjected to suit, officers are on notice their conduct is unlawful." Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730, 739, 122 S.Ct. 2508, 153 L.Ed.2d 666 (2002) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). While qualified immunity can protect government officials for actions
To determine whether a government official is entitled to qualified immunity, we consider the two-part test described in Saucier v. Katz, which asks whether "a constitutional right would have been violated on the facts alleged" and, if so, whether the right was "clearly established." 533 U.S. 194, 200-01, 121 S.Ct. 2151, 150 L.Ed.2d 272 (2001).
For a right to be clearly established, "[t]he contours of the right must be sufficiently clear that a reasonable official would understand that what he is doing violates that right. [I]n the light of pre-existing law the unlawfulness must be apparent." Anderson v. Creighton, 483 U.S. 635, 640, 107 S.Ct. 3034, 97 L.Ed.2d 523
The level of generality at which the constitutional right in question is defined is of great importance. See Anderson, 483 U.S. at 639, 107 S.Ct. 3034 ("The operation of [the qualified immunity] standard ... depends substantially upon the level of generality at which the relevant `legal rule' is to be identified."). The Supreme Court has "repeatedly told courts ... not to define clearly established law at a high level of generality, since doing so avoids the crucial question whether the official acted reasonably in the particular circumstances that he or she faced." Plumhoff, 134 S.Ct. at 2023 (omission in original) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). The State Officials here define the right claimed by the Protesters as a "24-hour occupation" of the public square, which they argue is not a "right" at all. (Appellants' Opening Br. at 23.) The Protesters, by contrast, argue that the constitutional right at issue is not a right to "occupy" the Plaza, but a "clearly established First Amendment right to be present on the Plaza to air their grievances against the government." (Appellees' Br. at 24 n. 6.) The more specific and accurate framing of the issue is the one provided by the State Officials.
To support their respective definitions of the claimed right, both Parties rely heavily on Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence, a case in which the Supreme Court upheld a National Park Service ban on overnight camping on the National Mall, even though the ban restricted a homelessness-awareness protest. 468 U.S. 288, 104 S.Ct. 3065, 82 L.Ed.2d 221 (1984). In Clark, the precise issue before the Supreme Court was "whether a National Park Service regulation prohibiting camping in certain parks violate[d] the First Amendment when applied to prohibit demonstrators from sleeping in [two of those parks] ... in connection with a demonstration." 468 U.S. at 289, 104 S.Ct. 3065. The Court refused to be drawn into a debate about whether camping or sleeping in a park could be called "expressive conduct." Id. at 293, 104 S.Ct. 3065. It assumed it could be but then observed that "this assumption only begins the inquiry." Id. The Court emphasized the well-established principle that "[e]xpression, whether oral or written or symbolized by conduct, is subject to reasonable time, place, or manner restrictions." Id. In a passage key to the case at bar, the Court declared that, "[i]f the Government has a legitimate interest in ensuring that the National Parks are adequately protected, which we think it has, and if the parks would be more exposed to harm without the sleeping prohibition than with it, the ban is safe from invalidation under the First Amendment as a reasonable regulation of the manner in which a demonstration may be carried out." Id. at 297, 104 S.Ct. 3065.
The State Officials argue that Clark supports their definition of the Protesters' claimed right, while the Protesters' contend that Clark is inapplicable because, they say, it dealt with camping, rather than mere violations of a curfew provision. (Appellee's Br. at 26-27.) The Protesters may be right that Clark does not stand for the proposition that overnight protest activity is entirely unprotected, but that misses the point of the governing precedent on qualified immunity. There must be specificity in the definition of the right at stake. Plumhoff, 134 S.Ct. at 2023. Despite their insistence to the contrary, the Protesters' activities were indeed, as their group's name suggests, fundamentally about occupation. They argue, and the District Court agreed, that they were arrested not for camping, but only "for being present on the Plaza between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.," Occupy Nashville, 949 F.Supp.2d at 798 (emphasis omitted); (Appellee's Br. at 26). Whether their conduct is called camping or not, however, their late-night presence on the days of their arrest cannot be divorced from the continuous, 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week occupation of the Plaza, of which it was part. The State Officials were confronted with the increasingly chaotic, unsanitary, and dangerous conditions caused by the full-time occupation of the Plaza. The Protesters were arrested as part of a decision to address those serious problems associated with the occupation, not as a result of some vague concern with fleeting protests in the night. To claim, as the Protesters do, that they were merely seeking the right to speak in a public forum is to ignore the actual scope and duration of the protest and thus to express the First Amendment issue in unduly abstract terms. See Anderson, 483 U.S. at 639, 107 S.Ct. 3034 (cautioning that "[p]laintiffs would be able to convert the rule of qualified immunity ... into a rule of virtually unqualified liability simply by alleging violation of extremely abstract rights").
The record is undisputed that Clark was the primary guide in the drafting of the Use Policy.
Nor was it, or is it, clear that the First Amendment gives one an unfettered right to threaten the health and safety of the public or the security of public property.
Our qualified immunity conclusion also necessarily extends to the Protesters' claims that their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated. Again, the most that can be said for the Protesters' argument is that it is unclear whether they had a right to indefinitely occupy the Plaza for their demonstration. It is therefore also unclear that the law forbade their arrest and that they had any liberty interest that could be infringed by an alleged failure to provide adequate procedural protections.
In addition to contesting the denial of qualified immunity, the State Officials challenge the District Court's partial grant of summary judgment on the issue of liability. The District Court's ruling left open the issue of damages, which would ordinarily mean that the judgment on liability would be a non-final and unappealable order. Woosley v. Avco Corp., 944 F.2d 313, 316-17 (6th Cir.1991). In this case, though, we can exercise pendent appellate jurisdiction because the liability issues are "inextricably intertwined" with the issue of qualified immunity, over which we clearly do have jurisdiction. See Brennan v. Twp. of Northville, 78 F.3d 1152, 1157-58 (6th Cir.1996) (applying doctrine of discretionary pendent appellate jurisdiction). Given that equitable relief is no
For the foregoing reasons, the District Court's order denying qualified immunity and granting partial summary judgment of liability will be reversed and the matter remanded with instructions to enter judgment for the State Officials.
According to the Protesters, however, "the District Court had to determine whether the New [Policy] or Old [Policy] w[as] controlling before the Court could assess the viability of [the] Constitutional claims"; it was, in the Protesters' view, "a necessary, preliminary decision." (Appellees' Br. at 22-23.) Whether that consideration was necessary, or even permissible, in the qualified immunity analysis is a question which, as guests of the Sixth Circuit, we leave for another day, because, even assuming that the District Court properly examined the promulgation of the Use Policy and determined that it was void, we conclude that the right for Occupy Nashville protesters to indefinitely occupy a public park in the manner that they did is not clearly established.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed, holding that the protesters had a clearly established right to be present on the property because there was no valid time, place, or manner restriction in effect. Id. at 120-25. Rather, the arrests were pursuant to a letter the Governor issued specifically calling for the arrest of Occupy Columbia protesters present on State House property after 6:00 p.m. Id. at 123 (quoting the Governor's letter which ordered the removal of "any individual associated with the `Occupy Columbia' group, as well as his or her belongings, who remains on Statehouse grounds after 6:00 p.m."). Here, although the parties disagree about how to characterize the right in question, we have concluded it is properly described as the right to a continuous occupation of the Plaza. Accordingly, the Fourth Circuit's conclusion that there is a clearly established right to protest or assemble after 6:00 p.m. does not affect our determination. In any event, insofar as the Fourth Circuit's holding would require only an examination of the Protesters' conduct at the precise moment of arrest, without acknowledging the circumstances in which the conduct arose, we decline to follow that decision.