Filed: Aug. 12, 2020
Latest Update: Aug. 12, 2020
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS AUG 12 2020 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MATTHEW GREGORY McLAUGHLIN, No. 19-55667 for himself and those similarly situated, D.C. No. 8:18-cv-00546-JLS-KES Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MEMORANDUM* KAMALA D. HARRIS, Attorney General, in her individual capacity; et al., Defendants-Appellees, and CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT; STATE OF CALIFORNIA, Defendants. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Centr
Summary: NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS AUG 12 2020 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT MATTHEW GREGORY McLAUGHLIN, No. 19-55667 for himself and those similarly situated, D.C. No. 8:18-cv-00546-JLS-KES Plaintiff-Appellant, v. MEMORANDUM* KAMALA D. HARRIS, Attorney General, in her individual capacity; et al., Defendants-Appellees, and CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT; STATE OF CALIFORNIA, Defendants. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Centra..
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NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS AUG 12 2020
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
MATTHEW GREGORY McLAUGHLIN, No. 19-55667
for himself and those similarly situated,
D.C. No. 8:18-cv-00546-JLS-KES
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v. MEMORANDUM*
KAMALA D. HARRIS, Attorney General,
in her individual capacity; et al.,
Defendants-Appellees,
and
CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT;
STATE OF CALIFORNIA,
Defendants.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Central District of California
Josephine L. Staton, District Judge, Presiding
Submitted August 5, 2020**
Before: SCHROEDER, HAWKINS, and LEE, Circuit Judges.
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
**
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
California attorney Matthew Gregory McLaughlin appeals pro se from the
district court’s order dismissing his action alleging constitutional violations arising
out of his proposed ballot initiatives and California Assembly Bill 1100. We have
jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. We review de novo. Cervantes v.
Countrywide Home Loans, Inc.,
656 F.3d 1034, 1040 (9th Cir. 2011) (failure to
state a claim); Noel v. Hall,
341 F.3d 1148, 1154 (9th Cir. 2003) (Rooker-Feldman
doctrine). We affirm.
The district court properly dismissed McLaughlin’s claims arising out of his
proposed ballot initiatives, an unpublished state court decision, and California’s
Anti-SLAPP law for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the Rooker-Feldman
doctrine because these claims are “de facto appeal[s]” of prior state court decisions
and raise issues that are “inextricably intertwined” with those decisions. See
id. at
1163-65 (discussing Rooker-Feldman doctrine); see also Cooper v. Ramos,
704
F.3d 772, 777–78 (9th Cir. 2012) (explaining that in “determin[ing] whether an
action functions as a de facto appeal,” this court “pay[s] close attention to the relief
sought by the federal-court plaintiff” (citation and internal quotation marks
omitted)).
The district court properly dismissed McLaughlin’s claim challenging the
constitutionality of California Assembly Bill 1100 because McLaughlin failed to
allege facts sufficient to show that Assembly Bill 1100 was not rationally related to
2 19-55667
a legitimate government interest. See San Jose Christian Coll. v. City of Morgan
Hill,
360 F.3d 1024, 1031 (9th Cir. 2004) (explaining that a neutral law of general
applicability violates the First Amendment only if “the law is not rationally related
to a legitimate governmental interest”).
We do not consider matters not specifically and distinctly raised and argued
in the opening brief. See Padgett v. Wright,
587 F.3d 983, 985 n.2 (9th Cir. 2009).
AFFIRMED.
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