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James R. Pesciv.Tim Budz

CourtUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Docket No.12-11144
DecidedSeptember 23, 2013
JudgesUnited States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
Tags
CivilCivil RightsFirst AmendmentFree SpeechDue ProcessGovernment LawConstitutional LawVacaturRemand
Case Summary

James Pesci, a civil detainee at Florida’s Civil Commitment Center, published a newsletter called Duck Soup that sharply criticized the facility, its staff, and its treatment program. The facility director first limited residents’ ability to copy the newsletter and later banned its possession and distribution as contraband. Pesci sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging violations of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The district court granted summary judgment for the director based only on the earlier policy and did not decide the constitutionality of the later, more restrictive ban. The Eleventh Circuit vacated and remanded. The later policy had replaced the earlier one and made an injunction concerning the original policy largely academic. Because the later policy was in the record, the district court should consider both policies together rather than adjudicate the constitutional issues piecemeal. The panel also held that the Turner standard, which asks whether a restriction is reasonably related to legitimate institutional interests, must be modified for civil detainees because civil detention is intended to protect the public and provide treatment, not to punish or deter. A facility may defer to professional judgments about safety, order, and rehabilitation, but that deference is not permission to suppress undesirable speech. The court adopted a rational-relationship standard tailored to civil detention and left the policies’ ultimate constitutionality for the district court.

Opinion

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