Leslie Dutton v. David Wesley

MEMORANDUM

Plaintiffs-Appellants Leslie Dutton and the American Association of Women, Inc., appeal the district court’s order dismissing their complaint in this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We review de novo an order granting a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Stearns v. Ticketmaster Corp., 655 F.3d 1013, 1018 (9th Cir.2011). We reverse the district court’s order dismissing the complaint and remand for further proceedings.

The empty courtroom that the plaintiffs sought to access to film their documentary is either a nonpublic forum or a limited public forum. See Sammartano v. First Judicial Dist. Court, 303 F.3d 959, 966 (9th Cir.2002), abrogated in part on other grounds by Winter v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 555 U.S. 7 , 129 S.Ct. 365 , 172 L.Ed.2d 249 (2008). Either way, speech restrictions are impermissible unless they are reasonable in light of the purposes served by the forum and viewpoint neutral. Wright v. Incline Vill. Gen. Improvement Dist., 665 F.3d 1128 , 1138 n. 5 (9th Cir.2011); see also Good News Club v. Milford Cent. Sch., 533 U.S. 98, 106-07 , 121 S.Ct. 2093 , 150 L.Ed.2d 151 (2001); Cornelius v.…