Preminger

422 F.3d 815 Steven R. PREMINGER and Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Anthony J. PRINCIPI, as Secretary of Veterans Affairs and in his personal capacity; Elizabeth Freeman, as Director of the Palo Alto Health Care System and in her personal capacity; Helen Girton; Sacha Poulenz; and Myrel Willeford, Defendants-Appellees. No. 04-16981. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. Argued and Submitted May 9, 2005. Filed August 25, 2005. COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED Michael M. Markman, Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP, Menlo Park, CA, for the plaintiffs-appellants. Owen P. Martikan, Assistant United States Attorney, San Francisco, CA, for the defendants-appellees. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California; Jeremy Fogel, District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-04-02012-JF. Before HAWKINS and GRABER, Circuit Judges, and SELNA, * District Judge. Opinion by Judge GRABER; Concurrence by Judge SELNA. GRABER, Circuit Judge. 1 The Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee and its chair, Steven Preminger, are Plaintiffs in this action. They…

Opinion by Judge GRABER; Concurrence by Judge SELNA.

The Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee and its chair, Steven Preminger, are Plaintiffs in this action. They challenge the Department of Veterans’ Affairs’ (“VA”) exclusion of Preminger and others from VA premises when they tried to register resident veterans to vote. Plaintiffs claim that the VA regulation used to justify their expulsion, which prohibits partisan activities on VA premises, violates the First Amendment. The district court denied Plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction against Defendants, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and several of its employees. We. hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that Plaintiffs failed to demonstrate probable success on the merits of their claim and, therefore, affirm the denial of a preliminary injunction.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In April 2004, about six months before the November 2004 presidential election, Preminger and his lawyer, Scott Rafferty, along with another California resident, visited the VA Menlo Park Campus with the intent to register voters. The Campus provides care for elderly, homeless, disabled,…

concurring:

I concur in the Judgment and in the Opinion with the exception of Section B.2.b *827 of the Discussion. I would affirm the district court’s denial of the motion for a preliminary injunction on the ground that it did not abuse its discretion. Beardslee v. Woodford, 395 F.3d 1064, 1068 (9th Cir.2005); Play makers LLC v. ESPN, Inc., 376 F.3d 894, 896 (9th Cir.2004); Southwest Voter Registration Educ. Project v. Shelley, 344 F.3d 914 , 918 (9th Cir.2003) (en banc) (per curiam).