United States Tenth Circuit

A suit was brought for prospective relief and damages under 42 U.S.C. section 1983, and for violations of the Privacy Protection Act, arising from an investigation of plaintiff for potential violations of Colorado's criminal libel statute via an internet-based journal parodying a professor's views. Dismissal of plaintiff's claims is affirmed in part but reversed in part where: 1) as defendant-DA's office disavowed an intent to prosecute plaintiff, he lacked standing for his facial challenge to the state's criminal libel statute and his claim was moot; 2) dismissal of his statutory claim was proper for failure to state a claim; but 3) dismissal of a damages claim arising from a police search was error as it was not barred by absolute immunity.

Appellate Information

• Decided 04/16/2007
• Published 04/17/2007

Judges

• TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judge., Before O'BRIEN, EBEL, and TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Tenth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• A. Bruce Jones, Holland & Hart LLP, Denver, CO (Marcy G. Glenn and Valerie L. Simons, Holland & Hart, and Mark Silverstein, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado, Denver, CO, with him on the briefs) for Plaintiffs-Appellants., S. Mark Goodman and Adam Goldstein, Student Press Law Center, Arlington, VA, and Jane E. Kirtley, Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law, Minneapolis, MN, on the brief for Amici Curiae Student Press Law Center and Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law., Kevin M. Goldberg, Cohn and Marks LLP, Washington, District of Columbia, on the brief for Amicus Curiae World Press Freedom Committee., Thomas B. Kelley and Steven D. Zansberg, Faegre & Benson LLP, Denver, CO, on the brief for Amici Curiae Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Colorado Press Association, Dow Jones & Company, Inc., Media Law Resource Center, and The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press., Miles Madorin, Staff Attorney, Colorado District Attorneys' Council, Denver, CO, on the brief for Amicus Curiae Colorado District Attorneys' Council.


• For Appellees:
  
• William V. Allen, Assistant Attorney General, Litigation Section, Office of the Colorado Attorney General, for Defendant-Appellee John W. Suthers, and David R. Brougham (Gillian Dale with him on the brief), Hall & Evans, L.L.C., Denver, CO, for Defendant-Appellee Susan Knox.