United States Ninth Circuit

In a dispute arising from efforts to place a constitutional initiative regarding the regulation of marijuana on a Nevada general election ballot, grant of a permanent injunction against enforcement of a "13 Counties Rule" -- which requires that initiative proponents obtain signatures from at least 10% of the eligible voters in at least 13 Nevada counties -- is affirmed where: 1) plaintiffs had standing for the action; 2) the case fit within the -capable of repetition, yet evading review- exception to the mootness doctrine; and 3) the 13 Counties Rule is unconstitutional as it violates the equal protection tenet of -one person, one vote,- and is not narrowly tailored.

Appellate Information

• Argued 07/26/2006
• Decided 12/08/2006
• Published 12/08/2006

Judges

• PAEZ, Circuit Judge:, Before: HUG, KLEINFELD, and PAEZ, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Brian Sandoval, Attorney General, and Victoria Thimmesch Oldenburg, Senior Deputy Attorney General, Carson City, NV, for the defendant-appellant., Allen Lichtenstein, ACLU of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, for the plaintiffs-appellees., Matthew D. Brinckerhoff and Sarah Netburn, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, LLP, New York, NY, for the plaintiffs-appellees.