Summary
The United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas denied Bryan Norris and Norris for Arkansas’s motion for a preliminary injunction against enforcement of Arkansas Act 728 of 2021, which restricts entry or remaining within 100 feet of a polling location. Assuming that the statute implicated First Amendment rights and regulated speech in a public forum, the court concluded that the restriction was content neutral, narrowly tailored to significant governmental interests, and left open ample alternative channels of communication. The court determined that Plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the merits and that the remaining preliminary-injunction factors did not warrant relief.
Holdings
- Plaintiffs failed to show that they were likely to prevail on their First Amendment challenge to Act 728.
- Act 728 is a content-neutral restriction because it does not target speech based on its topic, idea, message, or speaker identity, and its application depends on location rather than the content of speech.
- Act 728 satisfies the applicable narrow-tailoring and ample-alternatives requirements.
- Plaintiffs did not establish a threat of irreparable harm warranting preliminary injunctive relief, and their failure to show likely success on the First Amendment claim was fatal to the motion.
Questions Presented
- Whether Plaintiffs were entitled to a preliminary injunction against enforcement of Act 728 as applied to intended exit polling.
- Whether Act 728 implicates the First Amendment as applied to exit polling and, assuming First Amendment scrutiny applies, whether the statute is a constitutional content-neutral time, place, and manner restriction in a public forum.
- Whether Plaintiffs established irreparable harm, a favorable balance of harms, and that an injunction would serve the public interest.
Disposition
other
Cases Cited (15)
- Dataphase Systems, Inc. v. C L Systems, Inc., 640 F.2d 109, 114 (8th Cir. 1981)(followed)
- Planned Parenthood Minn., N.D., S.D. v. Rounds, 530 F.3d 724, 732-33 (8th Cir. 2008) (en banc)(followed)
- Kodiak Oil & Gas (USA) Inc. v. Burr, 932 F.3d 1125, 1133 (8th Cir. 2019)(followed)
- Phelps-Roper v. Troutman, 662 F.3d 485, 488 (8th Cir. 2011), vacated on reh'g on other grounds, 705 F.3d 845 (8th Cir. 2012)(followed)
- TikTok Inc. v. Garland, 604 U.S. 56, 68, 70-71 (2025)(followed)
- Arcara v. Cloud Books, Inc., 478 U.S. 697, 703-04 (1986)(followed)
- Ness v. City of Bloomington, 11 F.4th 914, 923 (8th Cir. 2021)(followed)
- Daily Herald Co. v. Munro, 838 F.2d 380, 385 (9th Cir. 1988)(analogized)
- Burson v. Freeman, 504 U.S. 191, 196-211 (1992)(followed)
- Reed v. Town of Gilbert, 576 U.S. 155, 163 (2015)(followed)
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