NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS SEP 1 2020 MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT PEOPLE NOT POLITICIANS OREGON; et No. 20-35630 al., D.C. No. 6:20-cv-01053-MC Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. MEMORANDUM* BEVERLY CLARNO, Oregon Secretary of State, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Michael J. McShane, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted August 13, 2020 Anchorage, Alaska Before: RAWLINSON, MURGUIA, and R. NELSON, Circuit Judges. Dissent by Judge R. NELSON People Not Politicians Oregon (“PNP”) seeks to place an initiative on the November 2020 ballot that would amend the Oregon Constitution to create a redistricting commission for the state (the “Initiative”). To place the Initiative on * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. the ballot, the Oregon Constitution requires PNP to file a petition with the Oregon Secretary of State signed by eight percent (8%) of eligible voters in the last gubernatorial election (the “Signature Requirement”) no less than four months before the November election (the “Deadline Requirement”). Or. Const. art. IV, §§ 1(2)(a), (e). Therefore, to place the Initiative on the November 2020 ballot, PNP was required to submit 149,360 signatures by July 2, 2020. The Secretary of State, Beverly Clarno, then has until September 3, 2020 to file the finalized ballot with each county’s clerk. On June 30, 2020, PNP sued Oregon Secretary of State Beverly Clarno, alleging that Clarno’s strict enforcement of the Signature and Deadline Requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic violates the rights of PNP’s members to engage in core political speech and to associate with others for political purposes under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. PNP also asked the district court to enjoin Secretary Clarno from enforcing the Signature and Deadline Requirements by lowering the signature threshold and postponing the July 2, 2020 deadline. On July 10 and 13, 2020, the district court issued a preliminary injunction of the Signature and Deadline Requirements, requiring Secretary Clarno to either (1) allow PNP’s Initiative on the ballot with the signatures gathered as of the day of the 2 injunction, or (2) reduce the signature threshold to 58,789 signatures and extend the deadline to gather signatures until August 17, 2020. On August 11, 2020, the Supreme Court stayed the district court’s preliminary injunction pending disposition of this appeal “and disposition of the petition for a writ of certiorari, if such writ is timely sought.” Clarno v. People Not Politicians, No. 20A21, 2020 WL 4589742, at *1 (U.S. Aug. 11, 2020). The practical effect of the stay is that even if we affirm the district court’s injunction, the Supreme Court is not likely to lift the stay until after the September 3, 2020 deadline to place the Initiative on the November 2020 ballot, likely rendering this action moot as to this election cycle. “We review questions of mootness de novo.” United States v. Hulen, 879 F.3d 1015, 1018 (9th ...
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