(RICHMOND, VA) – The Liberty Justice Center and Manhattan Institute have filed an amicus brief in Lucinda LC and Wheatley v. Jay Som et al., urging the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to allow the plaintiffs to proceed with their constitutional claims after Virginia opened an enforcement investigation against them.
Lucinda LC and Wheatley v. Jay Som et al. involves Virginia officials enforcing the state’s source-of-funds law, which prohibits landlords from selecting tenants based on the source of their funds. Virginia opened an investigation into Lucinda LC and June Wheatley, who manage nine apartments on behalf of Wheatley’s elderly father. The plaintiffs brought suit against Virginia under the Fourth Amendment and federal law.
The federal district court dismissed the case as “unripe”, concluding that the plaintiffs’ claims were too premature to be heard in federal court. The Liberty Justice Center and Manhattan Institute argue that the investigation and its associated costs are already imposing real hardship on the plaintiffs and their small business.
The amicus brief also argues that the lower court’s ripeness ruling could effectively leave the plaintiffs without any meaningful opportunity to bring their federal claims in federal court. Under the Supreme Court’s decision in Younger v. Harris, federal courts are generally required to abstain from interfering with ongoing state enforcement proceedings. If the plaintiffs cannot sue before enforcement begins because their claims are deemed unripe, and cannot sue during enforcement because of Younger, then their federal claims may never be heard in federal court.
“No one should have to wait for the government to finish violating their rights before they can ask a federal court to step in,” said Reilly Stephens, Director of Amicus Practice at the Liberty Justice Center. “When a state investigation imposes real costs and legal burdens on a small business, that is not hypothetical. That is exactly the kind of hardship federal courts exist to review.”
The amici ask the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the lower court’s ripeness decision and to grant Lucinda LC and June Wheatley their day in court.
The Liberty Justice Center’s amicus brief in Lucinda LC and Wheatley v. Jay Som et al. can be found here.
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