Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski
United States Supreme Court
592 U.S. 279, 141 S. Ct. 792 (2021)
- Written by Abby Roughton, JD
Facts
Chike Uzuegbunam (plaintiff) was a student at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC), a public college in Georgia. In 2016, Uzuegbunam tried to speak about his evangelical Christian religion in public areas on GGC’s campus, but campus police officers stopped Uzuegbunam from doing so based on the officers’ assertions that Uzuegbunam was violating campus policies. Joseph Bradford (plaintiff), another evangelical student at GGC, decided not to speak about his religion after hearing about Uzuegbunam’s experience. Uzuegbunam and Bradford sued GGC President Stanley Preczewski and other GGC officials (collectively, the officials) (defendants), claiming that GGC’s policies violated the First Amendment. Uzuegbunam and Bradford sought injunctive relief and nominal damages. The officials changed the challenged policies and then moved to dismiss the action as moot. Uzuegbunam and Bradford agreed that they were no longer entitled to injunctive relief, but they argued that their nominal-damages request meant that the action was still live. The district court disagreed with Uzuegbunam and Bradford and dismissed the case. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed, and the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. Because Uzuegbunam had sued over a completed injury and had satisfied the Article III standing requirements of establishing an injury in fact that was fairly traceable to the challenged conduct, the Court framed the relevant question as whether Uzuegbunam’s nominal-damages request satisfied the standing requirement of redressability (i.e., seeking a remedy that would likely redress the injury).
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Thomas, J.)
Concurrence (Kavanaugh, J.)
Dissent (Roberts, C.J.)
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