restrictions were justified by a compelling government interest in promoting safety in and out of the prison. Id. at *14–15. It also concluded that Creativity is not a religion. Id. at *11. The Tenth Circuit agreed with the district court. It affirmed that Creativity is not a religion. Hale III, 759 F. App’x at 741. It also concluded that mail restrictions on Mr. Hale are rationally connected to the BOP’s security interests. There is overwhelming evidence in the record that Creativity poses an institutional security risk and that Mr. Hale has sought to advance the white-supremacist goals of Creativity in ways that pose a danger both inside and outside of ADX. By limiting Mr. Hale’s ability to send and receive mail communicating Creativity’s
message, the BOP mitigates internal and external safety risks.
Id. at 750–51. This litigation history establishes a secular purpose for Defendants’ restrictions on Hale’s communications. The Court may properly take into account established litigation history when determining whether a complaint plausibly
establishes that there is no secular purpose for Defendants’ actions. Hale argues that his complaint, taken as true, clearly alleges that “that the purpose of Defendants’ actions is to enforce the Christian religion upon him,” and that “no ‘secular purpose’ [for] the Defendants’ actions . . . appears within Hale’s complaint.” (ECF No. 91 at 13.) However, Hale misunderstands his burden at this stage of the litigation. Conclusory allegations—such as merely repeating that the “purpose of
Defendants’ actions is to enforce the Christian religion on him”—are not sufficient to state a plausible claim; instead, he must allege facts which suggest a violation. See Bauchman, 132 F.3d at 553. Although Hale states some facts in support of his conclusory allegation that Defendants’ actions are motivated by an intent to force Christianity on him, they do not support a plausible claim under the Establishment Clause. Hale alleges that Defendant Marques went to Hale’s cell to tell him that BOP would not mail a chapter of Hale’s book, which Hale describes as “critical of the Christian religion and its values.” (ECF
No. 1 ¶ 12.) During that conversation, Defendant Marques wore a “huge Christian cross on his chest” to “convey to Hale, without admitting it in words . . . that [Defendants’] actions in [this] regard are rooted in Christian bigotry and animus and that
they desire to impose that religion and its values upon him.” (Id.) For the reasons discussed by Judge Crews in the Recommendation, namely the difference between the Establishment Clause on one hand, and the Free Speech and Free Ex ercise Clauses on the other, an objective observer would not conclude that wearing a cross on a single occasion conveyed a message that the government preferred a specific religion or set of beliefs.
The complaint further alleges that in April 2017, August 2017, May 2018, and September 2018, Defendants discussed that “Hale should and must be mistreated because he refuses to acknowledge the alleged truths of the Christian religion.” (Id.
¶ 13.) Hale merely alleges that these conversations took place, but provides no other factual support. The allegation assumes that all Defendants are Christian and that they are all motivated by the same animus toward Hale. Standing alone, these allegations are insufficient to state a plausible claim for relief.
While the Court is mindful of the limitations inherent on a prisoner held in ADX, Hale’s allegations do not state a plausible violation of the secular purpose prong of the Establishment Clause. When viewed through the eyes of an objective observer, Hale’s allegations that Defendants’ were motivated by something other than a secular, security concern are not plausible, particularly in light of the “history, purpose, and context” of the restrictions on Hale’s communications and their obvious secular origin in limiting prisoner’s leadership of STGs.
2. Effect
The Court next considers whether the BOP restrictions have the principal or primary effect of advancing religion. See Medina, 877 F.3d at 1231 (“It is permissible government action only if its principal or primary effect is one that neither advances nor
inhibits religion.”). Like the purpose prong, the effect prong views the government action in question “through the eyes of an objective observer, aware of the purpose, context, and history” of the action. Id. Judge Crews recommended a finding that Hale
had failed to satisfy the primary effect element. (ECF No. 89 at 19.) Hale objected, arguing that by preventing him “from criticizing the Christian religion and mistreat[ing] him otherwise because he happens to disagree with its principles” has the “primary effect of advancing Christianity.” (ECF No. 91 at 19.)
The Court finds that an objective observer aware of the “purpose, context, and history” of the BOP’s restrictions on Creativity-related communications would understand that the restrictions are designed to advance security inside and outside of
ADX. See Hale III, 759 F. App’x at 750. In Hale III, the Tenth Circuit held that the Creativity-related mail restrictions were “rationally connected to the BOP’s security interests” and that “limiting Mr. Hale’s ability to send and receive mail communicating Creativity’s message . . . mitigates internal and external safety risks.” Id. at 750–51. Even if these restrictions limit, to a small degree, Hale’s ability to criticize Christianity, their primary effect is to limit communications about a STG. Moreover, Hale has not alleged that, were he Christian, he would be permitted to communicate STG materials without BOP interference, or identified any other person of a different faith who is permitted to communicate STG materials. Under these circumstances, the Court finds that an objective observer would not view the primary effect of the restrictions as an
endorsement or advancement of Christianity. Accordingly, Hale has failed to state a claim under this prong of his purported Establishment Clause claim.
3. Excessive Entanglement
The final prong of the Lemon test asks “whether the government action fosters an excessive government entanglement with religion.” Medina, 877 F.3d at 1233. Judge Crews recommended finding that “there are insufficient facts from which to
plausibly infer Defendants’ involvement, let alone excessive entanglement, with recognized religious activity.” (ECF No. 89 at 20.) In his objection, Hale states “no discussion of the ‘excessive entanglement’ prong is necessary . . . since Hale already
prevails on the first two prongs of the Establishment Clause test.” (ECF No. 91 at 20.) He thus raises no specific objection to this portion of the Recommendation. The Court thus reviews this portion of the Recommendation for clear error. Finding none, the Court adopts this portion of the Recommendation. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b) advisory committee’s note; see also Summers, 927 F.2d at 1167.
Because Hale does not state a claim under any prong of the Lemon test, he fails to state a claim under the Establishment Clause. See Green, 568 F.3d at 796. The Court will therefore dismiss Claim 1 without prejudice.
C. Claims 10 & 11
Claims 10 and 11 relate to restrictions placed on Hale’s ability to distribute and discuss an article he wrote titled “Why Do I Want to Be Free?” A copy of the article was filed in the prior litigation before Judge Krieger, and the Court takes judicial notice of the document. Hale v. Fed. Bureau of Prisons, No. 14-cv-245 (D. Colo. filed Feb. 20, 2018), ECF No. 208.3 The article discusses Hale’s past leadership of the white supremacy movement and his desire to be freed to continue to lead the movement.
Claim 10 alleges that Defendants violated the First Amendment by not allowing Hale to mail the article to his mother. Claim 10 explicitly incorporates Hale’s allegations that he is an ordained minister of Creativity, “remains knowledgeable about his
Creativity religious faith,” and “issues sermons to his congregation of like believers in the free world.” (ECF No. 1 ¶¶ 2–3, 43.) Claim 11 alleges a First Amendment retaliation claim for restricting Hale’s phone privileges after he tried to discuss
dissemination of that article with his mother.
3 A court may consider a document outside the pleadings, without departing from a Rule 12(b)(6) analysis, if the document is (1) “mentioned in the complaint,” (2) “central to [the] claims [at issue],” and (3) not challenged as inauthentic. Toone v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., 716 F.3d 516, 521 (10th Cir. 2013). Similarly, “facts subject to judicial notice may be considered in a
Rule 12(b)(6) motion without converting the motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment.” Tal v. Hogan, 453 F.3d 1244, 1265 n.24 (10th Cir. 2006). Among those matters of which a court can take judicial notice are “its own files and records, as well as facts which are a matter of public record.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).
The Recommendation recommended that Claim 10 be dismissed as barred by issue preclusion based on Hale III. It also recommended that Claim 11 be dismissed because Hale could not state a cognizable First Amendment violation. Hale objects to
the Recommendation, distinguishing between the ban on correspondence referencing Creativity or its aliases, see Hale III, 759 F. App’x at 744 n.1, and Hale’s writings on other subjects including the “white racial cause” (ECF No. 91 at 22–24).
The Tenth Circuit found evidence that Hale “sought to advance the white supremacist goals of Creativity in ways that pose a danger both inside and outside of ADX.” Hale III, 759 F. App’x at 750. It thus found that the BOP restrictions on Hale’s
correspondence related to Creativity, the Worldwide Church of the Creator, or “any permutation of or code names for these group names” “mitigate[] internal and external safety risks.” Id. at 744 n.1, 750–51. Judge Babcock found, and the undersigned
agrees, that claims based on Hale’s speech about Creativity and related “philosophy” are issue precluded by Hale III.
The article at issue in Claim 10 is substantially similar to the communications previously considered by the Tenth Circuit and Judge Babcock. In the article, Hale, an “ordained minister in the non-Christian Church of the Creator,” advocates returning to
his leadership position to lead the white supremacy movement. This is the precise type of speech subject to BOP’s restrictions. The Court finds that Claim 10 is manifestly barred by issue preclusion, and will be dismissed with prejudice. Claim 11 alleges retaliation for attempting to engage in speech about the article. In general, a properly stated claim for retaliation for the exercise of First Amendment rights must include three elements: (1) the plaintiff was engaged in activity protected by
the First Amendment; (2) the defendant’s actions caused the plaintiff to suffer an injury that would reasonably have a chilling effect on the exercise of protected activity by a person of ordinary firmness; and (3) the defendant’s action was “substantially motivated as a response to the plaintiff’s exercise of constitutionally protected conduct.” Shero v. City of Grove, 510 F.3d 1196, 1203 (10th Cir. 2007). As discussed abov e, Hale’s article was not protected First Amendment activity, and therefore Hale cannot satisfy the first element of a First Amendment retaliation claim.4 The Court will thus also dismiss Claim 11 with prejudice.
D. Claims 15 & 21
Claim 15 alleges that Defendant Marques has illegally withheld Hale’s mail. (ECF No. 1 ¶¶ 63–67.) Claim 21 alleges that Defendant Marques has unreasonably delayed transmitting Hale’s mail. (Id. ¶¶ 91–94.) Judge Crews recommended
dismissing Claims 15 and 21 as issue precluded to the extent that they seek relief based on mail related to Creativity, and further recommended dismissing these claims for failure to state a claim based on non-Creativity mail. Hale concedes that, to the extent Claims 15 and 21 relate to treatment of his Creativity mailings, they are issue precluded. (ECF No. 91 at 24–25.) To the extent that Claims 15 and 21 relate to Creativity, therefore, they are properly dismissed with prejudice. However, Hale also
4 Hale objects to the Recommendation’s treatment of Claim 11 only on the basis that his speech was indeed protected by the First Amendment. He does not object to the Recommendation’s conclusion that speech about the article may also be restricted. The Court thus reviews that part of the Recommendation for clear error. Finding none, the Court adopts that portion of the Recommendation. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b) advisory committee’s note (“When no timely objection is filed, the court need only satisfy itself that there is no clear error on the face of the record in order to accept the recommendation.”); see also Summers, 927 F.2d at 1167. objects to the dismissal of his non-Creativity mail delay and withholding claims.
The Court has reviewed the complaint, and finds that the allegations are too vague and conclusory to state a claim. Hale’s complaint “must include sufficient facts to indicate the plausibility that the actions of which he complains were not reasonably
related to legitimate penological interests.” See Gee v. Pacheco , 627 F.3d 1178, 1188 (10th Cir. 2010). While Hale argues that Claims 15 and 21, as pled, relate only to his non-Creativity correspondence (ECF No. 91 at 24–27), a review of the complaint belies this assertion. Claims 15 and 21 both specifically incorporate allegations that “[a]ny and all mail which pertained to [Hale’s] Church, religion, or ministerial status or responsibilities was likewise rejected and continues to be rejected,” and that “Marques . . . has personally implemented the ban on all of Hale’s religious correspondence.” (ECF No. 1 ¶¶ 6, 25.)
Moreover, the actual allegations of Claims 15 and 21 do not include sufficient facts to suggest that Defendants’ actions were not reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Claim 15 merely alleges that “numerous pieces of both Hale’s
outgoing and incoming mail have never reached their intended recipient.” (ECF No. 1 ¶ 64.) Given Hale’s incorporation of paragraphs 6 and 25 of his complaint, Hale does not state a plausible claim that the “numerous pieces” of mail supposedly withheld were unrelated to Creativity. Similarly, Claim 21 states that “[m]any other letters . . . both incoming and outgoing, have been held by Marques for weeks.” (Id. ¶ 93.) While Hale specifically alleges that a particular letter was mailed nearly three months after Hale submitted it to the inmate mail system, there are not sufficient allegations to create a plausible inference that Defendants lacked a legitimate penological interest in delaying mailing of that letter, e.g., that the letter was unrelated to Creativity. (Id.) Hale has failed to plead “facts from which a plausible inference can be drawn that the action was
not reasonably related to a legitimate penological interest.” Gee, 627 F.3d at 1188. Accordingly, the Court finds that Hale has pled only conclusory allegations of mail withholding or delay, and thus dismisses the remainder of Claims 15 and 21 without
prejudice.
E. Claim 20
Claim 20 alleges that Defendants engaged in First Amendment retaliation by punishing Hale for asking his mother to sell his possessions to cover his legal costs. (ECF No. 1 ¶¶ 87–90.) Hale claims that in response to his conversation with his
mother, Defendants issued him an incident report for conducting a business and found him guilty of that offense at a “supposed hearing.” (Id. ¶ 89.) The Recommendation recommended dismissing this claim because Hale was not engaged in constitutionally
protected activity. (ECF No. 89 at 27.) Hale objects to the Recommendation on the grounds that the First Amendment protects more than just expressive speech, and that speech designed to pay legal bills must be protected. (ECF No. 91 at 27.)
“Not all speech is of equal First Amendment importance,” and First Amendment protections for “matters of purely private significance” are less rigorous than those for matters of public interest. Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 443, 452 (2011). The Seventh
Circuit considered a similar question in King v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, 415 F.3d 634 (7th Cir. 2005). In that case, a prisoner attempted to communicate with his stock broker to sell certain holdings. The Seventh Circuit held that “an order to sell, like a threat intended to intimidate, is not the kind of verbal act that the First Amendment protects” because “[i]t has no connection to the marketplace of ideas and opinions, whether political, scientific, aesthetic, or even commercial.” Id. at 637 (citations omitted). Under the circumstances presented here, the Court agrees. Hale has not stated a First Amendment constitutional right, and therefore cannot state a claim for First Amendment retaliation. The Court will dismiss the claim with prejudice.
F. Claim 12
Claim 12 alleges that Defendants violated Hale’s right to due process by failing to provide Hale with a hearing before restricting calls with his mother. (ECF No. 1 ¶¶ 54–56.) Judge Crews recommended dismissing the claim because Hale failed to
“allege a liberty interest such that he was entitled to any due process.” (ECF No. 89 at 29.) The Recommendation noted that the “Tenth Circuit has consistently found that a prisoner does not derive a liberty interest in visitation and telephone privileges from the Constitution.” (Id. (citing Coleman v. Long, 772 F. App’x 647, 649 (10th Cir. 2019).) Hale objected, arguing that he should be allowed to pursue his claim “in order to obtain . . . a modification of that law.” (ECF No. 91 at 28.)
Hale effectively concedes that under existing precedent, he has no constitutional right to make a personal telephone call and thus cannot state a due process claim .While he argues that it is “plausible that the Tenth Circuit could ultimately change its
view on this matter,” he cites no authority to support his contention. Whether that is true or not, the Court is bound by current Tenth Circuit precedent. And under that precedent, Hale has failed to state a cognizable legal claim because he does not have
a constitutional right to make telephone calls.
G. Qualified Immunity
“Qualified immunity shields federal and state officials from money damages unless a plaintiff pleads facts showing (1) that the official violated a statutory or constitutional right, and (2) that the right was ‘clearly established’ at the time of the
challenged conduct.” Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 735 (2011). This Court has discretion to address the “clearly established” element before addressing whether a constitutional violation actually occurred. Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 236
(2009). Once the defendant raises a qualified immunity defense, the burden shifts to the plaintiff to demonstrate that the law was clearly established at the relevant time. Thomas v. Kaven, 765 F.3d 1183, 1194 (10th Cir. 2014); Lybrook v. Members of
Farmington Mun. Sch. Bd. of Educ., 232 F.3d 1334, 1337 (10th Cir. 2000). As discussed above, Hale has failed to allege that any Defendant violated a statutory or constitutional right. Accordingly, Defendants are entitled to qualified immunity on their claims.
H. Bivens Claims
Defendants submit a limited objection to address an issue not decided by Judge Crews, namely that “none of Plaintiff’s individual-capacity claims are cognizable under Bivens,” and to preserve their rights to press their argument in the future. (ECF No. 90 at 2.) The Court recognizes Defendants’ concern, but finds that it has become unnecessary to address Defendants’ Bivens arguments, given that the Court will dismiss all of Hale’s claims.
V. MOTIONS TO INTERVENE (ECF NOS. 17, 26, 28, 31, 37, 39, 53 & 78)
Given the foregoing, there are no claims remaining in this case, and the Motions to Intervene are moot. Nonetheless, because some of Hale’s claims are dismissed without prejudice and thus subject to amendment, the Court will briefly address the
merits of the Motions to Intervene.
Judge Crews recommended that the Motions to Intervene be denied. (ECFNo. 89 at 31.) The Recommendation advised the parties that specific written objections were due within fourteen days after being served with a copy of the Recommendation.
(Id. at 39.) Despite this advisement, no party or proposed intervenor objected to this portion of the Recommendation.
The Court has reviewed the Recommendation on the Motions to Intervene. The Court concludes that the Magistrate Judge’s analysis was thorough and sound, and that there is no clear error on the face of the records See Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b) advisory
committee’s note; see also Summers, 927 F.2d at 1167.
VI. CONCLUSION
For the reasons set forth above, the Court ORDERS as follows:
1. The Magistrate Judge’s February 2, 2020 Recommendation (ECF No. 89) is
ADOPTED as modified;
2. Plaintiff’s Objection (ECF No. 91) is OVERRULED;
3. Defendants’ Objection (ECF No. 90) is OVERRULED;
4. Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration (ECF No. 23) is DENIED;
5. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 48) is GRANTED as follows:
a. Claims 10, 11, 12 and 20 are DISMISSED W ITH PREJUDICE;
b. Claims 15 and 21 are DISMISSED WITH PREJUDICE to the extent that
they relate to Creativity, and otherwise DISMISSED WITHOUT
PREJUDICE; and c. Claim 1 is DISMISSED WITHOUT PREJUDICE;
6. The Motions to Intervene (ECF Nos. 17, 26, 28, 31, 37, 39, 53 & 78) are
DENIED;
7. Solely in the interest of justice, the Court grants Plaintiff leave to file a Motion for
Leave to File an Amended Complaint by no later than April 27, 2020. Any
proposed Amended Complaint must be limited solely to those claims
dismissed without prejudice by the terms of this Order; and
8. In the event Plaintiff fails to file a timely Motion for Leave to File an Amended
Complaint, the Clerk of Court shall enter a final judgment in favor of Defendants
on all claims, and terminate this action.
Dated this 30th day of March, 2020.
BY THE COURT:
William J. MartÃnez
United States District Judge