Opinion

Deanna Robinson v. Hunt County, Texas

  • 921 F.3d 440
Court
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Filed
Apr 15, 2019
Status
Published
Author
Higginson
On the bench
Jolly, Dennis, Higginson
Nature of suit
Civil Rights
Cited by
95 cases
Authority
More cited than 88.5%

concluding that the practice of deleting comments and blocking users from an official Facebook page constituted viewpoint discrimination because the page’s administrator removed comments specifically criticizing the page’s policy as “expressing a policy of deleting and censoring protected speech” and banned those who posted them

How later courts described this case

  • concluding that the practice of deleting comments and blocking users from an official Facebook page constituted viewpoint discrimination because the page’s administrator removed comments specifically criticizing the page’s policy as “expressing a policy of deleting and censoring protected speech” and banned those who posted them
  • finding viewpoint discrimination where government officials deleted the plaintiff’s Facebook comment and banned her from their Facebook page, regardless of whether the government officials were motivated by the plaintiff’s criticism of their office or by a determination that her comment was otherwise “inappropriate”
  • explaining that the plaintiff’s request for a declaratory judgment as a remedy for her constitutional claims is not duplicative of her claims for damages because “[t]his request for prospective relief appears distinct from her claim for monetary damages”
  • holding that when a district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction is reversed as erroneous and unresolved issues remain, the appropriate course is to “remand for the district court to reconsider [the movant’s] preliminary injunction motion”

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

Case: 18-10238 Document: 00514916211 Page: 1 Date Filed: 04/15/2019

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT

United States Court of Appeals

Fifth Circuit

No. 18-10238 FILED

April 15, 2019

Lyle W. Cayce

DEANNA J. ROBINSON, Clerk

Plaintiff - Appellant

v.

HUNT COUNTY, TEXAS; RANDY MEEKS, in his individual capacity and

official capacity; JOHN DOES 1-10, in their individual capacities and their

official capacities; JEFFERY HAINES, in his individual capacity and official

capacity; DESTINY TWEEDY, in her individual capacity and official

capacity; JACOB SMITH, in his individual capacity and official capacity,

Defendants - Appellees

Appeals from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Texas

Before JOLLY, DENNIS, and HIGGINSON, Circuit Judges.

STEPHEN A. HIGGINSON, Circuit Judge:

Deanna J. Robinson sued Defendants Hunt County, Sheriff Randy

Meeks, and several employees of the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO),

alleging unconstitutional censorship on the HCSO Facebook page. The district

court denied a preliminary injunction and later dismissed the complaint for

failure to state a claim. Robinson appeals both decisions. We affirm the

dismissal of Robinson’s claims against the individual defendants and reverse

the dismissal of her claims against Hunt County. In addition, we vacate the

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No. 18-10238

district court’s preliminary injunction order and remand for further

proceedings.

I.

The Hunt County Sheriff’s Office, led by Sheriff Randy Meeks, maintains

a Facebook page. During the time period relevant to this litigation, the “About”

section of the HCSO Facebook page stated: “Welcome to the official Hunt

County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. We welcome your input and POSITIVE

comments regarding the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office.” The page description

further stated: “The purpose of this site is to present matters of public interest

within Hunt County, Texas. We encourage you to submit comments, but please

note that this is NOT a public forum.”

On January 18, 2017, the HCSO Facebook account posted this message:

We find it suspicious that the day after a North Texas Police

Officer is murdered we have received several anti police calls in

the office as well as people trying to degrade or insult police officers

on this page. ANY post filled with foul language, hate speech of all

types and comments that are considered inappropriate will be

removed and the user banned. There are a lot of families on this

page and it is for everyone and therefore we monitor it extremely

closely. Thank you for your understanding.

Robinson alleges that the HCSO Facebook page is a public forum and that this

post “reflects a deliberately overbroad and vague stated procedure and/or

policy intended to chill critical, unpopular, or unfavorable speech from the

public on the HCSO Facebook page.”

According to the complaint, Robinson and other Facebook users

commented on the January 18, 2017 post and criticized it “for expressing a

policy of deleting and censoring protected speech.” Specifically, Robinson

posted a comment stating that “degrading or insulting police officers is not

illegal, and in fact has been ruled time and time again, by multiple US courts

as protected First Amendment speech,” and “just because you consider a

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comment to be ‘inappropriate’ doesn’t give you the legal right to delete it and/or

ban a private citizen from commenting on this TAX PAYER funded social

media site.” Robinson also made highly offensive remarks about HCSO and the

deceased police officer referenced in the January 18 Facebook post.

Robinson alleges that, soon after she posted this comment, the

defendants removed her comment and banned her from the HCSO Facebook

page. The defendants also allegedly “removed several other public comments

that expressed viewpoints critical of [d]efendants’ stated policy of deleting and

censoring protected speech, as well as other viewpoints unfavorable to

[d]efendants.” The complaint offers several examples of comments by other

users that were allegedly deleted, including comments stating: “Just stopping

by to see if your [sic] deleting posts” and “This is a public forum and deleting

comments is paramount to shredding files you don’t like.” Robinson represents

that she remains banned from commenting on the HCSO Facebook page.

On February 23, 2017, Robinson sued Hunt County, Sheriff Meeks, and

multiple unnamed defendants in federal district court. She later amended her

complaint to add HCSO employees Jeffery Haines, Destiny Tweedy, and Jacob

Smith as individual defendants. Robinson alleges that the defendants violated

her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights by engaging in viewpoint

discrimination on the HCSO Facebook page, retaliating against her for her

protected speech, placing an impermissible prior restraint on her speech, and

deleting protected speech and banning her from the HCSO Facebook page

without due process. The complaint further asserts that Hunt County has an

official policy or longstanding custom of removing and censoring unfavorable

speech on the HCSO Facebook page, and that this policy was developed,

ratified, and enforced by Sheriff Meeks or another defendant with final

policymaking authority over law enforcement in Hunt County.

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Robinson moved for a preliminary injunction requiring the defendants to

release her ban from the HCSO Facebook page, restore her deleted comments,

and cease deleting comments or banning individuals from the Facebook page

on the basis of viewpoint. The district court denied a preliminary injunction,

and later dismissed Robinson’s complaint for failure to state a claim. Robinson

timely appealed these decisions.

II.

We first address the dismissal of the individual defendants. The

complaint states that each defendant is being sued in his or her individual

capacity as to monetary damages, and in his or her official capacity as to

injunctive and declaratory relief. The district court dismissed the individual

capacity claims based on qualified immunity. The court also dismissed the

official capacity claims after finding that they duplicated the claims against

Hunt County. Robinson does not challenge either of these rulings.

Instead, Robinson argues that she should have the opportunity to pursue

equitable relief against the individual defendants in their individual rather

than official capacities. This is inconsistent with the text of the complaint,

which specifies that each individual defendant is being sued in his or her

“individual capacity as to monetary damages” and “official capacity as to

injunctive and declaratory relief.” Robinson nonetheless contends that her

individual capacity claims were sufficient to put the defendants on notice that

they were being sued in both their individual and official capacities.

“A person’s capacity need not be pled except to the extent required to

show the jurisdiction of the court.” Parker v. Graves, 479 F.2d 335, 336 (5th

Cir. 1973) (per curiam) (citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 9(a)). This principle, however,

does not give a plaintiff free rein to change her capacity allegations at any time

in the litigation. To determine whether a defendant is being sued in his or her

official or individual capacity, we examine “[t]he allegations in the complaint,”

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id., and “[t]he course of proceedings,” Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 167

n.14 (1985) (quoting Brandon v. Holt, 469 U.S. 464, 469 (1985)). Here, both the

complaint and the course of proceedings demonstrate that Robinson sought

prospective relief against the defendants in their official capacities only.

Robinson has not indicated that she ever informed the district court that she

wished to pursue equitable relief against the individual defendants in their

individual capacities. See United States ex rel. Adrian v. Regents of Univ. of

Cal., 363 F.3d 398, 402–03 (5th Cir. 2004) (affirming the dismissal of individual

employees when the defendants argued before the district court that the

employees “were only named in their official capacity” and the plaintiff “never

challenged this assertion”). A district court considering a motion to dismiss is

not obligated to imagine potential claims that a plaintiff has not raised.

The only claims before the district court as to the individual defendants

were Robinson’s individual-capacity claims for monetary damages and her

official-capacity claims for equitable relief. Because Robinson does not appeal

the district court’s rulings on either of these issues, we affirm the dismissal of

her claims against the individual defendants.

III.

We review de novo the district court’s dismissal of Robinson’s claims

against Hunt County, “accepting all well-pleaded facts in the complaint as true

and viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff.” Raj v. La. State Univ.,

714 F.3d 322, 329–30 (5th Cir. 2013). To survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to

dismiss, the “complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as

true, to ‘state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.’” Ashcroft v. Iqbal,

556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570

(2007)). “A claim has facial plausibility when the plaintiff pleads factual

content that allows the court to draw the reasonable inference that the

defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged.” Id.

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To state a claim for municipal liability under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, a plaintiff

must allege “(1) an official policy (or custom), of which (2) a policy maker can

be charged with actual or constructive knowledge, and (3) a constitutional

violation whose ‘moving force’ is that policy (or custom).” Pineda v. City of

Houston, 291 F.3d 325, 328 (5th Cir. 2002); see also Monell v. Dep’t of Soc.

Servs., 436 U.S. 658, 694 (1978). This “policy or custom” requirement extends

to claims for injunctive and declaratory relief. Los Angeles County v.

Humphries, 562 U.S. 29, 31 (2010).

A.

As a threshold matter, Robinson must plead a constitutional violation. 1

The complaint alleges that the defendants deleted Robinson’s Facebook

comment and banned her from the HCSO Facebook page on the basis of her

viewpoint. Robinson contends that the defendants’ actions constitute

viewpoint discrimination regardless of whether they were motivated by her

criticism of the Sheriff’s Office or a determination that her comment was

otherwise “inappropriate.” We agree. “It is firmly settled that under our

Constitution the public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely

because the ideas are themselves offensive to some of their hearers.” Street v.

New York, 394 U.S. 576, 592 (1969); see also Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S 443,

454–56 (2011). Official censorship based on a state actor’s subjective judgment

that the content of protected speech is offensive or inappropriate is viewpoint

1 Hunt County urges us to avoid all constitutional issues in this case and affirm

on the basis that Robinson failed to sufficiently allege an official policy. Yet, as outlined

below, we cannot evaluate whether an official policy was the moving force behind a violation

of Robinson’s constitutional rights without analysis of what conduct the First Amendment

prohibits.

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discrimination. 2 See Matal v. Tam, 137 S. Ct. 1744, 1763 (2017); see also id. at

1766 (Kennedy, J., concurring).

Robinson further contends that the HCSO Facebook page is analogous

to an interactive public meeting and is therefore a designated public forum or

at least a limited public forum subject to First Amendment scrutiny. See

Davison v. Randall, 912 F.3d 666, 688 (4th Cir. 2019) (holding that “the

interactive component” of a public official’s Facebook page was a public forum).

The complaint alleges that the defendants “present matters of local public

interest on the HCSO Facebook page through frequent postings” and “willingly

and knowingly created and configured the HCSO Facebook page to be open to

the public and allow page visitors to interact openly with the page, its content

and fellow page visitors through commenting, likes, and shares.”

Hunt County offers no argument that the HCSO Facebook page is not a

public or limited public forum. Nor did the district court address this issue. We

therefore assume for the purposes of this case that the HCSO Facebook page

is a forum subject to First Amendment protection. Because Robinson alleges

viewpoint discrimination, it is immaterial whether the Facebook page is

analyzed as a limited or designated public forum. See id. at 687. The First

Amendment “forbid[s] the State to exercise viewpoint discrimination” in either

setting, “even when the limited public forum is one of its own creation.”

Rosenberger v. Rector and Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U.S. 819, 829 (1995).

We next address whether the constitutional violations alleged in the

complaint are attributable to Hunt County.

2 Hunt County does not appear to contest that Robinson’s Facebook comment is

protected speech.

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B.

“The County can be responsible for actions of a final policymaker who

has ‘the responsibility for making law or setting policy in any given area of a

local government’s business.’” Culbertson v. Lykos, 790 F.3d 608, 624 (5th Cir.

2015) (quoting City of St. Louis v. Praprotnik, 485 U.S. 112, 125 (1988)). “[T]he

identity of the policymaker is a question of law, not of fact—specifically, a

question of state law.” Groden v. City of Dallas, Tex., 826 F.3d 280, 284 (5th

Cir. 2016). Robinson contends that Sheriff Meeks has final policymaking

authority over the HCSO Facebook page. Hunt County maintains that the

Hunt County Commissioners’ Court is the relevant final policymaker.

“[I]n Texas, the county sheriff is the county’s final policymaker in the

area of law enforcement, not by virtue of delegation by the county’s governing

body but, rather, by virtue of the office to which the sheriff has been elected.”

Turner v. Upton County, Tex. 915 F.2d 133, 136 (5th Cir. 1990); see also Bennett

v. Pippin, 74 F.3d 578, 586 (5th Cir. 1996). Thus, the sheriff’s “actions are as

much the actions of the county as the actions of th[e] [county] commissioners.”

Turner, 915 F.2d at 137. The decision to create a Facebook page falls squarely

within the sheriff’s power to “‘define objectives and choose the means of

achieving them’ without county supervision.” Id. at 136 (quoting Rhode v.

Denson, 776 F.2d 107, 109 (5th Cir. 1985)); see also Colle v. Brazos County,

Tex., 981 F.2d 237, 244 (5th Cir. 1993) (explaining that the sheriff “clearly set

the goals for the county and determined how those goals would be achieved”).

The HCSO Facebook page is described as “the official Hunt County

Sheriff’s Office Facebook page,” not as a page for Hunt County generally. It

includes contact information for the Sheriff’s Office and advises users to dial

911 if they experience an emergency or need police assistance. The HCSO

Facebook page also invites input and comments regarding the Sheriff’s Office.

Hunt County’s argument that the Commissioners’ Court has not delegated

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social media authority to Sheriff Meeks is unavailing. The sheriff’s authority

over the HCSO Facebook page derives from his elected position, “not by virtue

of delegation by the county’s governing body.” Turner, 915 F.2d at 136.

Accordingly, Sheriff Meeks is the final policymaker with regard to the HCSO

Facebook page.

C.

Hunt County is nonetheless subject to liability only if the alleged

constitutional violations are “directly attributable to the municipality through

some sort of official action or imprimatur; isolated unconstitutional actions by

municipal employees will almost never trigger liability.” Piotrowski v. City of

Houston, 237 F.3d 567, 578 (5th Cir. 2001) (footnote omitted). A policy giving

rise to § 1983 liability “may be officially promulgated by the governing body,

by an official to which policy-making authority has been properly delegated, or

by officials or employees of the municipality through a ‘persistent, widespread

practice’ that is ‘so common and well settled as to constitute a custom that

fairly represents municipal policy.’” Culbertson, 790 F.3d at 628 (quoting

Webster v. City of Houston, 735 F.2d 838, 841 (5th Cir. 1984)).

Robinson has sufficiently pleaded an official policy of viewpoint

discrimination on the HCSO Facebook page. The complaint alleges that, on

January 18, 2017, the HCSO account posted a message warning that “ANY

post filled with foul language, hate speech of all types and comments that are

considered inappropriate will be removed and the user banned.” 3 As discussed

above, a policy of deleting “inappropriate” comments is viewpoint

discriminatory. That the January 18, 2017 post was made in the name of the

HCSO lends it some official imprimatur, and gives rise to a reasonable

3 The complaint also alleges that the HCSO Facebook page explicitly calls for

only “POSITIVE comments regarding the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office.”

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inference that the statement “can be fairly identified as” an action “of the

government itself.” Piotrowski, 237 F.3d at 578; see also Groden, 826 F.3d at

286 (explaining that an “allegation that an official city spokesperson

announced an official city policy allows for a reasonable pleading inference that

this crackdown policy was attributable to an official policy made by the

policymaker of the city”).

Robinson further alleges that she wrote a critical comment in response

to the January 18 post and that HCSO took precisely the actions threatened in

the post: removing her comment and banning her from the page. Unfavorable

comments by other Facebook users on the same post were also allegedly

deleted. These allegations are sufficient to state a claim that HCSO’s policy

was the “moving force” behind the violation of Robinson’s constitutional

rights. 4 Piotrowski, 237 F.3d at 578; see also Groden, 826 F.3d at 286–87. Hunt

County’s reliance on Peterson v. City of Fort Worth, Tex., 588 F.3d 838 (5th Cir.

2009), is inapposite because the plaintiff in that case could point to “no written

policy supporting his claim of municipal liability” and instead attempted to

establish the existence of an official policy through a pattern of violations. Id.

at 850. Robinson, by contrast, has plausibly alleged that Hunt County had an

explicit policy of viewpoint discrimination on the HCSO Facebook page. 5

4 Hunt County’s argument that Facebook may be responsible for the deletion of

Robinson’s post and her inability to comment on the HCSO Facebook page is unavailing at

this stage of the proceedings. Hunt County “may well be entitled to summary judgment” if

discovery reveals that it is not responsible for the conduct alleged. Groden, 826 F.3d at 286

n.8. For the purposes of Rule 12(b)(6), however, we must accept Robinson’s well-pleaded

factual allegations as true. Iqbal, 556 U.S. at 678.

5 In addition to her First Amendment free speech claim, Robinson asserts claims

for First Amendment retaliation, prior restraint, and a violation of due process. The district

court dismissed these claims for the same reasons it dismissed the First Amendment claim,

and Hunt County does not urge different grounds for dismissal on appeal. We therefore

reinstate all of Robinson’s constitutional claims against Hunt County.

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D.

Robinson requests a declaratory judgment that the defendants’

administration of the HCSO Facebook page violates the First and Fourteenth

Amendments, and that her ongoing ban from the page is an impermissible

prior restraint. The district court dismissed this request on grounds

independent of the constitutional issues discussed above—namely, that it is

duplicative of other claims in the lawsuit. We review the dismissal of a claim

for declaratory judgment for abuse of discretion. Sherwin-Williams Co. v.

Holmes County, 343 F.3d 383, 389 (5th Cir. 2003). The district court abuses its

discretion if it fails to consider relevant factors, including “the purposes of the

Declaratory Judgment Act.” Travelers Ins. Co. v. La. Farm Bureau Fed., Inc.,

996 F.2d 774, 778 (5th Cir. 1993).

The Declaratory Judgment Act was “expressly designed to provide a

milder alternative to the injunction remedy.” Morrow v. Harwell, 768 F.2d 619,

627 (5th Cir. 1985) (quotation omitted). A party may pursue both injunctive

and declaratory relief, and “[a] court may grant declaratory relief even though

it chooses not to issue an injunction or mandamus.” Powell v. McCormack, 395

U.S. 486, 499 (1969); see also Poe v. Gerstein, 417 U.S. 281, 281 (1974) (holding

that the district court properly refused to issue an injunction when “it was

anticipated that the State would respect the declaratory judgment”); Davison

v. Loudoun County Bd. of Supervisors, 267 F. Supp. 3d 702, 722–23 (E.D. Va.

2017) (denying injunctive relief but granting a declaratory judgment that a

public official’s Facebook page operates as a forum for speech and that

viewpoint discrimination in administering this forum violates the First

Amendment). To the extent the district court determined that Robinson’s

declaratory judgment claims are redundant of her claims for injunctive relief,

this conclusion is inconsistent with the purposes of the Declaratory Judgment

Act and therefore an abuse of discretion.

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Nor is Robinson’s request for declaratory relief duplicative of her claims

for compensatory damages. Hunt County relies on multiple district court

breach of contract cases to argue that declaratory judgment claims are

regularly dismissed if they add nothing to the lawsuit. See, e.g., Flanagan v.

Chesapeake Exp., LLC, No. 3:15-CV-0222, 2015 WL 6736648, at *4 (N.D. Tex.

Nov. 4, 2015) (collecting cases). In certain breach of contract contexts, district

courts have concluded that a declaratory judgment is unnecessary because

“[r]esolving the breach of contract claim would resolve any future uncertainty”

between the parties. Id. at *5; see also Albritton Props. v. Am. Empire Surplus

Lines, No. 3:04-CV-2531, 2005 WL 975423, at *3 (N.D. Tex. April 25, 2005)

(explaining that “the Court must necessarily determine the parties’ rights and

duties under the Policy in order to decide the breach of contract action,” and “a

declaratory judgment would simply duplicate this determination”).

The constitutional claims at issue in this case are dissimilar from a

breach of contract action, and the district court’s dismissal order does not

explain how resolving Robinson’s other claims would render a declaratory

judgment superfluous. For instance, Robinson seeks a declaration that Hunt

County may not continue to ban her from the HCSO Facebook page. This

request for prospective relief appears distinct from her claim for monetary

damages. Given our holding that Robinson stated a claim against Hunt

County, the district court may wish to retain the option of granting a

declaratory judgment if Robinson is able to establish her entitlement to such

relief.

Accordingly, we reverse the dismissal of Robinson’s claims against Hunt

County. 6

6 The district court also held that Hunt County is immune from punitive

damages under § 1983. Robinson has not appealed this determination, and the complaint

appears to request punitive damages only as to the individual defendants. To the extent

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IV.

Finally, Robinson appeals the denial of her motion for a preliminary

injunction. We review the denial of a preliminary injunction for abuse of

discretion. Moore v. Brown, 868 F.3d 398, 402 (5th Cir. 2017). “Factual findings

are reviewed for clear error, while legal conclusions are reviewed de novo.” Id.

at 403. A court should issue a preliminary injunction “if the movant

establishes: (1) a substantial likelihood of success on the merits, (2) a

substantial threat of irreparable injury if the injunction is not issued, (3) that

the threatened injury if the injunction is denied outweighs any harm that will

result if the injunction is granted, and (4) that the grant of an injunction will

not disserve the public interest.” Speaks v. Kruse, 445 F.3d 396, 399–400 (5th

Cir. 2006) (quotation omitted).

Robinson requested a preliminary injunction requiring the defendants to

restore her ability to engage in expressive activity on the HCSO Facebook page,

restore her deleted comments, cease deleting “comments, ‘likes,’ or other

expressive activity” stating viewpoints on matters of public concern, and cease

banning individuals from the HCSO Facebook page on the basis of viewpoint.

This motion was referred to a magistrate judge, who recommended that a

preliminary injunction be denied. After considering Robinson’s objections, the

district court accepted the magistrate judge’s findings, conclusions, and

recommendation in full.

The magistrate judge concluded that Robinson did not have a likelihood

of success on the merits because the removal of her post would likely be

construed to comply with Facebook’s policies. This was legal error. “The

Constitution constrains governmental action ‘by whatever instruments or in

Robinson seeks punitive damages against Hunt County, we affirm the district court’s ruling

on this issue. See City of Newport v. Fact Concerts, Inc., 453 U.S. 247, 271 (1981).

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whatever modes that action may be taken.’” Lebron v. Nat’l R.R. Passenger

Corp., 513 U.S. 374, 392 (1995) (quoting Ex parte Virginia, 100 U.S. 339, 346–

47 (1880)). Robinson has not challenged Facebook’s right to enforce its own

policies. Rather, her position is that “it is the government itself that is

attempting in this case to decide whether the relevant audience would find the

speech offensive.” Matal, 137 S. Ct. at 1767 (Kennedy, J., concurring)

(emphasis added). A private policy cannot authorize a state actor to engage in

conduct that violates the Constitution. See, e.g., Griffin v. Maryland, 378 U.S.

130, 135–37 (1964); Pennsylvania v. Bd. of Directors of City Trusts of

Philadelphia, 353 U.S. 230, 231 (1957).

Alternatively, the magistrate judge determined that Robinson failed to

demonstrate a substantial likelihood of prevailing on the merits because it

would not be clear to a reasonable officer that attempting to comply with

Facebook’s policies would violate the First Amendment. This reflects the

standard for qualified immunity. See Ashcroft v. al-Kidd, 563 U.S. 731, 741–43

(2011). Qualified immunity, however, is a defense to monetary damages and

“do[es] not extend to suits for injunctive relief under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.” Valley

v. Rapides Parish School Bd., 118 F.3d 1047, 1051 n.1 (5th Cir. 1997). Robinson

is not required to demonstrate a violation of clearly established law to obtain

a preliminary injunction.

Hunt County urges us to affirm the denial of a preliminary injunction on

the alternative grounds that Robinson is unable to prove that her rights were

violated by a policy or custom of Hunt County, or that any Hunt County

employee deleted her comments or blocked her from the HCSO Facebook page.

The County further contends that Robinson cannot show irreparable harm

because Sheriff Meeks has instructed the HCSO Facebook administrators not

to delete comments or ban users in the future, and no users have had their

comments deleted or their access blocked since January 23, 2017. Robinson

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disputes these factual claims, and points to her affidavit in the record attesting

that she remains banned from commenting on or liking content on the HCSO

Facebook page. The district court did not address or resolve these factual

disputes. In the absence of factual findings from the district court, “we will only

review the district court’s injunction decision ‘when the record is exceptionally

clear and remand would serve no useful purpose.’” Sierra Club, Lone Star

Chapter v. FDIC, 992 F.2d 545, 551 (5th Cir. 1993) (quoting White v. Carlucci,

862 F.2d 1209, 1210 n.1 (5th Cir. 1989)). The factual record in this case is not

clear, and we therefore remand for the district court to reconsider Robinson’s

preliminary injunction motion.

V.

We AFFIRM the dismissal of Robinson’s claims against the individual

defendants and REVERSE the dismissal of her claims against Hunt County.

We VACATE the district court’s order denying a preliminary injunction and

REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

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