DAVID L. PICOU, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,
v.
JIM GILLUM, SHERIFF OF PASCO COUNTY, JAMES T. RUSSELL, STATE ATTORNEY, DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES

11th Cir. | 1987-04-03
No. 86-3428
Before TJOFLAT, HATCHETT and CLARK, Circuit Judges.
813 F.2d 1121 Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit (1987) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Holding

The Supreme Court's summary affirmance in Simon v. Sargent does not control this case regarding privacy implications of helmet laws.

Facts & Procedural History

Picou challenged Florida's helmet law, arguing it violated privacy rights. The district court dismissed the claim, relying on a Supreme Court summary …

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.

Topics
Precedential Effect Right To Be Let Alone Summary Affirmance Constitutional Challenge

Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Precedential Effect cases and more on FLexlaw

Opinion of the Court
CLARK, Circuit Judge:

CLARK, Circuit Judge:

This case involves a constitutional challenge to Florida’s “helmet law,” requiring motorcycle operators and passengers to wear protective helmets. Fla.Stat. § 316.-211 (1985). In addition to equal protection and due process challenges, Picou argues that the law violates his right to privacy or “right to be let alone” as those rights have developed in the past two decades of decisions involving abortion, contraception, and other privacy issues. The district court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim on which relief could be granted, relying on the Supreme Court’s summary affirmance in Simon v. Sargent, 346 F.Supp. 277 (D.Mass.), aff'd, 409 U.S. 1020, 93 S.Ct. 463, 34 L.Ed.2d 312 (1972).

In Simon, a three-judge district court panel rejected arguments that a similar Massachusetts helmet law exceeded the state’s police powers and denied the motorcycle operator equal protection by not requiring operators of other motor vehicles to wear helmets. 346 F.Supp. at 279. The Supreme Court affirmed without argument or opinion.

A summary affirmance by the Supreme Court has binding precedential effect. See Hicks v. Miranda, 422 U.S. 332, 344, 95 S.Ct. 2281, 2289, 45 L.Ed.2d 223 (1975). In a summary affirmance, however, the Supreme Court endorses only the result, and not the reasoning, of the court below. See Mandel v. Bradley, 432 U.S. 173, 176, 97 S.Ct. 2238, 2240, 53 L.Ed.2d 199 (1977). “[T]he rationale of the affirmance may not be gleaned solely from the opinion below.” Id. Summary affirmances only “prevent lower courts from coming to opposite conclusions on the precise issues presented and necessarily decided by those actions.” Id. Thus, summary affirmances should not be taken as expressing a view on a legal claim or constitutional theory not presented to the Supreme Court or discussed in the appealed lower court opinion.

In their briefs before this court, all of the parties in this case apparently now agree that the Simon v. Sargent opinion did not address or resolve the privacy implications of motorcycle helmet laws. See Appellant’s Brief at 5-6; Appellee Russell’s Brief at 3; Appellee Gillum’s Brief at 2, 4 (noting but not attacking appellant’s contention that Simon does not address privacy). After reviewing the Simon opinion ourselves, we agree that it did not resolve the privacy claim, which is based in part on cases issued after the Simon opinion. See, e.g., Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S.Ct. 705, 35 L.Ed.2d 147 (1973).

Thus, the Supreme Court’s summary affirmance in Simon does not control this case. Without expressing a view on the merits of Picou’s claim, we therefore vacate the judgment of the district court and remand this case to that court for consideration ab initio of the privacy claim.

VACATED and REMANDED.

Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus

Citator

Cited By

  • Hand v. Scott, 888 F.3d 1206 (11th Cir. 2018)
    …arily affirmed. Beacham v. Braterman, 396 U.S. 12, 90 S.Ct. 153, 24 L.Ed.2d 11. Summary affirmances "prevent lower courts from coming to opposite conclusions on the precise issues presented and necessarily decided by those actions." Picou v. Gillum, 813 F. 2d 1121, 1122 (11th Cir. 1987) (quotation omitted). Reading the Beacham summary affirmance as foreclosing Fourteenth Amendment claims against Florida's vote restoration scheme is the proper way to understand what the Supreme Court necessarily decided. Th…
  • Picou v. Gillum, 874 F.2d 1519 (11th Cir. 1989)
    …ct court in Simon did not address a privacy claim, the Supreme Court’s summary affirmance in that case was not dispositive. The case was therefore remanded to the district court for consideration of appellant’s privacy argument. See Picou v. Gillum, 813 F. 2d 1121 (11th Cir.1987). The district court held that the Supreme Court’s privacy opinions did not support appellant’s contentions, and upheld the helmet statute. II. This appeal presents us with the latest in a long line of challenges to the constitution…

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw