Frank v. Minnesota Newspaper Ass’n, 490 U.S. 225 (1989)

Frank v. Minnesota Newspaper Association, Inc.


No. 87-1956


Argued March 22, 1989
Decided April 25, 1989
490 U.S. 225

ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR
THE DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA

Syllabus

Appellee filed suit in the District Court to bar enforcement of 18 U.S.C. § 1302 -- which, inter alia, prohibits the mailing of any "publication of any kind . . . containing any list of the prizes drawn or awarded by means of" a lottery, gift enterprise, or scheme offering prizes dependent in whole or in part upon lot or chance -- based on the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The court found § 1302 valid as applied to advertisements, but unconstitutional as applied to prize lists. After appellants sought review of the ruling on prize lists and appellee cross-appealed from the ruling on advertisements, Congress passed two laws affecting §1302’s coverage. The parties have agreed to dismiss the cross-appeal.

Held: The appeal on the issue whether § 1302 is constitutional as applied to prize lists is moot. Since appellants now take the position that the statute does not apply to the noncommercial publishing of prize lists, appellee is willing to forgo any further claim to the declaratory and equitable relief sought in its complaint. Thus, there is no longer any live controversy.

677 F.Supp. 1400, vacated and remanded.