LEWIS v. GOVERNOR OF ALABAMA

No. 17-11009.

944 F.3d 1287 (2019)

Marnika LEWIS, Antoin Adams, Alabama State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Greater Birmingham Ministries, Marika Coleman, John Rogers, Priscilla Dunn, Juandalynn Givan, Louise Alexander, William Muhammad, Rodger Smitherman, Oliver Robinson, Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, Mary Moore, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. GOVERNOR OF ALABAMA, in her Official Capacity as Governor of the State of Alabama, Attorney General, State of Alabama, in his Official Capacity as Attorney General of the State of Alabama, State of Alabama, The, Birmingham, City of, The, Mayor of Birmingham, in his official Capacity as Mayor of Birmingham, Defendants-Appellees.

United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit.

December 13, 2019.


Attorney(s) appearing for the Case

Barbara Jane Chisholm , Altshuler Berzon, LLP, San Francisco, CA, Richard Paul Rouco , Glen M. Connor , George Nicholas Davies , Quinn Connor Weaver Davies & Rouco, LLP, Birmingham, AL, Mary Joyce Carlson , Law Office of Mary Joyce Carlson, Washington, DC, Edward Still , Edward Still Law Firm, LLC, Birmingham, AL, Robert H. Stroup , Levy Ratner, PC, New York, NY, Joe R. Whatley, Jr. , Whatley Kallas, LLP, New York, NY, for Plaintiffs-Appellants Marnika Lewis, Antoin Adams, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Greater Birmingham Ministries.

James Uriah Blacksher , Attorney at Law, Birmingham, AL, U. W. Clemon , U.W. Clemon, LLC, Birmingham, AL, Edward Still , for Plaintiffs-Appellants Marika Coleman, John Rogers, Priscilla Dunn, Juandalynn Givan, Louise Alexander, William Muhammad, Rodger Smitherman, Oliver Robinson, Alabama Legislative Black Caucus, Mary Moore.

William Glenn Parker, Jr. , David B. Byrne, Jr. , Office of the Governor, Montgomery, AL, James W. Davis , Edmund Gerard LaCour, Jr. , Steven Marshall , Alabama Attorney General's Office, Montgomery, AL, for Defendant-Appellee Governor of Alabama.

James W. Davis , Edmund Gerard LaCour, Jr. , Steven Marshall , Alabama Attorney General's Office, Montgomery, AL, for Defendant-Appellee Attorney General, State of Alabama.

William Glenn Parker, Jr. , Office of the Governor, Montgomery, AL, Edmund Gerard LaCour, Jr. , Steven Marshall , Alabama Attorney General's Office, Montgomery, AL, for Defendant-Appellee State of Alabama.

Fredric L. Fullerton, II , Kayla Lawrence , City of Birmingham Law Department, Birmingham, AL, for Defendants-Appellees Birmingham, City of, William A. Bell, Sr.

Samuel Jacob Brooke , Southern Poverty Law Center, Montgomery, AL, Miya Chen , Benjamin Beach , The Partnership for Working Families, Oakland, CA, for Amicus Curiae The Partnership for Working Families.

Jon M. Greenbaum , Dariely Rodriguez , Ezra D. Rosenberg , Thomas Samuel Silverstein , Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC, Michael N. Litrownik , Bromberg Law Office, PC, New York, NY, for Amicus Curiae Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights under Law.

Pamela S. Karlan , Stanford Law School, Mills Legal Clinic, Stanford Law School, STANFORD, CA, Joyce White Vance , University of Alabama School of Law, Birmingham, AL, for Amici Curiae Susan Ashmore, Wayne Flynt, Hasan Jeffries, J. Morgan Kousser, Peyton McCrary, Patricia Sullivan.

Samuel Jacob Brooke , Southern Poverty Law Center, Montgomery, AL, for Amicus Curiae Southern Poverty Law Center.

Amy Farr Robertson , Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center, Denver, CO, for Amici Curiae Kasim Reed, Andrew Gillum, Karen Freeman-Wilson, Oliver G. Gilbert, III, Local Progress.

Deuel Ross , NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., New York, NY, Amici Curiae NAACP Legal Defense, Educational Fund, Inc., Campaign Legal Center.

Albert Loring Vreeland, II , Lehr Middlebrooks Vreeland & Thompson, PC, Birmingham, AL, for Amici Curiae Alabama Retail Association, Business Council of Alabama, Alabama Restaurant & Hospitality Association, Alabama Grocers Association, Alabama Policy Institute, National Restaurant Association, Asian American Hotel Owners Association, National Federation of Independent Business.

Jason R. LaFond , Attorney General's Office, Austin, TX, for Amici Curiae, The State of Texas, The State of Arkansas, The State of Georgia, The State of Indiana, The State of Louisiana, The State of Missouri.

Michael E. Rosman , Center for Individual Rights, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae Center for Individual Rights.

Paul DeCamp , Epstein Becker & Green, PC, Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae Restaurant Law Center.

JORDAN, Circuit Judge, filed a dissenting opinion, in which WILSON, MARTIN, ROSENBAUM, and JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judges, joined.


This case arises out of a political tug-of-war between the State of Alabama and the City of Birmingham over economic policy —in particular, over minimum-wage rates. We'll delve into the details soon enough, but here's the short story: In 2015, the Birmingham City Council petitioned the Alabama Legislature to raise the...

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