United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________

No. 21-3220 ___________________________

Raymond Leon Semler

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellant

v.

Nancy Johnston, Executive Director of MSOP, et al.

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendants - Appellees ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the District of Minnesota ____________

Submitted: February 22, 2022 Filed: February 25, 2022 [Unpublished] ____________

Before LOKEN, ERICKSON, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________

PER CURIAM.

Raymond Semler, who is civilly committed to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP), brought this civil action against MSOP employees alleging that they violated his First Amendment rights by instituting a policy that limited his outside purchases to certain approved vendors. Semler appeals the district court’s1 order granting defendants’ motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim.

After careful de novo review, see Levy v. Ohl, 477 F.3d 988, 991 (8th Cir. 2007), we agree with the district court’s conclusion that the challenged policy was a de minimis restriction. See Senty-Haugen v. Goodno, 462 F.3d 876, 886 n.7 (8th Cir. 2006). We also conclude that the court was not required to issue a report and recommendation before ruling on defendants’ motion to dismiss. See 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(B).

Accordingly, we affirm. See 8th Cir. R. 47B. ______________________________

1 The Honorable Nancy E. Brasel, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota.

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