Civil Procedure & Federal Courts Blog

Big week in the federal courts

Three interesting decisions during the last few days:

• On Thursday, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted President Trump’s motion to dismiss in CREW v. Trump, a case alleging that Trump’s business interests violate the Domestic and Foreign Emoluments Clauses of the United States Constitution. Judge George B. Daniels grants Trump’s Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss, finding that the plaintiffs lack Article III standing. The court also finds that the case presents a non-justiciable political question and that the plaintiffs’ Foreign Emoluments Clause claims are not ripe for adjudication. The courts states, however, that it “does not reach the issue of whether Plaintiffs’ allegations state a cause of action under either the Domestic or Foreign Emoluments Clauses, pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6)” or “whether the payments at issue would constitute an emolument prohibited by either Clause.”

Download CREW v Trump (SDNY Dec 21 2017)

• On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in Hawaii v. Trump, affirming the district court’s order enjoining portions of President Trump’s Proclamation 9645 (also known as Travel Ban 3.0). The per curiam opinion—by Judges Michael Daly Hawkins, Ronald M. Gould, and Richard A. Paez—concludes that the Proclamation exceeds the President’s statutory authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act.The court does not address whether the Proclamation also violates the Establishment Clause. The court does, however, limit the scope of the district court’s preliminary injunction to “foreign nationals who have a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” 

Download Hawaii v Trump (9th Cir Dec 22 2017)

• And on Saturday, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order in ACLUF v. Mattis, denying the Defense Department’s motion to dismiss a petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed on behalf of an American citizen being detained by U.S. forces in Iraq. Judge Tanya S. Chutkan concludes that the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation (ACLUF) has standing under Article III as the detainee’s “next friend.” The court also orders the Defense Department to allow ACLUF “immediate and unmonitored access to the detainee for the sole purpose of determining whether the detainee wishes for the ACLUF to continue this action on his behalf,” and “to refrain from transferring the detainee until the ACLUF informs the court of the detainee’s wishes.”

Download ACLU v Mattis (DDC Dec 23 2017)

 

 

 

 

Ninth Circuit Oral Argument in the Juliana Case: Climate Change, Standing, Mandamus & More

Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard oral argument in United States v. United States District Court for the District of Oregon. The Ninth Circuit is considering the federal government’s petition for a writ of mandamus challenging the district court’s order in Juliana v. United States, 217 F. Supp. 3d 1224 (D. Or. 2016). The district court had denied the government’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit that the court summarized as follows:

Plaintiffs allege defendants have known for more than fifty years that the carbon dioxide (“CO₂”) produced by burning fossil fuels was destabilizing the climate system in a way that would “significantly endanger plaintiffs, with the damage persisting for millenia.” First. Am. Compl. ¶ 1. Despite that knowledge, plaintiffs assert defendants, “[b]y their exercise of sovereign authority over our country’s atmosphere and fossil fuel resources, ... permitted, encouraged, and otherwise enabled continued exploitation, production, and combustion of fossil fuels, ... deliberately allow[ing] atmospheric CO₂ concentrations to escalate to levels unprecedented in human history[.]” Id. ¶ 5. Although many different entities contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, plaintiffs aver defendants bear “a higher degree of responsibility than any other individual, entity, or country” for exposing plaintiffs to the dangers of climate change. Id. ¶ 7. Plaintiffs argue defendants’ actions violate their substantive due process rights to life, liberty, and property, and that defendants have violated their obligation to hold certain natural resources in trust for the people and for future generations.

217 F. Supp. 3d at 1233.

Here is a link to the audio and video of yesterday’s argument.

Here’s coverage from NBC Bay Area and The Mercury News.

 

 

 

Malveaux on Coleman on Women in Complex Litigation

Now on the Courts Law section of JOTWELL is Suzette Malveaux’s essay, A Prescription for Overcoming Gender Inequity in Complex Litigation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come. Suzette reviews Brooke Coleman’s recent article, A Legal Fempire?: Women in Complex Civil Litigation, which is forthcoming in the Indiana Law Journal.

 

 

Two Interesting SCOTUS Cert Grants

Today the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in several cases, including these two:

United States v. Sanchez-Gomez presents the question: “Whether the court of appeals erred in asserting authority to review respondents’ interlocutory challenge to pretrial physical restraints and in ruling on that challenge notwithstanding its recognition that respondents’ individual claims were moot.”

China Agritech, Inc. v. Resh presents the question: “Whether the American Pipe rule tolls statutes of limitations to permit a previously absent class member to bring a subsequent class action outside the applicable limitations period.”

You can find all the cert-stage briefing—and follow the merits briefs as they come in—at the SCOTUSblog case pages for Sanchez-Gomez and China Agritech.

 

 

 

Fourth Annual Junior Scholars’ Conference at Michigan Law School (April 13-14, 2018)

Here is the call for papers: Download Michigan Junior Scholars Conference 2018

The deadline for submitting abstracts is January 8, 2018.

H/T: Paul Caron

 

SCOTUS Cert Grant on Appellate Jurisdiction: Salt River Project v. SolarCity

Today the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement & Power District v. SolarCity Corp. It presents the question: “Whether orders denying state-action immunity to public entities are immediately appealable under the collateral-order doctrine.”

You can find all the cert-stage briefing—and follow the merits briefs as they come in—at SCOTUSblog.