Office of Senator Mark Dayton v. Hanson

• Decision Date: 21 May 2007
• Docket Number: No. 06–618.,06–618.
• Parties: OFFICE OF SENATOR MARK DAYTON, Appellant, v. Brad HANSON.
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

550 U.S. 511

127 S.Ct. 2018

167 L.Ed.2d 898

75 USLW 4327

OFFICE OF SENATOR MARK DAYTON, Appellant,

v.Brad HANSON.

No. 06–618.

Supreme Court of the United States

Argued April 24, 2007.

Decided May 21, 2007.

Syllabus^*

After his discharge from employment with former Senator Dayton, appellee Hanson sued appellant, the Senator's office (Office), invoking the District Court's jurisdiction under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995(Act). The court denied a motion to dismiss based on a claim of immunity under the Constitution's Speech or Debate Clause, and the D.C. Circuit affirmed. The Office then sought to appeal under § 412 of the Act, which authorizes review in this Court of “any ... judgment ... upon the constitutionality of any provision” of the Act.

Held: This Court lacks jurisdiction under § 412 because neither the dismissal denial nor the D.C. Circuit's affirmance can fairly be characterized as a ruling “upon the constitutionality” of any Act provision. The District Court's order does not state any grounds for decision, so it cannot be characterized as a constitutional holding. Moreover, neither the Court of Appeals' rejection of the Office's argument that forcing the Senator to defend against Hanson's allegations would necessarily contravene the Speech or Debate Clause, nor that court's leaving open the possibility that the Clause may limit the proceedings' scope in some respects, qualifies as a ruling on the Act's validity. The Office's argument that the appeals court's holding amounts to a ruling that the Act is constitutional “as applied” cannot be reconciled with § 413's declaration that the Act's authorization to sue “shall not constitute a waiver of ... the privileges of any Senator ... under [the Clause].” Nor do any special circumstances justify exercise of this Court's discretionary certiorari jurisdiction, the D.C. Circuit having abandoned an earlier decision that was in conflict with another Circuit on the Clause's application to suits challenging a congressional Member's personnel decisions. Pp. 2020 – 2021.

459 F.3d 1, appeal dismissed; certiorari denied.

STEVENS, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which all other Members joined, except ROBERTS, C. J., who took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.

Thomas C. Goldstein, William F. Allen, Christopher M. Egleson, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Washington, D.C., Jean M. Manning, Counsel of Record, Toby R. Hyman, Claudia A. Kostel, Dawn Bennett-Ingold, Office of Senate Chief Counsel for Employment, Washington, D.C., for Appellant.

Douglas B. Huron, Richard A. Salzman, Tammany M. Kramer, Heeler, Huron, Chertkof, Lerner, Simon & Salzman, Washington, DC, for Appellee.

Justice STEVENS delivered the opinion of the Court.

Prior to January 3, 2007, Mark Dayton represented the State of Minnesota in the United States Senate. Appellee, Brad Hanson, was employed in the Senator's Ft. Snelling office prior to his discharge by the Senator, which he alleges occurred on July 3, 2002. Hanson brought this action for damages against appellant, the Senator's office (Office), invoking the District Court's jurisdiction under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995(Act), 109 Stat. 3, as amended, 2 U.S.C. § 1301 et seq.(2000 ed. and Supp. IV), and alleging violations of three other federal statutes.¹ The District Court denied appellant's motion to dismiss the complaint based on a claim of immunity under the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution.² The Court of Appeals affirmed, Fields v. Office of Eddie Bernice Johnson, Employing Office, United States Congress, 459 F.3d 1 (C.A.D.C.2006), the Office invoked our appellate jurisdiction under § 412 of the Act, 2 U.S.C. § 1412, and we postponed consideration of jurisdiction pending hearing the case on the merits, 549 U.S. 1177, 127 S.Ct. 1145, 166 L.Ed.2d 909, 75 USLW 3266 (2007). Because we do not have jurisdiction under § 412, we dismiss the appeal. Treating appellant's jurisdictional statement as a petition for a writ of certiorari, we deny the petition.

Under § 412 of the Act, direct review in this Court is available “from any interlocutory or final judgment, decree, or order of a court upon the constitutionality of any provision” of the statute.³ Neither the order of the District Court denying appellant's motion to dismiss nor the judgment of the Court of Appeals affirming that order can fairly be characterized as a ruling “upon the constitutionality” of any provision of the Act. The District Court's minute order denying the motion to dismiss does not state any grounds for decision. App. to Juris. Statement 59a. Both parties agree that that order cannot, therefore, be characterized as a constitutional holding. ⁴ The Court of Appeals' opinion rejects appellant's argument that forcing Senator Dayton to defend against the allegations in this case would necessarily contravene the Speech or Debate Clause, although it leaves open the possibility that the Speech or Debate Clause may limit the scope of the proceedings in some respects. Neither of those holdings qualifies as a ruling on the validity of the Act itself.

The Office argues that the Court of Appeals' holding amounts to a ruling that the Act is constitutional “as applied.” According to the Office, an “as applied” constitutional holding of that sort satisfies the jurisdictional requirements of § 412. We find this reading difficult to reconcile with the statutory scheme. Section 413 of the Act provides that

“[t]he authorization to bring judicial proceedings under [the Act] shall not constitute a waiver of sovereign immunity for any other purpose, or of the privileges of any Senator or Member of the House of Representatives under [the Speech or Debate Clause] of the Constitution.” 2 U.S.C. § 1413.

This provision demonstrates that Congress did not intend the Act to be interpreted to permit suits that would otherwise be prohibited under the Speech or Debate Clause. Consequently, a court's determination that jurisdiction attaches despite a claim of Speech or Debate Clause immunity is best read as a ruling on the scope of the Act, not its constitutionality. This reading is faithful, moreover, to our established practice of interpreting statutes to avoid constitutional difficulties.⁵ See Clark v. Martinez, 543 U.S. 371, 381–382, 125 S.Ct. 716, 160 L.Ed.2d 734 (2005).

The provision for appellate review is best understood as responding to a congressional concern that if a provision of the statute is declared invalid there is an interest in prompt adjudication by this Court. To extend that review to instances in which the statute itself has not been called into question, giving litigants under the Act preference over litigants in other cases, does not accord with that rationale. This is also consistent with our cases holding that “statutes authorizing appeals are to be strictly construed.” Perry Ed. Assn. v. Perry Local Educators' Assn., 460 U.S. 37, 43, 103 S.Ct. 948, 74 L.Ed.2d 794 (1983); see also Fornaris v. Ridge Tool Co., 400 U.S. 41, 42, n. 1, 91 S.Ct. 156, 27 L.Ed.2d 174 (1970)(per curiam).

Nor are there special circumstances that justify the exercise of our discretionary certiorari jurisdiction to review the Court of Appeals' affirmance of the interlocutory order entered by the District Court. Having...