Mayfield v. U.S.A

• Citation: 599 F.3d 964
• Decision Date: 24 March 2010
• Docket Number: No. 07-35865.,07-35865.
• Parties: Brandon Bieri MAYFIELD, an individual; Mona Mayfield, appointed as Guardian Ad Litem per Order; Shane Mayfield; Sharia Mayfield; Samir Mayfield, individuals, by and through their guardian ad litem Mona Mayfield, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit)

599 F.3d 964

Brandon Bieri MAYFIELD, an individual; Mona Mayfield, appointed as Guardian Ad Litem per Order; Shane Mayfield; Sharia Mayfield; Samir Mayfield, individuals, by and through their guardian ad litem Mona Mayfield, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. UNITED STATES of America, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 07-35865.

United States Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted: Feb. 5, 2009.

Filed: March 24, 2010.

Douglas Letter and Scott Mcintosh Civil Division, Department of Justice Washington, D.C., for the appellant.

Elden Rosenthal, Rosenthal & Greene P.C., Portland, OR, for the appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, Ann L Aiken, Chief District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CV-04-01427-AA.

Before: RICHARD A. PAEZ and JOHNNIE B. RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges, and RANER C. COLLINS, ^* District Judge.

ORDER AND OPINIONORDER

The government's Motion to Correct Factual Misstatements in the Panel Opinion is GRANTED. The opinion filed December 10, 2009 and reported at 588 F.3d 1252, is vacated, and a new opinion is filed concurrently with this Order.

The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc and no judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter en banc. Fed. R.App. P. 35.

The petition for rehearing en banc is denied. No further petitions for rehearing shall be filed.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

OPINION

PAEZ, Circuit Judge:

In this appeal, we must decide whether Plaintiffs-Appellees Brandon Mayfield, a former suspect in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, and his family, have standing to seek declaratory relief against the United States that several provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA") as amended by the PATRIOT Act are unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Although Mayfield settled the bulk of his claims against the government, the Stipulation for Compromise Settlement and Release (the "Settlement Agreement") allowed him to pursue his Fourth Amendment claim. According to the terms of the Settlement Agreement, the only relief available to Mayfield, if he were to prevail on his Fourth Amendment claim, is a declaratory judgment. He may not seek injunctive relief. We hold that, in light of the limited remedy available to Mayfield he does not have standing to pursue his Fourth Amendment claim because his injuries already have been substantially redressed by the Settlement Agreement, and a declaratory judgment would not likely impact him or his family. We thus vacate the judgment of the district court.

I.

On March 11, 2004, terrorists' bombs exploded on commuter trains in Madrid Spain, killing 191 people and injuring another 1600 people, including three U.S. citizens.¹ Shortly after the bombings, the Spanish National Police ("SNP") recovered fingerprints from a plastic bag containing explosive detonators. The bag was found in a Renault van located near the bombing site. On March 13, 2004, the SNP submitted digital photographs of the fingerprints to Interpol Madrid, which then transmitted them to the FBI in Quantico, Virginia.

The FBI searched fingerprints in its own computer system, attempting to match the prints received from Spain. On March 15, 2004, an FBI computer produced 20 candidates whose known prints had features in common with what was identified as Latent Finger Print # 17 ("LFP # 17"), one of whom was Brandon Mayfield.

Mayfield is a U.S. citizen, born in Oregon and brought up in Kansas. He lives with his wife and three children in Aloha, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. He is 43 years old, a former Army officer with an honorable discharge, and a practicing lawyer. Mayfield is also a Muslim with strong ties to the Muslim community in Portland.

On March 17, 2004, FBI Agent Green, a fingerprint specialist, concluded that Mayfield's left index fingerprint matched LFP #17. Green then submitted the fingerprints for verification to Massey, a former FBI employee who continued to contract with the FBI to perform forensic analysis of fingerprints. Massey verified that Mayfield's left index fingerprint matched LFP #17. The prints were then submitted to a senior FBI manager, Wieners, for additional verification. Wieners also verified the match.

On March 20, 2004, the FBI issued a formal report matching Mayfield's print to LFP #17. The next day, FBI surveillance agents began to watch Mayfield and follow him and members of his family when they traveled to and from the mosque, Mayfield's law office, the children's schools, and other family activities. As detailed in the Recitation of Stipulated Facts, the FBI also applied to the Foreign Intelligence Security Court ("FISC") for authorization to "collect foreign intelligence information." Pursuant to that authorization, the FBI conducted "covert physical searches of the Mayfield home, " and "electronic surveillance targeting Mr. Mayfield at the Mayfield home and at Mr. Mayfield's law office."

In April 2004, the FBI sent Mayfield's fingerprints to the Spanish government. The SNP examined the prints and the FBI's report, and concluded that there were too many unexplained dissimilarities between Mayfield's prints and LFP #17 to verify the match. When FBI agents then met with their Spanish counterparts in Madrid, the Spanish investigators refused to validate the FBI's conclusion that there was a match.

After the meeting with the SNP, the FBI submitted an affidavit to the district court, stating that experts considered LFP # 17 a "100% positive identification" of Mayfield. The affidavit also included information about Mayfield's religious practice and association with other Muslims. On May 4, 2004, the government named Brandon Mayfield as a material witness and filed an application for material witness order. The district court appointed an independent fingerprint expert, Kenneth Moses, to analyze the prints in question. Mayfield and his defense attorneys approved the appointment. Moses concluded that LFP # 17 was from Mayfield's left index finger.

The district court issued several search warrants, which resulted in the search of Mayfield's home and office, and the seizure of his computer and paper files. On May 6, 2004, Mayfield was arrested and imprisoned for two weeks. Mayfield alleged that his family was not told where he was being held, but was told that his fingerprints matched those of the Madrid train bomber, and that he was the prime suspect in a crime punishable by death. While Mayfield was detained, national and international headlines declared him to be linked to the Madrid bombings. On May 20, 2004, news reports revealed that Spain had matched LFP # 17 with a man named Ouhane Daoud, an Algerian citizen. Mayfield was released from prison the following day.

On October 4, 2004, Mayfield, his wife, and his children² filed suit against the government in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon. The complaint alleged a Bivens³ claim for unlawful arrest and imprisonment and unlawful searches, seizures, and surveillance in violation of the Fourth Amendment; a claim under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, for leaking information from the FBI and DOJ to media sources regarding Brandon Mayfield's arrest; a claim for the return of property improperly seized; and a Fourth Amendment challenge to the constitutionality of several FISA provisions and the PATRIOT Act.

Mayfield reached a settlement with the government, and the district court approved it on November 29, 2006. The Settlement Agreement provided that the government would pay compensatory damages of $2 million to Mayfield and his family; destroy documents relating to the electronic surveillance conducted pursuant to FISA; return seized "material witness materials" to Mayfield; and apologize to Mayfield and his family. In return, Mayfield agreed to release the government of all liability or further litigation, except as to one specific claim: that 50 U.S.C. §§ 1804(authorizing electronic surveillance under FISA) and 1823(authorizing physical searches under FISA) violate the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The parties agreed that the sole relief that Mayfield could seek or that the court could award with regard to this claim would be a declaratory judgment.

On December 6, 2006, Mayfield filed an Amended Complaint for Declaratory Judgment. The Amended Complaint challenged the constitutionality of 50 U.S.C. §§ 1804 and 1823, the portions of FISA, as amended by the PATRIOT Act, ⁴ that allow the government to conduct physical searches, electronic surveillance, and wire taps of residences and offices without requiring proof of probable cause or an assertion that the primary purpose of such activities is to gather foreign intelligence information. The complaint asserted that the statutory provisions were facially unconstitutional. Mayfield alleged that he continued to suffer injury because the government refused to identify and destroy all materials derived from the FISA searches and seizures, ⁵ and that he feared future uses of the materials as well as other future applications of FISA against him and his family.

Both Mayfield and the government moved for summary judgment. The government also moved to dismiss on the ground that Mayfield did not have standing to pursue the Fourth Amendment claim and therefore the court lacked jurisdiction. The court subsequently issued a decision denying the motion to dismiss and granting summary judgment to Mayfield. See Mayfield v. United States, 504 F.Supp.2d 1023 (D.Or.2007). The district court determined that it had jurisdiction because there was a live case or controversy that could be redressed with a declaratory judgment. Id. at 1034. As to the merits, the court held that the challenged provisions of FISA, namely 50 U.S.C §§ 1804 and 1823, as amended by the PATRIOT Act, were unconstitutional because they violate the Fourth Amendment's requirement of probable cause, and becausethey authorize FISA activities as long as a "significant...