Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak Al Janko v. Gates

• Decision Date: 03 July 2014
• Docket Number: No. 12–5017.,12–5017.
• Parties: Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak Al JANKO, Appellant v. Robert M. GATES, Former Secretary of Defense, et al., Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

741 F.3d 136

Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak Al JANKO, Appellant

v.Robert M. GATES, Former Secretary of Defense, et al., Appellees.

No. 12–5017.

United States Court of Appeals,District of Columbia Circuit.

Argued Oct. 22, 2013.

Decided Jan. 17, 2014.

Rehearing En Banc Denied July 3, 2014.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 1:10–cv–01702).

Paul L. Hoffman argued the cause for the appellant. Terrence P. Collingsworth, Jennifer Green and Judith Brown Chomsky were on brief. Catherine E. Sweetser entered an appearance.

Janis H. Brennan was on brief for amici curiae Scholars of State Law and International Law in support of the appellant.

Sydney Foster, Attorney, United States Department of Justice, argued the cause for the appellees. Stuart F. Delery, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Matthew M. Collette, Attorney, Mary Hampton Mason, Senior Trial Counsel, and Siegmund F. Fuchs, Trial Attorney, were on brief.

Before: HENDERSON, ROGERS and TATEL, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge HENDERSON.

KAREN LECRAFT HENDERSON, Circuit Judge.

As part of its global war on terrorism, the United States detained Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak al Janko in Afghanistan and at United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (Guantanamo) in Cuba for seven years before the district court granted him a writ of habeas corpus and ordered that diplomatic efforts be undertaken to secure his release. He now seeks to recover for injuries sustained during his detention. Because the Congress has, in unmistakable language, denied the district court jurisdiction to entertain his claims, we affirm the dismissal of his claims.

I. Background

The Appellant is a Syrian citizen who alleges that he travelled to Afghanistan in January 2000. Shortly thereafter, the Taliban forced him to confess to spying for the United States and Israel and imprisoned him in Kandahar, where he was tortured by his Taliban captors. After the attacks on our homeland on September 11, 2001, U.S. forces commenced military operations in Afghanistan to subdue al Qaeda and its Taliban allies. Shortly after the operations began, the new Afghan government liberated the Appellant's prison. Allegedly on the basis of misinterpreted intelligence, however, U.S. officials identified the Appellant as an enemy combatant.¹ Pursuant to the President's congressionally conferred authority, see Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), Pub.L. No. 107–40, 115 Stat. 224, 224 (2001), to detain enemy combatants “for the duration of the particular conflict in which they were captured,” Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 542 U.S. 507, 518, 124 S.Ct. 2633, 159 L.Ed.2d 578 (2004) (plurality opinion); see also Ali v. Obama, 736 F.3d 542, 544 (D.C.Cir.2013), U.S. forces captured the Appellant and transferred him to Guantanamo in May 2002. He alleges that, for the next seven years, U.S. officials subjected him to torture, physical and psychological degradation and other forms of mistreatment. During his detention, two Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs)—executive-branch tribunals convened to determine the status of Guantanamo detainees, see Maqaleh v. Hagel, Nos. 12–5404 et al., 738 F.3d 312, 325–26, 2013 WL 6767861, at *8 (D.C.Cir. Dec. 24, 2013)—determined that the Appellant was lawfully detained as an enemy combatant.²

The Appellant sought to obtain release from detention by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in district court. After the Supreme Court decided that Guantanamo detainees have a constitutional right to challenge the basis of their detentions, Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. 723, 771, 128 S.Ct. 2229, 171 L.Ed.2d 41 (2008), the district court granted his petition, Al Ginco v. Obama, 626 F.Supp.2d 123, 130 (D.D.C.2009), and the United States released him in October 2009. Nearly one year later, he filed a complaint in district court against the United States and twenty-six U.S. officials (collectively Government) for injuries he suffered during his detention. His complaint, as amended, stated claims under the Alien Tort Statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1350; the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346(b), 2671 et seq.; the Enforcement Act of 1871, 42 U.S.C. § 1985; and for violation of his Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971). Holding that, inter alia, section 7(a) of the Military Commissions Act of 2006(MCA), Pub.L. No. 109–366, § 7(a), 120 Stat. 2600, 2635 (codified at 28 U.S.C. § 2241(e) (2006)), ousted it of jurisdiction, the district court dismissed the Appellant's claims. Janko v. Gates, 831 F.Supp.2d 272, 278–81 (D.D.C.2011). He timely appealed.

II. Analysis

A. Standard of Review

“We review de novo the district court's grant of a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.” Oakey v. U.S. Airways Pilots Disability Income Plan, 723 F.3d 227, 231 (D.C.Cir.2013). Because the Government has not disputed the facts relevant to jurisdiction, we accept the Appellant's allegations as true and review only the district court's application of the law. See Herbert v. Nat'l Acad. of Scis., 974 F.2d 192, 197–98 (D.C.Cir.1992).

The question presented in this appeal is whether the district court has jurisdiction over all, or any, of the Appellant's claims. “Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. They possess only that power authorized by Constitution and statute....” Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 377, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994). Because the Appellant's claims raise questions of federal law, they are within the district court's constitutional jurisdiction. See Osborn v. Bank of the U.S., 22 U.S. (9 Wheat.) 738, 823–24, 6 L.Ed. 204 (1824) (Marshall, C.J.). Our task, then, is to decide whether the Congress has conferred authority on the district court to hear his claims and, if it has not, whether the Congress has constitutional authority to withhold jurisdiction.

The first question turns on the meaning of section 7(a) of the MCA. That section provides:

(e)(1) No court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States who has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.

(2) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 1005(e) of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (10 U.S.C. 801 note), no court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any other action against the United States or its agents relating to any aspect of the detention, transfer, treatment, trial, or conditions of confinement of an alien who is or was detained by the United States and has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.

28 U.S.C. § 2241(e) (2006). In Al–Zahrani v. Rodriguez, we held that section 2241(e)(2) withdraws the district court's jurisdiction over damages actions regarding any aspect of the detention of an alien previously determined by a CSRT to be properly detained as an enemy combatant. 669 F.3d 315, 318–19 (D.C.Cir.2012); see also Hamad v. Gates, 732 F.3d 990, 995–96 (9th Cir.2013); cf. Al–Nashiri v. MacDonald, No. 12–35475, 741 F.3d 1002, 1006–07, 2013 WL 6698066, at *3 (9th Cir. Dec. 20, 2013). Although the Al–Zahrani holding covers the Appellant's claims, he argues that the fact that he obtained a writ of habeas corpus, which the Al–Zahrani detainees did not, moves his claims outside section 2241(e)(2)'s ambit. And even if it does not, he argues, section 2241(e)(2) is unconstitutional as applied to his claims. We consider each argument in turn.

B. Statutory Construction

“The preeminent canon of statutory interpretation requires us to ‘presume that [the] legislature says in a statute what it means and means in a statute what it says there.’ Thus, our inquiry begins with the statutory text, and ends there as well if the text is unambiguous.” BedRoc Ltd., LLC v. United States, 541 U.S. 176, 183, 124 S.Ct. 1587, 158 L.Ed.2d 338 (2004) (plurality opinion of Rehnquist, C.J.) (quoting Conn. Nat'l Bank v. Germain, 503 U.S. 249, 253–254, 112 S.Ct. 1146, 117 L.Ed.2d 391 (1992)); see also United States v. Ron Pair Enters., Inc., 489 U.S. 235, 241, 109 S.Ct. 1026, 103 L.Ed.2d 290 (1989).³ The parties agree on the relevant text:

[N]o court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider any other action against the United States or its agents relating to any aspect of the detention, transfer, treatment, trial, or conditions of confinement of an alien who is or was detained by the United States and has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant....

28 U.S.C. § 2241(e)(2) (emphasis added). This action is undoubtedly an action (1) other than habeas corpus or direct review of a CSRT determination (2) against the United States or its agents (3) brought by an alien (4) previously detained by the United States, which action (5) relates to an aspect of his detention. The crux of the parties' dispute is whether the Appellant was “determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant.” Id. (emphasis added).

1. Meaning of “the United States”

The Government argues that the statute bars the Appellant's claims because “the United States” means only “the Executive Branch.” Because the CSRT is an executive-branch tribunal, the Government contends that the first CSRT's determination that the Appellant was properly detained triggered the jurisdictional bar. The Appellant, citing to a dictionary and to cases interpreting unrelated statutes, argues that “the United States” ordinarily encompasses all three branches of the federal government and not solely the Executive Branch. He argues that the bar does not...