Agua Caliente Indians v. Superior Court
| Decision Date | 21 December 2006 |
| Docket Number | No. S123832.,S123832. |
| Citation | 40 Cal.4th 239,52 Cal.Rptr.3d 659,148 P.3d 1126 |
| Court | California Supreme Court |
| Parties | AGUA CALIENTE BAND OF CAHUILLA INDIANS, Petitioner, v. The SUPERIOR COURT of Sacramento County, Respondent; Fair Political Practices Commission, Real Party in Interest. |
Reed Smith Crosby Heafey, Reed Smith, Bernard P. Simons, James C. Martin, Kathy M. Banke, George P. Schiavelli, Denise M. Howell, Los Angeles; Law Offices of Art Bunce, Art Bunce, Kathryn Clenney, Escondido; Reed & Davidson, Dana W. Reed and Darryl R. Wold, Irvine, for Petitioner.
Roxborough, Pomerance & Nye, Nicholas P. Roxborough, Woodland Hills, and Vincent S. Gannuscio, for Blue Lake Rancheria and Mainstay Business Solutions as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioners.
Holland & Knight, Jerome L. Levine, Frank R. Lawrence and Zehava Zevit, Los Angeles, for Robert Anderson, Carole Goldberg, John LaVelle, Nell Jessup Newton, Judith Royster, Joseph Singer and Rennard Strickland as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioners.
Carole Goldberg and Jay Shapiro for UCLA Native American Law Students Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioners.
Daniel F. Decker; Lang, Richert & Patch, Fresno, Val W. Saldana, Laurie L. Quigley and David T. Richards, Arroyo Grande, for Santa Rosa Indian Community of the Santa Rosa Rancheria as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioners.
No appearance for Respondent.
John M. Appelbaum, Steven Benito Russo, Placerville, Luisa Menchaca, Sacramento, William L. Williams, Jr., C. Scott Tocher, Holly B. Armstrong; Riegels Campos & Kenyon and Charity Kenyon, Sacramento, for Real Party in Interest.
Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe, Heller Ehrman, John C. Ulin, D. Eric Shapland, Los Angeles, and Gary Ostrick, for California Common Cause as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest.
Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Manuel M. Mederios, State Solicitor General, Andrea Lyn Hoch, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Louis R. Mauro and Robert L. Mukai, Assistant Attorneys General, Kenneth R. Williams, Robert C. Nash, Sara J. Darake and Marc A. Le Forestier, Deputy Attorneys General, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Real Party in Interest.
The question we address is whether the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) can file a lawsuit in superior court against the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians (the Tribe), a federally recognized Indian tribe,1 for the Tribe's alleged failure to comply with the reporting requirements for campaign contributions under the Political Reform Act (PRA) (Gov.Code, § 81000 et seq.),2 an initiative measure that regulates numerous aspects of the election process on the state and local level. We conclude that the FPPC may file the lawsuit and affirm the Court of Appeal's judgment denying the Tribe's petition for writ of mandate.
The facts and procedural discussion are taken largely from the Court of Appeal opinion, supplemented by the record. In 1974, California adopted the PRA, which charges the FPPC with its enforcement. (§ 81000.) Consistent with the California Constitution, article III, section 3.5, the PRA requires the FPPC to enforce the statute equally against all affected contributors. (§ 81002 et seq.) In chapter 1, the PRA recites findings of greatly increased costs of election campaigns, large contributions from wealthy corporations and individuals, and the inadequacy of existing laws to address objectionable political practices. (§ 81001; see 7 Witkin, Summary of Cal. Law (10th ed. 2005) Constitutional Law § 272, pp. 432-433.) The PRA seeks to prevent corruption of the political process. It requires, among other things, that "[r]eceipts and expenditures in election campaigns ... be fully and truthfully disclosed in order that the voters may be fully informed and improper practices may be inhibited." (§ 81002, subd. (a); see also Fair Political Practices Com. v. Suitt (1979) 90 Cal.App.3d 125, 132, 153 Cal. Rptr. 311.) The PRA also regulates lobbyists and lobbyists' employers, requiring them to report their lobbying activities in order to ensure the lobbyists do not improperly influence public officials. (§§ 81002,86113,86116.)
Real party in interest, the FPPC, sued the Tribe, seeking civil penalties and injunctive relief for the Tribe's alleged violations of the PRA's reporting requirements after the Tribe made substantial campaign contributions to California political campaigns. The FPPC's complaint alleged that the Tribe was subject to PRA reporting requirements for its political campaign contributions totaling more than $7,500,000 in 1998, $175,250 in the first half of 2001, and $426,000 in the first half of 2002. The complaint also alleged numerous violations of the PRA, including the Tribe's failure to report lobbying interests (§86116), late contributions (§ 84203) of more than $1 million, and failure to file required semiannual campaign statements (§ 84200). One of the unreported contributions alleged to have been made by the Tribe in March 2002 went to a committee supporting Proposition 51, a statewide ballot initiative. Although Proposition 51 failed, it would have authorized $15 million per fiscal year for eight years to fund several projects, including a passenger rail line from Los Angeles to Palm Springs, where the Tribe operates a casino. The complaint sought monetary penalties (§§ 91004, 91005.5) and an injunction ordering the Tribe to file the PRA's required disclosure statements.
The Tribe, specially appearing, filed a motion to quash service of summons for lack of personal jurisdiction. It claimed that, as a federally recognized Indian tribe, it was immune from suit under the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity. The trial court denied the Tribe's motion to quash in a written ruling. The court believed that to apply tribal sovereign immunity from suit in this case would (1) intrude upon the state's exercise of its reserved power under the federal Constitution's Tenth Amendment to regulate its electoral and legislative processes and (2) would interfere with the republican form of government guaranteed to the state under article IV, section 4 of the United States Constitution (). Following the trial court's decision, the Tribe petitioned the Court of Appeal to issue a peremptory writ of mandate directing the trial court to vacate its ruling denying its motion to quash service of summons for lack of personal jurisdiction and enter a new order granting the motion.
After the Court of Appeal denied the Tribe's petition for writ of mandate seeking reversal of the trial court's order denying the motion to quash, this court granted the Tribe's petition for review and transferred the matter to the Court of Appeal "with directions to vacate the order denying mandate and to issue an order directing respondent to show cause why the relief sought should not be granted." Following this court's order, the Court of Appeal issued the order to show cause, and the FPPC filed a return to the petition. The Court of Appeal also allowed the Attorney General of California and California Common Cause to file amicus curiae briefs in the FPPC's support. As we discuss, the Court of Appeal denied the Tribe's motion for a writ of mandate. We then granted the Tribe's petition for review on the important tribal sovereign immunity question.
The Court of Appeal agreed with the trial court that the state's efforts to preserve its republican form of government— the very essence of its political process— from corruption implicated both the guarantee clause and its reserved right under the Tenth Amendment. This interest, the court held, outweighed the Tribe's claim to sovereign immunity from suit.
The Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." The Court of Appeal reasoned that "surely" one of the powers reserved to the states is the "power and duty to maintain a republican form of government," accorded it under the guarantee clause, which provides, in pertinent part, "[t]he United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government...." (U.S. Const., art. IV, § 4.) The Court of Appeal continued, noting that this guarantee "necessarily includes the right ... to protect against corruption of the political process." The Court of Appeal concluded that the PRA served to vindicate the state's constitutional interest.
The court agreed with the FPPC that "resort to a judicial remedy" is necessary to enforce the PRA against the Tribe in order to uphold the state's constitutional right to guarantee a republican form of government free of corruption. The court observed that rules or procedures required to protect constitutional rights may themselves be given "constitutional stature." (See, e.g., Dickerson v. United States (2000) 530 U.S. 428, 120 S.Ct. 2326, 147 L.Ed.2d 405 []; Mapp v. Ohio (1961) 367 U.S. 643, 657, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 [].) The state's right to preserve its republican form of government would be "ephemeral" without the right to bring suit to enforce the PRA.
The Tribe has recognized that the state has the power to regulate political campaigns or create campaign contribution disclosure rules within its borders. The Tribe asserts, however, that the state has been divested of the power to sue a federally recognized Indian tribe because the United States Supreme Court has declared tribal sovereign immunity a matter of federal law. The Tribe...
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