Alliance for the Wild Rockies v. Salazar

• Decision Date: 03 August 2011
• Docket Number: Nos. CV 11–70–M–DWM,CV 11–71–M–DWM.,s. CV 11–70–M–DWM
• Citation: 800 F.Supp.2d 1123
• Parties: ALLIANCE FOR THE WILD ROCKIES, et al., Plaintiff, v. Ken SALAZAR, et al., Defendants.Center for Biological Diversity, Plaintiff, v. Ken Salazar, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Montana

800 F.Supp.2d 1123

ALLIANCE FOR THE WILD ROCKIES, et al., Plaintiff,

v.Ken SALAZAR, et al., Defendants.Center for Biological Diversity, Plaintiff,

v.Ken Salazar, et al., Defendants.

Nos. CV 11–70–M–DWM

CV 11–71–M–DWM.

United States District Court, D. Montana,Missoula Division.

Aug. 3, 2011.

James J. Tutchton, Centennial, Co, Thomas J. Woodbury, Forest Defense, Summer Lisa Nelson, Western Watersheds Project, Rebecca Kay Smith, Missoula, MT, Amy R. Atwood, Portland, OR, Collette L. Adkins Giese, Circle Pines, MN, for Plaintiff.

Erik Edward Petersen, Andrea E. Gelatt, Bradley Howard Oliphant, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, Victoria L. Francis, Office of the U.S. Attorney, Billings, MT, Clive J. Strong, Office of the Attorney General, Steven W. Strack, State of Idaho, Boise, ID, James David Johnson, Williams Law Firm, Missoula, MT, for Defendants.

ORDER

DONALD W. MOLLOY, District Judge.

I. Introduction

In April 2009, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service issued a final rule (“2009 Rule”) that removed Endangered Species Act (“ESA”), 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq., protections from the Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf Distinct Population Segment in all areas outside of Wyoming. 74 Fed. Reg. 15213 et seq. Under the 2009 Rule, wolves found in Wyoming were the only wolves in the distinct population segment that received protection under the ESA. The Rule violated the ESA by protecting a listed species only across part of its range, and this Court vacated the unlawful Rule as invalid. Defenders of Wildlife v. Salazar, 729 F.Supp.2d 1207, 1228 (D.Mont.2010). Federal Defendants, Idaho, Montana, and three sets of Defendant Intervenors appealed this Court's ruling.

While the appeals were pending, Congress passed and the President signed H.R. 1473, the Department of Defense and Full Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011. Section 1713 of this Act directs the Service to reissue the 2009 Rule this Court vacated:

Before the end of the 60–day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the final rule published on April 2, 2009 (74 Fed.Reg. 15213 et seq.) without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies to issuance of such rule. Such reissuance (including this section) shall not be subject to judicial review and shall not abrogate or otherwise have any effect on the order and judgment issued by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming in Case Numbers 09–CV–118J and 09–CV–138J on November 18, 2010.

P.L. 112–10 § 1713, 125 Stat. 38 (April 15, 2011). On May 5, 2011, pursuant to the congressional direction in Section 1713, Federal Defendants reissued the 2009 delisting rule.

Two groups of Plaintiffs filled suit challenging the constitutionality of Section 1713. The actions were consolidated, and before the Court are cross motions for summary judgment.

The issues in this case cannot be resolved without considering the rule of law. This case presents difficult questions for me. The way in which Congress acted in trying to achieve a debatable policy change by attaching a rider to the Department of Defense and Full–Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011 is a tearing away, an undermining, and a disrespect for the fundamental idea of the rule of law. The principle behind the rule of law is to provide a mechanism and process to guide and constrain the government's exercise of power. Political decisions derive their legitimacy from the proper function of the political process within the constraints of limited government, guided by a constitutional structure that acknowledges the importance of the doctrine of Separation of Powers. That legitimacy is enhanced by a meaningful, predictable, and transparent process.

In this case Defendants argue—unpersuasively—that Congress balanced the conflicting public interests and policies to resolve a difficult issue. I do not see what Congress did in the same light. Inserting environmental policy changes into appropriations bills may be politically expedient, but it transgresses the process envisioned by the Constitution by avoiding the very debate on issues of political importance said to provide legitimacy. Policy changes of questionable political viability, such as occurred here, can be forced using insider tactics without debate by attaching riders to legislation that must be passed.

However, the rule of law does not apply only to Congress; it also applies equally to the courts. The courts are supposed to apply the laws that Congress has enacted. Judges cannot make new law or write laws when those that are written by Congress are unclear or ambiguous. The Separation of Powers requires us to discern the difference between arguments of policy and arguments of principle. It is the function of Congress to pursue arguments of policy and to adopt legislation or programs fostered by recognizable political determinations. It is the function of the courts to consider arguments of principle in order to enforce a statute, even if the statute itself stems from an altered policy. This distinction holds true even when the legislative process employed involves legislative prestidigitation.

For the rule of law to function uniformly, each branch of government must recognize and acknowledge the function of the others. Fairness is dethroned and confusion is crowned queen when the laws enacted pursuant to established public policy are rendered inapplicable on an ad hoc basis. The rule of law demands regularity and predictability. The law must be generally applicable, and it must be clear. Prior decisions of superior courts bind the lower courts, the government and the public because each owes a fidelity to the process. The law should be ascertainable, predictable, consistent, and like cases should be treated alike. This means that courts are generally bound by precedent and the concept of stare decisis, et non quieta movere, translated as “to stand by things decided, and not to disturb settled issues.” Conceptually, policy is forward looking, providing notice of what the political decision is, while arguments concerning enacted laws are generally backward looking, relying on existing authorities to find the meaning of the law.

One of the reasons this case is so difficult stems from the confluence of these ideas in the conflict that needs to be decided here. In its capacity as the body charged with setting public policy Congress enacted the ESA. The policy reflected in that determination was to establish a conservation ethic for those non-human animal and plant species that are at risk of extinction. The purpose of the Act is to conserve at-risk species and the ecosystems upon which they depend. The law protects imperiled species, without regard to the popularity of the animal or plant. It does not just protect species when politically convenient. In acknowledging the political justification of the ESA President Richard Nixon said when signing the Act into law:

Nothing is more priceless and more worthy of preservation than the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed. It is a many-faceted treasure, of value to scholars, scientists, and nature lovers alike, and it forms a vital part of the heritage we all share as Americans.

President Nixon's Statement on Signing the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 374 Pub. Papers 1027, 1027–1028 (Dec. 28, 1973).

Section 1713 sacrifices the spirit of the ESA to appease a vocal political faction, but the wisdom of that choice is not now before this Court. The question presented by this lawsuit, challenging the constitutionality of Section 1713 of the Department of Defense and Full–Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011, is whether the rider constitutes a detectable change in the law.

If I were not constrained by what I believe is binding precedent from the Ninth Circuit, and on-point precedent from other circuits, I would hold Section 1713 is unconstitutional because it violates the Separation of Powers doctrine articulated by the Supreme Court in U.S. v. Klein, 80 U.S. 128, 13 Wall. 128, 20 L.Ed. 519 (1871). However, our Circuit has interpreted Robertson v. Seattle Audubon Society, 503 U.S. 429, 112 S.Ct. 1407, 118 L.Ed.2d 73 (1992), to hold that so long as Congress uses the words “without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies,” or something similar, then the doctrine of constitutional avoidance requires the court to impose a saving interpretation provided the statute can be fairly interpreted to render it constitutional.

There are two ways of interpreting Section 1713. One holds that Congress did not change the underlying law but simply required the Secretary of the Interior to enforce a regulation determined by a court to be in violation of the ESA, 16 U.S.C. § 1532(16). The other way to look at Section 1713 is to hold Congress left Defenders of Wildlife v. Salazar, 729 F.Supp.2d 1207 (D.Mont.2010) intact, and left the ESA untouched except as to a discrete agency action. Under this view, Congress changed the law and precluded judicial review only with respect to the re-issuance of the 2009 Rule. No other part of the ESA or its application has been altered, changed or amended. The argument in support of the latter view is troublesome because it leaves open the question of whether the court is left to apply its ordinary rules to new circumstances created by the Act, or whether the Act simply directs the court in the application of law without regard to the existing statutes of the ESA. See 16 U.S.C. § 1532(16); Defenders of Wildlife v. Salazar, 729 F.Supp.2d 1207, 1228 (D.Mont.2010).

Nonetheless, the case law requires me to adopt the latter interpretation. Therefore I find Section 1713 can be read as a change in the law to the extent that it exempts the Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf Distinct Population Segment from the range concerns as articulated in the ESA. In arriving at this...