Hall v. Clinton

Decision Date05 April 2002
Docket NumberNo. 01-5142.,01-5142.
PartiesSheryl L. HALL, Appellant, v. Hillary Rodham CLINTON, In her personal capacity, and DNC Services Corporation d/b/a Democratic National Committee, Appellees.
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (No. 99cv03281).

Larry E. Klayman argued the cause for the appellant.

Michael S. Raab, Attorney, United States Department of Justice, argued the cause for appellee Hillary Rodham Clinton. Roscoe C. Howard, Jr., United States Attorney, and Mark B. Stern, Attorney, United States Department of Justice, were on brief.

Joseph E. Sandler argued the cause for appellees DNC Services Corporation and Democratic National Committee.

Before: HENDERSON, RANDOLPH and ROGERS, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge HENDERSON.

Concurring Opinion filed by Circuit Judge RANDOLPH.

KAREN LECRAFT HENDERSON, Circuit Judge:

The appellant, Sheryl L. Hall, seeks reversal of the district court's March 28, 2001 opinion and order denying her motion to disqualify the Department of Justice (DOJ) from representing appellee Hillary Rodham Clinton (Clinton) and dismissing her lawsuit against Clinton and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). See Hall v. Clinton, 143 F.Supp.2d 1 (D.D.C. 2001) (Hall II). In the district court, Hall, a former White House employee, sued Clinton under common-law tort theories of tortious interference with contractual relations and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In addition, she sued the DNC, alleging that it conspired to interfere with her civil rights and that it engaged in civil conspiracy.

As to Hall's claims against Clinton, the district court held that the DOJ can represent Clinton pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 517 because its decision to do so is either unreviewable generally or is in this case supported by "a sufficient interest to pass muster under the flexible mandate of that statute." Hall II, 143 F.Supp.2d At 4. The court found that an earlier decision of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Eastern District) precluded it from considering either of Hall's tort claims. It went on to hold that, in any event, the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 1101 et seq., "provides the sole remedy for the actions by Clinton in this case." Id. at 5.

As to Hall's claims against the DNC, the district court, which assumed arguendo that the doctrine of issue preclusion did not bar her civil rights conspiracy claim, see id. at 6, held that the CSRA preempts that claim, see id. Additionally, it found that — irrespective of the CSRA — Hall's civil rights conspiracy claim would be barred by the statute of limitations. See id. Finally, it held that the DNC could not be liable for civil conspiracy because the alleged conspiracy "does not have as its object an objectionable wrong." Id. (quotation omitted).

Point by point, Hall contests on appeal each of the district court's conclusions. Because her arguments are without merit, see infra Part II, we affirm the district court.

I.

Hall is a former computer systems manager of the Office of Administration in the Executive Office of the President. She alleges that in November 1993 she was directed to develop software for the "White House Office Database" (WhoDB), which she asserts was being developed for "partisan, political purposes." Joint Appendix (JA) 10 (Compl. ¶ 12).1 Among these purposes, she alleges, were the "tracking [of] information on thousands of Clinton/DNC campaign contributors, the amounts that had been contributed and perquisites that had been doled out, such as White House coffees and overnight stays, as well as the coordination of Clinton/DNC political and fund-raising events." JA 11 (Compl. ¶ 12). Hall further alleges that she "expressed reservations about whether the project complied with the Hatch Act," 18 U.S.C. §§ 594 et seq., and that she was thereafter "assigned only menial tasks and was excluded from projects in which she previously had been involved and for which she had been employed." JA 11, 13 (Compl. ¶ 15, 22). Hall asserts that in November 1996 her "position was eliminated and her duties and supervisory responsibilities were assigned to a lesser qualified individual under whose supervision she was assigned to work." JA 13 (Compl. ¶ 23). According to Hall, "these actions were undertaken at the direction of Mrs. Clinton and in retaliation for Hall's challenging the unlawfulness of the WhoDB, in an attempt to force Hall to terminate her employment at [t]he White House." JA 13 (Compl. ¶ 24). Hall claims that she suffered "extreme emotional distress and stress-related physical conditions" as well as "additional, substantial pecuniary losses" because of the alleged goings-on at the White House. JA 14 (Compl. ¶ 27). She ultimately resigned from her position effective September 10, 1999. See JA 14.

On May 17, 1999 Hall filed a pro se complaint in the Eastern District against Clinton and senior White House officials. She subsequently filed an amended complaint in which she claimed, inter alia, that Clinton had conspired with other officials to "hinder or impede [her] by intimidation or threat, in the lawful discharge of her duties, and/or to injure [her] in her person or property on account of the lawful discharge of her duties," in violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1985 (section 1985).2 JA 116. Clinton and her co-defendants moved to dismiss and, on December 3, 1999, the Eastern District granted the defendants' motion, holding that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Hall's section 1985 claim because "the actions of the defendants [were] clearly employment-related and [were] encompassed under the [preemptive] remedial scope of the CSRA." JA 127 (Hall v. Clinton, No. 99-694-A, mem. op. at 6 (E.D. Va. Dec. 3, 1999)). On December 19, 2000 the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed, holding that "Congress intended that the CSRA would operate to the exclusion of all other statutory remedies for claims arising out of the federal employment relationship." Hall v. Clinton, 235 F.3d 202, 206 (4th Cir.2000) (Hall I), cert. denied, 532 U.S. 995, 121 S.Ct. 1656, 149 L.Ed.2d 639 (2001).

On December 13, 1999 — just ten days after the dismissal of her complaint against Clinton and others — Hall initiated this suit in the district court. She brought two common-law tort claims against Clinton: a claim of tortious interference with contractual relations on the ground that "Clinton willfully and intentionally interfered with Hall's long-standing employment relationship with the United States Government in an attempt to force Hall to terminate that relationship," JA 14 (Compl. ¶ 33); and a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress on the ground that "Clinton's conduct towards Hall ... was extreme and outrageous, not only due to the nature of the conduct itself but also because such acts and conduct constitute[d] a gross abuse of Mrs. Clinton's position as First Lady of the United States," JA 15 (Compl. ¶ 36). In addition, Hall brought two claims against the DNC: a claim that it violated section 1985 in that Clinton and the DNC "conspired to injure Hall ... on account of [her] having discharged her budgetary, managerial, supervisory and other duties," JA 17 (Compl. ¶ 44); and a claim of civil conspiracy on the ground that Clinton and the DNC "tacitly or explicitly agreed to develop the WhoDB using United States Government personnel and United States Government resources, in direct violation of the Hatch Act," JA 16 (Compl. ¶ 40). Finally, Hall filed a motion to disqualify the DOJ from representing Clinton in the litigation.

As mentioned above, the district court held that the DOJ's decision under section 517 to represent the former First Lady is not subject to judicial review or, alternatively, that section 517 expressly authorizes the decision. See Hall II, 143 F.Supp.2d at 3-4. Further, it dismissed all four of Hall's claims for various and alternative reasons, see id. at 5-6, that Hall now challenges.

II.

We discuss the district court's holdings on the motions presented — and address Hall's challenges thereto — in turn.

A.

Hall claims, first, that the district court erred in failing to disqualify the DOJ from representing Clinton because "Clinton was neither an officer nor an employee of the U.S. Government" at the time Hall filed her complaint. Br. of Appellant at 28. We review the court's denial of a motion to disqualify counsel for abuse of discretion, see Wheat v. United States, 486 U.S. 153, 163-64, 108 S.Ct. 1692, 1699-1700, 100 L.Ed.2d 140 (1988), and therefore will not lightly cast its decision aside.

Under 28 U.S.C. § 517,

[t]he Solicitor General, or any officer of the Department of Justice, may be sent by the Attorney General to any State or district in the United States to attend to the interests of the United States in a suit pending in a court of the United States, or in a court of a State, or to attend to any other interest of the United States.

28 U.S.C. § 517 (emphasis added). The district court concluded that "a decision to provide representation subject to § 517 is non-reviewable" by a federal court because, under the United States Supreme Court's decision in Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 105 S.Ct. 1649, 84 L.Ed.2d 714 (1985), it is "committed to the [DOJ's] sole discretion and there [is] no law for a reviewing court to apply." Hall II, 143 F.Supp.2d at 4. In support of this proposition, the district court cited Falkowski v. EEOC, 764 F.2d 907 (D.C.Cir.1985), reh'g denied, 783 F.2d 252 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 478 U.S. 1014, 106 S.Ct. 3319, 92 L.Ed.2d 727 (1986), in which we held that the DOJ's decision not to provide legal representation under section 517 was unreviewable. Falkowski, 764 F.2d at 911 (DOJ's decision "involve[d]...

To continue reading

Request your trial
68 cases
  • Hinson ex rel. N.H. v. Merritt Educational Center
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • November 13, 2007
    ...unlawful action or a lawful action in an unlawful manner.'" Barr v. Clinton, 370 F.3d 1196, 1200 (D.C.Cir.2004) (quoting Hall v. Clinton, 285 F.3d 74, 83 (D.C.Cir. 2002)). Here, other than listing section 1985 in the first paragraph as one of the six statutory and constitutional grounds for......
  • Williams v. Savage
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • August 5, 2008
    ...when plaintiffs successfully state an underlying violation of federal rights that resulted from the alleged conspiracy. Hall v. Clinton, 285 F.3d 74, 82 (D.C.Cir. 2002) (holding that a plaintiff cannot state a claim under § 1985 when the alleged conspiracy does not focus on an actionable wr......
  • Johnson v. Williams .
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • March 30, 2010
    ...action or a lawful action in an unlawful manner.’ ” Barr v. Clinton, 370 F.3d 1196, 1200 (D.C.Cir.2004) (quoting Hall v. Clinton, 285 F.3d 74, 83 (D.C.Cir.2002)). The plaintiff's complaint merely references § 1985(3) with a partial quotation, see Compl. at 4, and surmises that he may be the......
  • Lewis v. Bayh
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • September 9, 2008
    ...pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1985," Savage v. District of Columbia, 2003 WL 843326, at *1 (D.C.Cir. May 7, 2003); accord Hall v. Clinton, 285 F.3d 74, 82 (D.C.Cir.2002), and to most Bivens actions, Banks v. Chesapeake & Potomac Tel. Co., 802 F.2d 1416, 1429 (D.C.Cir.1986) (citing Hobson v. Wilso......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles
  • Termination, modification and revocation of probation and supervised release
    • United States
    • James Publishing Practical Law Books Federal Criminal Practice
    • April 30, 2022
    ...consider, but is not required to follow, the applicable range established by the Revocation Table [Form 16A]. United States v. Bruce, 285 F. 3d at 74 (upholding sentence of two years for supervised release violation instead of sentence within 6 to 12 month range established by Revocation Ta......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT