Muntaqim v. Coombe

• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit
• Writing for the Court: Per Curiam
• Citation: Muntaqim v. Coombe, 449 F.3d 371, 2006 WL 1359890 (2nd Cir. 2006)
• Decision Date: 04 May 2006
• Docket Number: Docket No. 01-7260-CV.
• Parties: Jalil Abdul MUNTAQIM, A/K/A Anthony Bottom, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Phillip COOMBE, Anthony Annucci, Louis F. Mann, Defendants-Appellees.

449 F.3d 371

Jalil Abdul MUNTAQIM, A/K/A Anthony Bottom, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Phillip COOMBE, Anthony Annucci, Louis F. Mann, Defendants-Appellees.

Docket No. 01-7260-CV.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

Argued: June 22, 2005.

Decided: May 4, 2006.

Jonathan W. Rauchway, (J. Peter Coll, Jr., Joshua M. Cutler, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, New York, NY, William A. Bianco, Gale T. Miller, Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, of counsel), Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, Denver, CO, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Michelle M. Aronowitz, Deputy Solicitor General (Caitlin J. Halligan, Solicitor General, Julie Sheridan, Gregory Klass, Benjamin Gutman, Richard Dearing, Assistant Solicitors General, of counsel, Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General of the State of New York, on the brief), New York, NY, for Defendants-Appellees.

Jessie Allen (Deborah Goldberg, Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, Julius L. Chambers, Anita Earls, University of North Carolina School of Law Center for Civil Rights, of counsel), Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, New York, NY, for amici curiae Brennan Center for Justice and the University of North Carolina School of Law Center for Civil Rights in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.

David B. Salmons (Sheldon T. Bradshaw, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, and Cynthia M. McKnight, David K. Flynn, and David White, Attorneys, of counsel, R. Alexander Acosta, Assistant Attorney General, on the brief), Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Appellate Section, Washington, DC, for amicus curiae United States of America in support of Defendants-Appellees.

Peter T. Barbur, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, LLP, New York, NY, for amicus curiae Association of the Bar of the City of New York in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.

Robert Bloom (Matthew Strugar, of counsel), Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, NY, for amici curiae Center for Constitutional Rights, National Alliance of Formerly Incarcerated Persons, Osborne Association, Coalition for Parole Restoration, Voice of the Ex-Offender, Eleventh Episcopal District Lay Organization, Ordinary People Society, Center for Law and Justice, and Malcolm X Center in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.

Michael L. Foreman (Jon M. Greenbaum, Marcia F. Johnson-Blanco, Jonah

H. Goldman, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Elliot M. Mincberg, Alma C. Henderson, People for the American Way Foundation, Angela Ciccolo, Interim General Counsel, Victor L. Goode, Assistant General Counsel, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Grasford W. Smith, Jr., National Black Law Student Association Northeast Region, of counsel), Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington, DC, for amici curiae Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, People for the American Way Foundation, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and National Black Law Students Association Northeast Region in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.

Lawrence S. Lustberg, Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione, P.C., New York, NY, for amici curiae Zachary W. Carter, Veronica Coleman-Davis, Scott Lassar, Leonard Marks, Paul Schechtman, National Black Police Association, National Latino Officers Association of America, and 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.

Johanna Schmitt (Jonathan D. Hacker, Derek R.B. Douglas, Charles E. Borden, Scott M. Hammack, Danielle M. Estrada, of counsel), O'Melveny & Myers LLP, New York, NY, for amici curiae Center for Community Alternatives, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and The Sentencing Project in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.

Steven R. Shapiro (Arthur N. Eisenberg, New York Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Laughlin McDonald, ACLU Voting Rights Project, of counsel), American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, NY, for amici curiae American Civil Liberties Union and New York Civil Liberties Union in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.

Derek S. Tarson, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, New York, NY, for amici curiae certain criminologists in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.

Brenda Wright (Lisa J. Danetz, of counsel), National Voting Rights Institute, Boston, MA, for amicus curiae National Voting Rights Institute and Prison Policy Initiative in support of Plaintiff-Appellant.

George T. Conway III (Kenneth K. Lee, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Kent S. Scheidegger, Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, Roger Clegg, Center for Equal Opportunity, of counsel), Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, NY, for amici curiae Diane Piagentini, Deborah Piagentini, The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, and the Center for Equal Opportunity in support of Defendants-Appellees.

Charles J. Cooper (Greg Abbott, Attorney General of Texas, Barry R. McBee, First Assistant Attorney General, Edward D. Burbach, Deputy Attorney General, Litigation, R. Ted Cruz, Solicitor General, Matthew F. Stowe, Deputy Solicitor General, State of Texas, David H. Thompson, Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, of counsel), Cooper & Kirk, PLLC, Washington, DC, for amici curiae States of Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, and Washington in support of Defendants-Appellees.

Mitchell S. Garber (Gregory M. Longworth, of counsel), Worth, Longworth & London, LLP, New York, NY, for amicus curiae Patrolmen's Benevolent Association of the City of New York in support of Defendants-Appellees.

Before: WALKER, Chief Judge, MESKILL, CARDAMONE, JACOBS, CALABRESI, CABRANES, STRAUB, POOLER, SACK, SOTOMAYOR, KATZMANN, B.D. PARKER, RAGGI,

WESLEY, and HALL, Circuit Judges.¹

PER CURIAM.

Jalil Abdul Muntaqim is incarcerated at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Wallkill, New York, serving a life term of imprisonment following his conviction for the murder of two New York City police officers in May 1971. In September 1994, Muntaqim, an African American, filed a pro se complaint against several New York officials alleging, inter alia, that New York Election Law section 5-106, which denies the right to vote to incarcerated or paroled felons, violates section 2 of the Voting Rights Act ("VRA") because it "results in a denial or abridgement of the right . . . to vote on account of race." 42 U.S.C. § 1973(a). In January 2001, the District Court for the Northern District of New York granted Defendants-Appellees summary judgment and dismissed the complaint. Muntaqim v. Coombe, No. 94-CV-1237, slip op. (N.D.N.Y. Jan. 24, 2001). Muntaqim appealed, and, in April 2004, a panel of this Court affirmed the dismissal of Muntaqim's complaint. Muntaqim v. Coombe, 366 F.3d 102, 104 (2d Cir.2004). In October 2004, our Court voted to deny en banc review. Muntaqim v. Coombe, 385 F.3d 793, 793-94 (2d Cir.2004).

Following the Supreme Court's denial of certiorari, 543 U.S. 978, 125 S.Ct. 480 (2004), we revisited the case and agreed to rehear it en banc. Muntaqim v. Coombe, 396 F.3d 95, 95 (2d Cir.2004). The en banc court was convened to determine "whether, on the pleadings, a claim that a New York State statute, Section 5-106 of the New York Election Law, that disenfranchises currently imprisoned felons and parolees results in unlawful vote dilution, can state a claim for violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act." Id.

Muntaqim was consolidated for briefing and oral argument with Hayden v. Pataki, No. 04-3886, which also raised the issue of the relationship between VRA section 2 and New York Election Law section 5-106. Following consolidation, this Court sua sponte requested supplemental briefing on Muntaqim's standing. We now conclude that, unlike Hayden, Muntaqim must be dismissed because the appellant lacks standing and, consequently, we lack jurisdiction.²

Before he was incarcerated in New York, Muntaqim resided and worked in California. He was never eligible to vote, nor did he ever vote in New York.³ He was never a resident of New York, is not currently a resident of New York, and recently disavowed any intention to become a resident of New York in the future.

Muntaqim's complaint alleges that, at the time it was filed, he was incarcerated at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility. In response to our inquiry, Muntaqim conceded that he was a resident of California prior to his incarceration there in 1971 (based on a California conviction unrelated to his New York conviction), and that he has been incarcerated in either California or New York ever since. See Bottom v Coughlin, No. 80 Civ. 541(WCC) (S.D.N.Y. July 24, 1980), 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12563, at *3; Muntaqim Decl. ¶¶ 2-3, Feb. 22, 2005. Specifically, Muntaqim was incarcerated in New York from 1972 until 1975 when he was tried for the New York murders. See Bottom, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12563, at *3-4. Muntaqim was convicted in 1975 and sentenced to two concurrent indeterminate terms of twenty-five years to life. See id. at *4. He was then transferred to California to complete the prison term imposed following his California conviction. See id. In 1977, after completing his California sentence, he was returned here to serve his New York sentence, and he has been incarcerated ever since in various New York prisons. See id.

After serving the required term on his New York murder convictions, Muntaqim applied for parole in 2002 and 2004. See Defendants-Appellees' Ltr. Br. Mar. 1, 2005, Exs. A & C. In Muntaqim's 2002 Inmate Status Report, prepared for his July 2002 parole hearing, he represented that, if granted parole, he intended to reside with his mother in Georgia. See id., Ex. A at 5. At his July 2002 parole hearing, Muntaqim reiterated this intention and, in addition, testified that he had purchased a home in Georgia. See id., Ex. B at 24 l. 18 ("My immediate plans [sic] is to leave New York State."); id., Ex. B at 24 ll. 20-21 ("I intend to move...