Patchak v. Zinke
| Decision Date | 27 February 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 16–498.,16–498. |
| Citation | 138 S.Ct. 897,200 L.Ed.2d 92 |
| Parties | David PATCHAK, Petitioner v. Ryan ZINKE, Secretary of the Interior, et al. |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Scott E. Gant, Washington, DC, for Petitioner.
Ann O'Connell, Washington, DC, for Federal Respondents.
Pratik A. Shah, Washington, DC, for Respondent Match–E–Be–Nash–She–Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians.
Scott E. Gant, Aaron E. Nathan, Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, Washington, DC, for Petitioner.
Conly J. Schulte, Fredericks Peebles & Morgan LLP, Louisville, CO, Nicole E. Ducheneaux, Fredericks Peebles & Morgan LLP, Omaha, NE, Pratik A. Shah, James E. Tysse, G. Michael Parsons, Jr., Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Washington, DC, for Respondent Match–E–Be–Nash–She–Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians.
Jeffrey B. Wall, Acting Solicitor General, Jeffrey H. Wood, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Eric Grant, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Edwin S. Kneedler, Deputy Solicitor General, Ann O'Connell, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Lane N. McFadden, Attorney, Department of Justice, Washington, DC, for Federal Respondents.
Justice THOMAS announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which Justice BREYER, Justice ALITO, and Justice KAGAN join.
Petitioner, David Patchak, sued the Secretary of the Interior for taking land into trust on behalf of an Indian Tribe. While his suit was pending in the District Court, Congress enacted the Gun Lake Trust Land Reaffirmation Act (Gun Lake Act or Act), Pub.L. 113–179, 128 Stat. 1913, which provides that suits relating to the land "shall not be filed or maintained in a Federal court and shall be promptly dismissed." Patchak contends that, in enacting this statute, Congress impermissibly infringed the judicial power that Article III of the Constitution vests exclusively in the Judicial Branch. Because we disagree, we affirm the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The Match–E–Be–Nash–She–Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Band) resides in southwestern Michigan, near the township of Wayland. The Band traces its relationship with the United States back hundreds of years, pointing to treaties it negotiated with the Federal Government as early as 1795. But the Secretary of the Interior did not formally recognize the Band until 1999. See 63 Fed.Reg. 56936 (1998) ; 65 Fed.Reg. 13298 (2000).
After obtaining formal recognition, the Band identified a 147–acre parcel of land in Wayland, known as the Bradley Property, where it wanted to build a casino. The Band asked the Secretary to invoke the Indian Reorganization Act, § 5, 48 Stat. 985, 25 U.S.C. § 5108, and take the Bradley Property into trust.1 In 2005, the Secretary agreed and posted a notice informing the public that the Bradley Property would be taken into trust for the Band. See 70 Fed.Reg. 25596 (2005).
The Michigan Gambling Opposition (MichGO) sued, alleging that the Secretary's decision violated federal environmental and gaming laws. After several years of litigation, the D.C. Circuit affirmed the dismissal of MichGO's claims, and this Court denied certiorari. Michigan Gambling Opposition v. Kempthorne, 525 F.3d 23 (2008), cert. denied, 555 U.S. 1137, 129 S.Ct. 1002, 173 L.Ed.2d 293 (2009). In January 2009, the Secretary formally took the Bradley Property into trust. And in February 2011, the Band opened its casino.
Before the Secretary formally took the land into trust, a nearby landowner, David Patchak, filed another lawsuit challenging the Secretary's decision. Invoking the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 702, 706(2), Patchak alleged that the Secretary lacked statutory authority to take the Bradley Property into trust for the Band. The Indian Reorganization Act does not allow the Secretary to take land into trust for tribes that were not under federal jurisdiction when the statute was enacted in 1934. See Carcieri v. Salazar, 555 U.S. 379, 382–383, 129 S.Ct. 1058, 172 L.Ed.2d 791 (2009). The Band was not federally recognized until 1999, which Patchak argued was more than 65 years too late. Based on this alleged statutory violation, Patchak sought to reverse the Secretary's decision to take the Bradley Property into trust.
The Secretary raised preliminary objections to Patchak's suit, contending that it was barred by sovereign immunity and that Patchak lacked prudential standing to bring it. The District Court granted the Secretary's motion to dismiss, but the D.C. Circuit reversed. Patchak v. Salazar, 646 F.Supp.2d 72 (D.D.C.2009), rev'd, 632 F.3d 702 (2011). This Court granted certiorari and affirmed the D.C. Circuit. Match–E–Be–Nash–She–Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians v. Patchak, 567 U.S. 209, 132 S.Ct. 2199, 183 L.Ed.2d 211 (2012) ( Patchak I ). This Court's decision in Patchak I held that Congress had waived the Secretary's sovereign immunity from suits like Patchak's. Id., at 215–224, 132 S.Ct. 2199. It also held that Patchak had prudential standing because his suit arguably fell within the "zone of interests" protected by the Indian Reorganization Act. Id., at 224–228, 132 S.Ct. 2199. Because Patchak had standing and the Secretary lacked immunity, this Court concluded that "Patchak's suit may proceed," id., at 212, 132 S.Ct. 2199 and remanded for further proceedings, id., at 228, 132 S.Ct. 2199.
In September 2014, while Patchak's suit was back in the District Court, Congress enacted the Gun Lake Act, 128 Stat. 1913. Section 2(a) of the Act states that the Bradley Property "is reaffirmed as trust land, and the actions of the Secretary of the Interior in taking that land into trust are ratified and confirmed." Section 2(b) then provides the following:
" NO CLAIMS .—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an action (including an action pending in a Federal court as of the date of enactment of this Act) relating to the land described in subsection (a) shall not be filed or maintained in a Federal court and shall be promptly dismissed."
Based on § 2(b), the District Court entered summary judgment against Patchak and dismissed his suit for lack of jurisdiction. 109 F.Supp.3d 152 (D.D.C.2015).
The D.C. Circuit affirmed. Patchak v. Jewell, 828 F.3d 995 (2016). It held that "[t]he language of the Gun Lake Act makes plain that Congress has stripped federal courts of subject matter jurisdiction" over suits, like Patchak's, that relate to the Bradley Property. Id., at 1001. The D.C. Circuit rejected Patchak's argument that § 2(b) violates Article III of the Constitution. Id., at 1001–1003. Article III prohibits Congress from "direct[ing] the result of pending litigation," the D.C. Circuit reasoned, but it does not prohibit Congress from " ‘supply[ing] new law.’ " Id., at 1002 (quoting Robertson v. Seattle Audubon Soc., 503 U.S. 429, 439, 112 S.Ct. 1407, 118 L.Ed.2d 73 (1992) ). Section 2(b) supplies new law: "[I]f an action relates to the Bradley Property, it must promptly be dismissed." 828 F.3d, at 1003.
We granted certiorari to review whether § 2(b) violates Article III of the Constitution.2 See 565 U.S. 1092, 132 S.Ct. 845, 181 L.Ed.2d 548 (2017). Because it does not, we now affirm.
The Constitution creates three branches of Government and vests each branch with a different type of power. See Art. I, § 1 ; Art. II, § 1, cl. 1 ; Art. III, § 1. "To the legislative department has been committed the duty of making laws; to the executive the duty of executing them; and to the judiciary the duty of interpreting and applying them in cases properly brought before the courts." Massachusetts v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 488, 43 S.Ct. 597, 67 L.Ed. 1078 (1923) ; see also Wayman v. Southard, 10 Wheat. 1, 46, 6 L.Ed. 253 (1825) (Marshall, C.J.) (). By vesting each branch with an exclusive form of power, the Framers kept those powers separate. See INS v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 946, 103 S.Ct. 2764, 77 L.Ed.2d 317 (1983). Each branch "exercise[s] ... the powers appropriate to its own department," and no branch can "encroach upon the powers confided to the others." Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 191, 26 L.Ed. 377 (1881). This system prevents "[t]he accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands," The Federalist No. 47, p. 301 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961) (J. Madison)—an accumulation that would pose an inherent "threat to liberty," Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417, 450, 118 S.Ct. 2091, 141 L.Ed.2d 393 (1998) (KENNEDY, J., concurring).
The separation of powers, among other things, prevents Congress from exercising the judicial power. See Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc., 514 U.S. 211, 218, 115 S.Ct. 1447, 131 L.Ed.2d 328 (1995). One way that Congress can cross the line from legislative power to judicial power is by "usurp[ing] a court's power to interpret and apply the law to the [circumstances] before it." Bank Markazi v. Peterson, 578 U.S. ––––, ––––, 136 S.Ct. 1310, 1323, 194 L.Ed.2d 463 (2016). The simplest example would be a statute that says, "In Smith v. Jones, Smith wins." See id., at –––– – ––––, n. 17, 136 S.Ct., at 1323, n. 17. At the same time, the legislative power is the power to make law, and Congress can make laws that apply retroactively to pending lawsuits, even when it effectively ensures that one side wins. See id., at –––– – ––––, 136 S.Ct., at 1324–1327.
To distinguish between permissible exercises of the legislative power and impermissible infringements of the judicial power, this Court's precedents establish the following rule: Congress violates Article III when it "compel[s] ... findings or results under old law." Seattle Audubon, supra, at 438, 112 S.Ct. 1407. But Congress does not violate Article III when it "changes the law." Plaut, supra, at 218, 115 S.Ct. 1447.
Section 2(b) changes the law. Specifically, it strips federal courts of jurisdiction over actions "relating to" the Bradley Property. Before the Gun Lake Act, federal...
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