Republican Party of Guam v. Gutierrez

• Decision Date: 15 January 2002
• Docket Number: No. 00-16796,DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS,PLAINTIFFS-APPELLEES,00-16796
• Citation: 277 F.3d 1086
• Parties: (9th Cir. 2002) REPUBLICAN PARTY OF GUAM; I MINA' BENTE SINGKO NA LIHESLATURAN GUAHAN,, v. CARL T.C. GUTIERREZ, AS GOVERNOR OF GUAM, AND THE GOVERNMENT OF GUAM,
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 1086

277 F.3d 1086 (9th Cir. 2002)

REPUBLICAN PARTY OF GUAM; I MINA' BENTE SINGKO NA LIHESLATURAN GUAHAN, PLAINTIFFS-APPELLEES, v. CARL T.C. GUTIERREZ, AS GOVERNOR OF GUAM, AND THE GOVERNMENT OF GUAM, DEFENDANTS-APPELLANTS.

No. 00-16796

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

Argued and Submitted November 5, 2001

Filed January 15, 2002

[Copyrighted Material Omitted] Eric A. Heisel, Deputy Attorney General, Hagatna, Guam, for the defendants-appellants.

Curtis C. Van de Veld, Hagatna, Guam, for the plaintiffsappellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Guam John S. Unpingco, Chief District Judge, Presiding D.C. No. CV-00-00032-JSU

Before: David R. Thompson, Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain, and Marsha S. Berzon, Circuit Judges.

DAVID R. THOMPSON, Circuit Judge:

The issue we decide in this appeal is whether the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over the plaintiffs' declaratory judgment action against the Governor of Guam, Carl T. C. Gutierrez, and the Government of Guam.

The Guam legislature, I Mina' Bente Singko Na Liheslaturan Guahan, over the Governor's veto, enacted Guam Public Law No. 25-146. That election reform statute required the Governor to choose three of Guam's Election Commission members from a list supplied by the Republican Party and three from a list supplied by the Democratic Party. These six members would choose a seventh.

The Governor violated the statute by refusing to appoint Commission members nominated by the two political parties. Instead, he appointed seven members of his own choosing. In response, the plaintiffs filed this lawsuit, seeking a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief.

After a bench trial, the district court granted judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. The court determined that P.L. No. 25146 was valid under the Organic Act of Guam, 48 U.S.C. §§§§ 1421-1428e; that by violating P.L. No. 25-146, the Governor had violated his duty under the Organic Act to faithfully execute the laws of Guam, see 48 U.S.C.§§ 1422; and that his appointments to the Election Commission, therefore, were void. This appeal followed.

The defendants raise three claims of error. They assert that no federal question jurisdiction exists, that sovereign immunity bars the plaintiffs' lawsuit, and that P.L. No. 25-146 violates the Organic Act by usurping the Governor's appointment and removal powers. We have appellate jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291. We conclude that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because this case fails to present a question arising under federal law. We reverse the district court's judgment, and remand to the district court with instructions to vacate its order and judgment and dismiss the case. We do not reach the other claims of error asserted by the defendants.

I.

The only form of subject matter jurisdiction alleged to exist in this case is federal question jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331: "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States."

A case "arises under" federal law either where federal law creates the cause of action or "where the vindication of a right under state law necessarily turn[s] on some construction of federal law." Franchise Tax Bd. v. Construction Laborers Vacation Trust, 463 U.S. 1, 8-9 (1983) (citations omitted). "[T]he presence or absence of federal-question jurisdiction is governed by the `well-pleaded complaint rule,' which provides that federal jurisdiction exists only when a federal question is presented on the face of the plaintiff's properly pleaded complaint." Rivet v. Regions Bank, 522 U.S. 470, 475 (1998) (quoting Caterpillar, Inc. v. Williams , 482 U.S. 386, 392 (1987)) (internal quotation marks omitted). "A defense is not part of a plaintiff's properly pleaded statement of his or her claim." Rivet, 522 U.S. at 475; accord Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U.S. at 10.

The well-pleaded complaint rule applies to declaratory judgment cases such as the present one. "The operation of the Declaratory Judgment Act [28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 ] is procedural only. Congress enlarged the range of remedies available in the federal courts but did not extend their jurisdiction." Skelly Oil Co. v. Phillips Petroleum Co., 339 U.S. 667, 671 (1950) (quoting Aetna Life Ins. Co. v. Haworth, 300 U.S. 277, 240 (1937)) (internal quotation marks omitted).

The law of the United States under which the plaintiffs' complaint allegedly arises is the Organic Act of Guam, which functions as Guam's constitution. See 48 U.S.C. §§§§ 1421, 1421a; Haeuser v. Dep't of Law, 97 F.3d 1152, 1156 (9th Cir. 1996). In their complaint, the plaintiffs allege that a controversy exists under the Organic Act because the Guam legislature and the Governor dispute the scope of their respective legislative and executive powers under the Organic Act. See 48 U.S.C. §§§§ 1422, 1423a.¹ They characterize the relief they seek as either: (1) A declaration of the respective rights of the Legislature and Governor under the Organic Act as to P.L. No. 25-146;² or (2) A declaration that the Governor is required to enforce P.L. No. 25-146 under §§ 1422 of the Organic Act, which makes the Governor "responsible for the faithful execution of the laws of Guam."

We begin our analysis by focusing on the plaintiffs' initial characterization of the relief they seek. They are asking a federal court to determine whether the Guam legislature could lawfully enact P.L. No. 25-146, given the respective powers of the Governor and Legislature under the Organic Act. This type of declaratory action cannot support federal question jurisdiction. See Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U.S. at 14.

In Franchise Tax Board, the only disputed issue was whether federal law preempted the state tax law that created the plaintiff's cause of action. The plaintiff sought a declaration that the state law was valid under federal law. See id. The Court ruled that no federal question jurisdiction existed:

There are good reasons why the federal courts should not entertain suits by the States to declare the validity of their regulations despite possibly conflicting federal law. . . . The situation presented by a State's suit for a declaration of the validity of state law is sufficiently removed from the spirit of necessity and careful limitation of district court jurisdiction that inform[s] our statutory interpretation . . . to convince us that, until Congress informs us otherwise, such a suit is not within the original jurisdiction of the United States district courts.

Id. at 21-22 (emphasis added). This same logic applies here. The district court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate the plaintiffs' claim that P.L. No. 25-146 does not conflict with the Organic Act.

The plaintiffs seek to escape this result by relying upon the Supreme Court's statement in Franchise Tax Board that "[f]ederal courts have regularly taken original jurisdiction over declaratory judgment suits in which, if the declaratory judgment defendant brought a coercive action to enforce its rights, that suit would necessarily present a federal question." Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U.S. at 19; see also Levin Metals Corp. v. Parr-Richmond Terminal Co., 799 F.2d 1312, 1315 (9th Cir. 1986) (holding that jurisdiction exists where a declaratory judgment plaintiff asserts a claim that is in the nature of a defense to a threatened or pending action). The plaintiffs argue we should apply this rationale because if the Governor were to have brought the lawsuit, it would have been an action to declare P.L. No. 25-146 invalid under the Organic Act, and that action would presumably raise a federal question.

The plaintiffs mischaracterize the Franchise Tax Board opinion by quoting out of context the statement upon which they rely. After making that statement, the Court assumed the declaratory action the defendant could have brought would be a coercive action under federal law to enforce its rights. The Court ruled, however, that acceptance of this assumption did not bring the declaratory judgment action within federal jurisdiction. Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U.S. at 19-22. Stressing that states have access to their own courts for the enforcement of their laws, the Court held that a state may not bring a suit in federal court "to declare the validity of [its ] regulations despite possibly conflicting federal law," even if the defendant in such a suit could invoke federal jurisdiction. Id. at 21.

Likewise, the Guam legislature has access to the Guam courts for the enforcement of P.L. No. 25-146. While this case presents a unique twist on Franchise Tax Board because the defendant is also in some sense the "state," we fail to see how that circumstance meaningfully distinguishes Franchise Tax Board. If anything, the intragovernmental nature of the dispute makes invocation of federal jurisdiction even less appropriate.

Nor is federal question jurisdiction conferred by the plaintiffs seeking a declaration that the Governor failed to faithfully execute the laws of Guam as required under the Organic Act. See 48 U.S.C. §§ 1422. There is no suggestion by the plaintiffs, or in the Organic Act itself, that the Governor's duty to enforce the laws of Guam creates an independent federal cause of action in favor of a plaintiff who alleges that a Guam law is not being enforced.

To determine whether federal question jurisdiction exists in this case, the issue is: In order to vindicate their right under P.L. No. 25-146, must the plaintiffs plead, and prove, the asserted violation of federal law? See Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U.S. at 8-9. The answer is "no." To vindicate the right created by P.L. No. 25-146 -the right to have the Governor appoint the Election Commission from those nominated by the recognized political parties of Guam -the plaintiffs need only plead that P.L. No. 25-146 exists and that the Governor failed to follow it, causing them actual...