Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-caDC-03-05119/USCOURTS-caDC-03-05119-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Zalmen Ashkenazi
Appellee
Attorney General of the United States
Appellant
Director of Federal Bureau of Prisons
Appellant

Document Text:

Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the

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the Clerk of any formal errors in order that corrections may be made

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United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

Argued September 15, 2003 Decided October 14, 2003

No. 03-5119

ZALMEN ASHKENAZI,

APPELLEE

v.

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES AND

DIRECTOR OF FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS,

APPELLANTS

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the District of Columbia

(03cv00062)

Peter D. Blumberg, Assistant U.S. Attorney, argued the

cause for appellants. With him on the briefs were Roscoe C.

Howard, Jr., U.S. Attorney, and R. Craig Lawrence, Assistant U.S. Attorney. David J. Ball, Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorney, entered an appearance.

 Bills of costs must be filed within 14 days after entry of judgment.

The court looks with disfavor upon motions to file bills of costs out

of time.

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Nathan Lewin argued the cause for appellee. With him on

the brief was Alyza D. Lewin.

Before: EDWARDS, RANDOLPH, and GARLAND, Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge RANDOLPH.

RANDOLPH, Circuit Judge: The Attorney General and the

Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons appeal from the

district court’s order granting a preliminary injunction

against them. Because the case has become moot, we will

vacate the injunction and remand to the district court for the

entry of an order dismissing the complaint.

The injunction prohibited the Bureau of Prisons from

transferring Zalmen Ashkenazi out of a halfway house in

Brooklyn, New York. Ashkenazi pleaded guilty to conspiracy

to commit bank fraud in the Southern District of New York.

In imposing a sentence of a year and a day, the district court

recommended that Ashkenazi serve seven months of the

sentence in a halfway house. Rather than designating Ashkenazi to a prison for the first five months of his sentence, the

Bureau – erroneously, according to the government – assigned him to a halfway house at the beginning of his term.

Ashkenazi reported to the Brooklyn Community Corrections Center on December 16, 2002. On the same day, the

Deputy Attorney General announced that ‘‘imprisonment’’ did

not include serving time at halfway houses and that the

Bureau therefore could no longer designate defendants sentenced to terms of imprisonment directly to such institutions.

Under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(c), prisoners would become eligible

for placement in a halfway house only for the last ten percent

of their sentences, not to exceed six months. Those prisoners

currently in halfway houses who had more than 150 days left

in their sentences would be re-designated to a prison.

After learning that he had been re-designated, Ashkenazi

filed this action for an injunction, claiming that the new policy

violated the Ex Post Facto Clause of the Constitution. U.S.

CONST. art. I, § 9, cl. 3. The district court issued its preliminary injunction on February 24, 2003. The government’s

appeal is on the ground that the remedy for an ex post facto

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law is to restore the status quo and that the injunction here is

excessive in scope because it restricts the Bureau from exercising discretion to transfer Ashkenazi out of the Brooklyn

facility, discretion the Bureau had before the new policy took

effect.

Information provided by government counsel during oral

argument convinces us that the case is moot. After deducting good time credits from his sentence, Ashkenazi’s release

date is October 28, 2003. 18 U.S.C. § 3624(b). At this

writing he is therefore within the last ten percent of his term

and is eligible, under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(c), for ‘‘pre-release

custody’’ in a halfway house. With admirable candor, government counsel represented that unless Ashkenazi engages in

misconduct, he will remain at the Brooklyn facility to complete his sentence. It follows that the new policy, announced

in December 2002, can have no future effect on Ashkenazi

and that the case is therefore moot.

The district court’s order granting the preliminary injunction is therefore vacated and the case is remanded with

instructions to dismiss the complaint as moot. See U.S.

Bancorp Mortgage Co. v. Bonner Mall Partnership, 513 U.S.

18, 22-23 (1994); Flynt v. Weinberger, 762 F.2d 134, 135-36

(D.C. Cir. 1985).

So ordered.

USCA Case #03-5119 Document #778143 Filed: 10/14/2003 Page 3 of 3