[PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

________________________

No. 19-13947

________________________

D.C. Docket No. 4:19-cv-10140-JLK

SUSAN LYNNE ROHE,

Petitioner – Appellant,

versus

WELLS FARGO BANK, N.A.,

Respondent – Appellee.

________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Southern District of Florida

________________________

(February 18, 2021)

Before WILSON, GRANT, and TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges.

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TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge:

This case requires us to consider under what conditions a district court has 

the power to issue an order under the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a). 

Petitioner Rohe alleges that after she filed for bankruptcy, Wells Fargo violated the 

automatic bankruptcy stay by continuing with foreclosure proceedings against her 

in the Florida state courts. She also claims that Wells Fargo and the state courts 

acted contrary to federal law governing removal by continuing with the same statecourt proceedings after she sought to remove the state case to the bankruptcy court. 

On the basis of these allegations, Rohe filed a petition for a writ under the All 

Writs Act in the District Court, seeking an order declaring that certain actions of 

the state courts were void and granting Rohe damages against Wells Fargo and its 

counsel. We find that this case is not the kind of case in which an order under the 

Act could properly be issued because there is no underlying proceeding over which 

the District Court has jurisdiction and the integrity of which the District Court 

would be in an appropriate position to protect by making such an order. We 

therefore affirm the District Court’s dismissal of the case.

I.

A.

The history of this case is rather complex. Wells Fargo previously brought a

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state-court foreclosure action against Rohe in 2013. That lawsuit was dismissed in 

2016 since Wells Fargo could not establish that it was the holder of Rohe’s 

mortgage, which had been issued by another bank. The mortgage note contained 

an undated endorsement to Wells Fargo bearing the stamped signature of a 

representative of the original lender, but the court found that the signature was not 

authentic.

To correct this deficiency, Wells Fargo transferred the note back to the 

original lender’s successor, which canceled all endorsements on the note and 

executed a new endorsement to Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo then filed a second 

foreclosure suit against Rohe; it is this suit that gave rise to the events underlying 

the present case. The state trial court ruled that the new endorsement was effective 

and that Wells Fargo now had standing to foreclose. The court granted a judgment 

of foreclosure in December 2018, which Rohe appealed to the Third District Court 

of Appeal (“DCA”) of Florida in January 2019.

B.

In February 2019, Rohe filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 13 in the 

Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. Initiating a bankruptcy case 

automatically stays creditors’ claims pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 362(a), which 

provides that the bankruptcy petition “operates as a stay, applicable to all entities,” 

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of, among other things, “the commencement or continuation . . . of a judicial, 

administrative, or other action or proceeding against the debtor that was or could 

have been commenced before the commencement of the case.” In response to 

Rohe’s bankruptcy filing, the state trial court placed the foreclosure action on 

inactive status and cancelled the impending foreclosure sale. In June, Rohe also 

moved the Third DCA for a stay or abatement of her appeal. However, the Third 

DCA’s precedent held that the automatic stay does not apply to appeals brought by 

a debtor, on the ground that such an appeal is not a proceeding “against” the debtor 

within the meaning of § 362(a), see Shop in the Grove, Ltd. v. Union Fed. Sav. & 

Loan Ass’n of Miami, 425 So. 2d 1138, 1139 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App. 1982),

1 and

the court accordingly denied Rohe’s motion.

Shortly thereafter, on July 3rd, the bankruptcy court granted Wells Fargo 

relief from the automatic stay for the purpose of proceeding with the foreclosure

action. The next month the bankruptcy court denied Rohe’s motion to reconsider 

as well as her earlier motion to enforce the automatic stay, explaining that “[t]here 

is no automatic stay in effect as to Wells Fargo” because the relevant property “is 

not included in the Debtor’s Chapter 13 plan.” Rohe subsequently appealed the 

bankruptcy court’s order to the District Court.

1 The Third DCA has now overruled this precedent. Nat’l Med. Imaging, LLC v. Lyon 

Fin. Servs., Inc., No. 3D20-730, 2021 WL 113382 (Fla. 3d Dist. Ct. App. Jan. 13, 2021).

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Furthermore, on July 14th, Rohe filed a notice of removal with the 

bankruptcy court and the Third DCA to remove the foreclosure case2 to the 

bankruptcy court as a matter related to the bankruptcy under 28 U.S.C. § 1452(a).

3

 

When a case is removed to federal court, the state court ceases to have jurisdiction

and proceedings in the state court are stayed until the case is remanded.4 As

Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9027(c) provides,

Removal of the claim or cause of action is effected on such filing

2 Rohe’s briefing describes what she did as removing the “appellate case” from the Third 

DCA; the notice of removal also focuses on the appeal but begins by formally identifying the 

“state court action” being removed as both the appellate case and the trial court case, giving the 

captions and case numbers for both. This Circuit has in certain circumstances approved removal 

of cases in which final judgment had been entered by the state trial court but there remained time 

to take an appeal to the state appellate court. In re Savers Fed. Sav. & Loan Ass’n, 872 F.2d 963, 

965-66 (11th Cir. 1989) (allowing post-judgment removal under the special removal statute 

applicable to the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation); Jackson v. Am. Sav. Mortg. 

Corp., 924 F.2d 195 (11th Cir. 1991) (allowing removal of a case in which the state appeal and 

the removal were filed on the same day, without discussing the issue of the pending appeal); 

Ware v. FleetBoston Fin. Corp., 180 F. App’x 59, 61 (11th Cir. 2006); see also FDIC v. Keating, 

12 F.3d 314, 316-17 (1st Cir. 1993) (allowing removal despite a pending appeal); cf. Aurora 

Loan Servs., LLC v. Allen, 762 F. App’x 625, 627-28 & n.3 (11th Cir. 2019) (noting that our 

precedent on post-judgment removal has been in the context of financial institution receiver 

cases).

3 While § 1452(a) technically provides for removal to the district court, district courts are 

permitted under 28 U.S.C § 157(a) to refer any or all cases related to a bankruptcy case to the 

bankruptcy judges. The Southern District of Florida has promulgated a local rule referring all 

such cases to the District’s bankruptcy judges and providing that when a claim or cause of action 

is removed under the bankruptcy removal statute, the notice of removal is to be filed with the 

bankruptcy court and the case is to be docketed as an adversary proceeding in the bankruptcy 

court. S.D. Fla. L.R. 87.2(a).

4 Upon the filing of a notice of removal, “the jurisdiction of the state court absolutely 

ceases” and “[a]ny subsequent proceedings in state court on the case are void ab initio.” Maseda 

v. Honda Motor Co., 861 F.2d 1248, 1254-55 (11th Cir. 1988) (citing Steamship Co. v. Tugman, 

106 U.S. 118, 122, 1 S. Ct. 58, 60 (1882)). This rule applies regardless of whether the case is in 

fact removable: “the filing of a removal petition [now designated a notice of removal] terminates 

the state court’s jurisdiction until the case is remanded, even in a case improperly removed.” Id.

at 1254 n.11.

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[with the clerk of the court from which the claim or cause of action is 

removed] of a copy of the notice of removal. The parties shall 

proceed no further in that court unless and until the claim or cause of 

action is remanded.5

On August 21st, before any action by the bankruptcy court, the Third DCA 

nevertheless issued a per curiam order affirming the state trial court’s judgment of 

foreclosure and also granting Wells Fargo’s motion for appellate attorneys’ fees. 

Two days later, the state trial court restored the foreclosure case to active status

and rescheduled the foreclosure sale.

The removal process instituted a new adversary proceeding in the 

bankruptcy court. Wells Fargo moved to dismiss this proceeding, claiming that the 

case, as a state-court appeal, was not removable. On September 4th, the 

bankruptcy court granted the motion and dismissed the adversary proceeding with 

prejudice and “nunc pro tunc to July 14, 2019,” the date when the adversary was 

5 Compare the parallel provision in the ordinary removal statute:

Promptly after the filing of such notice of removal of a civil action the defendant 

or defendants shall give written notice thereof to all adverse parties and shall file a 

copy of the notice with the clerk of such State court, which shall effect the 

removal and the State court shall proceed no further unless and until the case is 

remanded.

28 U.S.C. § 1446(d). In a plurality opinion, the Supreme Court has stated that “[t]he statutory 

procedures for removal of a case from state court to federal court provide that the removal acts as 

a stay of the state-court proceedings.” Vendo Co. v. Lektro-Vend Corp., 433 U.S. 623, 640, 97 S. 

Ct. 2881, 2892 (1977) (plurality opinion) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 1446(e), now § 1446(d)). The 

Court has also long held that federal courts have the power to enjoin state-court proceedings in 

removed cases. See Mitchum v. Foster, 407 U.S. 225, 234 & n.12, 92 S. Ct. 2151, 2157-58 

(1972).

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opened and the notice of removal filed.6 Despite the bankruptcy court’s apparent 

belief that the case had not been properly removed, it did not remand the case to 

the state courts. The order of dismissal was also appealed by Rohe to the District 

Court.

C.

We come thus to the beginning of the particular case before us now. On 

August 26th, Rohe filed a “Petition for Writ of All Writs” in the District Court for 

the Southern District of Florida seeking an order under the All Writs Act. The

petition was framed as commencing an independent civil action against Wells 

Fargo, separate from the bankruptcy case or any appeal of bankruptcy court orders.

Rohe asserted that the District Court had jurisdiction of the petition under § 

1651 (the All Writs Act), Article III of the Constitution, and § 14 of the Judiciary 

6 We would note that a nunc pro tunc order cannot be used to make a court action 

effective as of an earlier date at which the court did not actually take any relevant action. “A 

nunc pro tunc order merely recites court actions previously taken but not properly or adequately 

recorded.” Stansell v. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, 771 F.3d 713, 747 (11th Cir. 

2014). Its purpose “is to correct mistakes or omissions in the record so that the record properly 

reflects the events that actually took place.” Id. (quoting Glynne v. Wilmed Healthcare, 699 F.3d 

380, 383-84 (4th Cir. 2012)). “Put colorfully, nunc pro tunc orders are not some Orwellian 

vehicle for revisionist history—creating ‘facts’ that never occurred in fact.” Roman Catholic 

Archdiocese of San Juan v. Acevedo Feliciano, 140 S. Ct. 696, 701 (2020) (internal quotation 

mark omitted) (alteration adopted).

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Act of 1789 (the predecessor of § 16517).8 The petition alleged that Wells Fargo

had knowingly violated the automatic stay by continuing to litigate the foreclosure 

case after being made aware of the bankruptcy, for instance by opposing Rohe’s 

motion for a stay of her appeal. It also claimed that the Third DCA had knowingly 

violated the automatic stay. In connection with these allegations, the petition 

invoked 11 U.S.C. § 362(k)(1), which provides that “an individual injured by any 

willful violation of a stay provided by this section shall recover actual damages, 

including costs and attorneys’ fees, and, in appropriate circumstances, may recover 

punitive damages.” Moreover, Rohe alleged that the Third DCA’s order disposing 

of her appeal was void insofar as that court lacked jurisdiction of the case after it 

was removed to the bankruptcy court. Wells Fargo was also alleged to have 

violated Rohe’s removal rights by arranging for a foreclosure sale in the state trial 

court. As relief for these asserted violations of law, Rohe’s petition sought an 

order (1) declaring that the Third DCA’s order affirming the judgment of 

foreclosure and awarding appellate attorneys’ fees was void ab initio, (2) declaring 

that the state trial court’s order rescheduling the foreclosure sale was void ab initio, 

(3) granting Rohe damages against Wells Fargo and its counsel for willful 

7 See Penn. Bureau of Corr. v. U.S. Marshals Serv., 474 U.S. 34, 40-41, 106 S. Ct. 355, 

360 (1985).

8 The petition’s jurisdiction section also includes a reference to 28 U.S.C. § 1334(a). The 

relevance of this reference is unclear since § 1334(a) only concerns jurisdiction over “cases 

under title 11,” i.e., the bankruptcy case itself. See Wood v. Wood (In re Wood), 825 F.2d 90, 92 

(5th Cir. 1987).

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violation of the automatic stay and for setting the foreclosure sale, and (4) 

“[f]ashioning any other relief in the form of sanctions that this Court deems

appropriate to ensure future compliance with federal laws.”

The District Court issued a sua sponte order dismissing Rohe’s petition with 

prejudice on September 19th. The Court found that it lacked jurisdiction over the 

petition under the Rooker-Feldman doctrine. This doctrine reflects the fact that 

federal courts other than the Supreme Court do not possess appellate jurisdiction 

over state-court judgments. See Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Indus. Corp., 

544 U.S. 280, 283-84, 125 S. Ct. 1517, 1521 (2005). The Rooker-Feldman rule 

bars “a party losing in state court . . . from seeking what in substance would be 

appellate review of the state judgment in a United States district court, based on the 

losing party’s claim that the state judgment itself violates the loser’s federal 

rights.” Johnson v. De Grandy, 512 U.S. 997, 1005-06, 114 S. Ct. 2647, 2654 

(1994). The District Court observed that “Rohe has expressly requested this Court 

to void state court decisions that she perceives to violate federal law.” It therefore 

reasoned that “[t]he instant case effectively amounts to an appeal of a state court 

judgment, which this Court has no jurisdiction to entertain.”

This appeal followed.

II.

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We affirm the District Court’s order, though not for the reasons stated by 

that Court. See Off. Comm. of Unsecured Creditors of PSA, Inc. v. Edwards, 437 

F.3d 1145, 1157 (11th Cir. 2006). This case must be dismissed because Rohe’s 

petition simply does not present the kind of case in which the All Writs Act can be 

invoked. We first review some of the general principles guiding the use of the All 

Writs Act and then discuss how those principles apply to the present case.

A.

The All Writs Act, now codified as 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a), states: “The 

Supreme Court and all courts established by Act of Congress may issue all writs 

necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the 

usages and principles of law.” The purpose of the All Writs Act is to allow courts 

to protect their jurisdiction, that is, to safeguard the integrity of their proceedings 

and judgments. As we have stated, “The Act does not create any substantive 

federal jurisdiction. Instead, it is a codification of the federal courts’ traditional, 

inherent power to protect the jurisdiction they already have, derived from some 

other source.” Klay v. United Healthgroup, Inc., 376 F.3d 1092, 1099 (11th Cir. 

2004) (citation omitted); see Clinton v. Goldsmith, 526 U.S. 529, 534-35, 119 S. 

Ct. 1538, 1542 (1999) (a court’s power under the Act is confined to “issuing 

process ‘in aid of’ its existing statutory jurisdiction; the Act does not enlarge that 

jurisdiction”). The Act empowers courts to “safeguard not only ongoing 

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proceedings, but potential future proceedings,” Klay, 376 F.3d at 1099, as well as 

to “protect or effectuate” their prior orders and judgments, Wesch v. Folsom, 6 

F.3d 1465, 1470 (11th Cir. 1993); see United States v. N.Y. Tel. Co., 434 U.S. 159, 

172, 98 S. Ct. 364, 372 (1977) (a court may “issue such commands under the All 

Writs Act as may be necessary or appropriate to effectuate and prevent the 

frustration of orders it has previously issued in its exercise of jurisdiction otherwise 

obtained”).

The All Writs Act accordingly constitutes a “legislatively approved source 

of procedural instruments designed to achieve ‘the rational ends of law.’” Harris 

v. Nelson, 394 U.S. 286, 299, 89 S. Ct. 1082, 1090 (1969) (quoting Price v. 

Johnston, 334 U.S. 266, 282, 68 S. Ct. 1049, 1058 (1948)). Under the Act, 

“[u]nless appropriately confined by Congress, a federal court may avail itself of all 

auxiliary writs as aids in the performance of its duties, when the use of such 

historic aids is calculated in its sound judgment to achieve the ends of justice 

entrusted to it.” Adams v. United States ex rel. McCann, 317 U.S. 269, 273, 63 S. 

Ct. 236, 239 (1942). The “supplemental powers” thus provided “are not limited to 

those situations where it is ‘necessary’ to issue the writ or order ‘in the sense that 

the court could not otherwise physically discharge its . . . duties.’” N.Y. Tel. Co., 

434 U.S. at 173, 98 S. Ct. at 372-73 (quoting Adams, 317 U.S. at 273, 63 S. Ct. at 

239). Indeed, the Act supplies authority to issue orders directed, “under 

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appropriate circumstances, to persons who, though not parties to the original action 

or engaged in wrongdoing, are in a position to frustrate the implementation of a 

court order or the proper administration of justice” and “even those who have not 

taken any affirmative action to hinder justice.” Id. at 174, 98 S. Ct. at 373. At the 

same time, the availability of a writ under the Act is limited by the Act’s 

supplemental character. “The All Writs Act invests a court with a power 

essentially equitable and, as such, not generally available to provide alternatives to 

other, adequate remedies at law.” Clinton, 526 U.S. at 537, 119 S. Ct. at 1543. 

Moreover, the Act “is a residual source of authority to issue writs that are not 

otherwise covered by statute. Where a statute specifically addresses the particular 

issue at hand, it is that authority, and not the All Writs Act, that is controlling.” 

Penn. Bureau of Corr. v. U.S. Marshals Serv., 474 U.S. 34, 43, 106 S. Ct. 355, 361 

(1985).

B.

It is convenient to distinguish between two broad kinds of situations in 

which All Writs Act orders may be employed: (1) the use of the Act in a court’s

appellate capacity, generally to direct action by another court whose proceedings 

are subject to appellate review by the court issuing the order; and (2) the nonappellate use of the Act to directly protect the issuing court’s own proceedings and 

judgments. In both situations invocation of the Act is predicated on the existence 

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of some underlying proceeding over which the issuing court has jurisdiction—

either a proceeding in that court or a proceeding in another court or adjudicative 

body that could potentially come before the issuing court for review.

The appellate use of the Act, typically through a writ of mandamus or 

prohibition, is the most common and most widely discussed. See generally 16

CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT, ARTHUR R. MILLER, & EDWARD H. COOPER, FEDERAL 

PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 3932 (3d ed. 2012). An All Writs Act order of this 

kind controls the relevant proceedings in the lower court but also protects the 

appellate court’s own jurisdiction, seeing as the case must be “one that may lie 

within [its] prospective future jurisdiction . . . or that has in fact come within its 

jurisdiction in the past.” Id.9 There are a wide variety of ways in which such 

orders might need to be employed. It has been held that mandamus may be 

granted in an appropriate case, for instance, to quash a subpoena improperly

compelling personal testimony from the head of a government agency, In re United 

States, 985 F.2d 510 (11th Cir. 1993) (per curiam), to overturn an attorney 

disqualification order, In re BellSouth Corp., 334 F.3d 941, 953-54 (11th Cir. 

9 The description of the appellate use of the Act given here is only a summary subject to 

qualifications, since the body of law involved is complex. Such use of the Act can also 

encompass orders directed toward other parties rather than the lower court. See FTC v. Dean 

Foods Co., 384 U.S. 597, 603-05, 86 S. Ct. 1738, 1742-43 (1966). In addition, the basis for the 

appellate court to avail itself of the Act may be a proceeding in an agency as opposed to a court. 

See 33 CHARLES ALAN WRIGHT, CHARLES H. KOCH, JR., & RICHARD MURPHY, FEDERAL 

PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE § 8313 (2d ed. 2018).

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2003), to vacate a statutorily unauthorized sentence, United States v. Denson, 603 

F.2d 1143 (5th Cir. 1979) (en banc),

10 and to vacate an order allowing putative 

class action plaintiffs to advertise their allegations to the public and send mass 

mailings to employees of the defendant prior to class certification, Jackson v. 

Motel 6 Multipurpose, Inc., 130 F.3d 999 (11th Cir. 1997).

The general standards governing an appellate court’s grant of such an All 

Writs Act order are strict and well-established. We have stated that a writ of 

mandamus “is a ‘“drastic and extraordinary” remedy’ that is available only ‘to 

confine an inferior court to a lawful exercise of its prescribed jurisdiction or to 

compel it to exercise its authority when it is its duty to do so.’” United States v. 

Shalhoub, 855 F.3d 1255, 1263 (11th Cir. 2017) (citations omitted) (first quoting 

Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Court, 542 U.S. 367, 380, 124 S. Ct. 2576, 2586 (2004); then 

quoting Allied Chem. Corp. v. Daiflon, Inc., 449 U.S. 33, 35, 101 S. Ct. 188, 190 

(1980)). “[O]nly exceptional circumstances amounting to a judicial usurpation of 

power or a clear abuse of discretion will justify the invocation of this extraordinary 

remedy.” Cheney, 542 U.S. at 380, 124 S. Ct. at 2587 (internal quotation marks 

and citations omitted). A writ of mandamus may be issued only if three conditions 

10 In Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc), this 

court adopted as binding precedent all decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down prior to 

October 1, 1981.

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are satisfied:

First, the party seeking issuance of the writ must have no other 

adequate means to attain the relief he desires—a condition designed to 

ensure that the writ will not be used as a substitute for the regular 

appeals process. Second, the petitioner must satisfy the burden of 

showing that his right to issuance of the writ is clear and indisputable.

Third, even if the first two prerequisites have been met, the issuing 

court, in the exercise of its discretion, must be satisfied that the writ is 

appropriate under the circumstances.

Id. at 380-81, 124 S. Ct. at 2587 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted) 

(alterations adopted).

The direct, non-appellate use of the Act, on the other hand, is what a petition 

for an extraordinary writ in a district court would usually be seeking. The 

fundamental features of such non-appellate invocation of the Act are well 

described by our opinion in Klay v. United Healthgroup. Klay extensively 

discussed the structural differences between traditional injunctions issued under a 

federal court’s inherent equitable powers and injunctions issued under the All 

Writs Act. 376 F.3d at 1097-1104. As a remedy for violations of the complaining 

party’s rights, a traditional injunction “must be predicated upon a cause of action, 

such as nuisance, trespass, the First Amendment, etc.” Id. at 1097. A traditional 

injunction is “potentially available only after a plaintiff can make a showing that 

some independent legal right is being infringed,” thus “articulat[ing] a basis for 

relief that would withstand scrutiny under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6)” for “failure to 

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state a claim.” Id. at 1097-98. An All Writs Act injunction has a different basis. 

As we stated in Klay:

Whereas traditional injunctions are predicated upon some cause of 

action, an All Writs Act injunction is predicated upon some other 

matter upon which a district court has jurisdiction. Thus, while a 

party must “state a claim” to obtain a “traditional” injunction, there is 

no such requirement to obtain an All Writs Act injunction—it must 

simply point to some ongoing proceeding, or some past order or 

judgment, the integrity of which is being threatened by someone 

else’s action or behavior.

Id. at 1100. We think that the above statement is applicable quite generally, not 

just to injunctions, but to all orders issued under the Act in a non-appellate 

capacity.

11 It is a basic precondition to a court’s issuing such an order that there be 

some other matter over which the court has jurisdiction—some other proceeding in 

that court or some order or judgment previously made by that court—and that the 

All Writs Act order serve to protect that proceeding, order, or judgment from some 

threat to its integrity. This requirement, we would note, defines only the outer 

limit of a court’s power to invoke the Act in a non-appellate capacity, merely 

identifying the kind of situation in which issuance of such an order could even be 

considered. There are further standards and doctrines governing the proper 

11 It may be recalled in the present case that Rohe did not request an injunction, but 

instead an order that would declare certain actions of other courts void and award damages 

against the respondent.

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exercise of this power in particular circumstances,12 but we need not describe those 

doctrines at length here since the basic requirement of an appropriate underlying 

proceeding is all that is needed to resolve the present case.

A few examples illustrating appropriate occasions for non-appellate use of 

the Act may nevertheless be helpful. In the course of an ongoing proceeding, a

court may “employ procedures necessary” to “facilitat[e] the court’s effort to 

manage the case to judgment,” as by “issu[ing] orders to aid in conducting factual 

inquiries or to permit the use of interrogatories in habeas corpus proceedings.” ITT 

Cmty. Dev. Corp. v. Barton, 569 F.2d 1351, 1359 (5th Cir. 1978) (citations 

omitted) (first citing Am. Lithographic Co. v. Werckmeister, 221 U.S. 603, 609-10, 

31 S. Ct. 676, 678 (1911); then citing Harris, 394 U.S. at 298-300, 89 S. Ct. at

1090-91). Likewise, where a court is exercising jurisdiction over particular 

property, as in an in rem proceeding or with regard to a bankruptcy estate, the court 

generally has the power to protect its jurisdiction over that property by enjoining 

proceedings in other courts regarding the property, Klay, 376 F.3d at 1103-04, 

because “[c]ontrol over the res is fundamental to the . . . court’s ability to render 

judgment in the case,” Bayshore Ford Trucks Sales, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co. (In re 

12 See, e.g., Klay, 376 F.3d at 1101-04. We note that the applicable standards do not 

include the conventional four-factor test for traditional injunctions—in the preliminary injunction 

context, (1) likelihood of success on the merits, (2) irreparable injury, (3) balance of costs to the 

parties, and (4) public interest—since this test “do[es] not apply to injunctions under the All 

Writs Act.” Id. at 1097, 1100-1101.

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Ford Motor Co.), 471 F.3d 1233, 1251 (11th Cir. 2006).

13 Finally, a good example 

of how an All Writs Act order can protect a past judgment is found in United 

States v. Hall, 472 F.2d 261 (5th Cir. 1972), where, following a final judgment 

desegregating the Jacksonville public schools, one of the affected schools was 

disturbed by “racial unrest and violence,” leading the district court to enter an 

order prohibiting entry into the school by unauthorized persons and enjoining all 

persons having notice of the order from disrupting the school’s orderly operation. 

Id. at 262-63. Our predecessor Circuit sustained the order, as applied to an 

individual who was convicted of criminal contempt despite not being a party to the 

litigation, on the grounds that “disruptive conduct” would both “jeopardize the 

effect of the court’s judgment already entered” and “also undercut its power to 

enter binding desegregation orders in the future.” Id. at 263-65.

C.

We readily conclude that this case is not one in which the District Court 

could issue an order under the All Writs Act.

13 For this reason, a conflicting in rem proceeding in state court, where the federal court 

has first obtained jurisdiction of the res, presents one of the specific situations where a federal 

court is allowed to enjoin state-court proceedings. Bayshore Ford, 471 F.3d at 1249-51. Such 

an injunction is ordinarily barred by the Anti-Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2283, but this situation 

falls under the Act’s exception for injunctions “necessary in aid of [the court’s] jurisdiction.” Id.

at 1250-51; see also Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Fund, Inc. v. City of Atlanta, 701 F.3d 

669, 675-76 (11th Cir. 2012) (per curiam) (“If one of the three specific exceptions contained in 

the Anti–Injunction Act permits an injunction, the All Writs Act grants a federal court the power 

to issue it.”).

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Preliminarily, it should be noted that Rohe’s petition clearly does not call for 

the District Court to act in its appellate capacity in issuing the requested All Writs 

Act order. While the District Court has appellate jurisdiction over the bankruptcy 

court, the petition does not ask the District Court to direct any action by the 

bankruptcy court or otherwise intervene in the bankruptcy proceedings. Moreover, 

any attempt by the District Court to issue an All Writs Act order directed to the 

bankruptcy court would be inappropriate because the Act is not meant to serve as

“a substitute for the regular appeals process.” Cheney, 542 U.S. at 380-81, 124 S.

Ct. at 2587. The party seeking such an order to a lower court “must have no other 

adequate means to attain the relief he desires.” Id. at 380, 124 S. Ct. at 2587

(alteration adopted). Here, by contrast, Rohe had an alternative avenue of redress:

any action that the District Court could have directed the bankruptcy court to take 

is something that Rohe could have first asked the bankruptcy court to do, and, if 

the bankruptcy court denied relief, Rohe could have appealed that court’s decision

to the District Court.14 Indeed, Rohe did ask the bankruptcy court to enforce the 

automatic stay and did appeal the bankruptcy court’s orders regarding the 

automatic stay and the removal of the state foreclosure case. Review of these 

issues by petition under the All Writs Act would constitute an exceedingly close 

14 Since 28 U.S.C. § 158(a) allows the District Court to grant leave to appeal 

interlocutory orders of the bankruptcy court in addition to providing for review of final 

judgments, the District Court has the power to review any action by the bankruptcy court.

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substitute for the review sought in those appeals.15

Our inquiry, then, concerns the propriety of non-appellate use of the Act in

response to Rohe’s petition. The threshold question is whether there is some

underlying proceeding, order, or judgment over which the District Court has 

jurisdiction, such that the Court would be in a position to protect that proceeding or 

matter from some threat to its integrity by issuing the requested order. Rohe’s 

petition alleges two kinds of possible threats to judicial process, namely violations 

of the automatic stay and violations of Rohe’s removal rights; we can consider 

each of these claims in turn to see whether either one points toward a proceeding 

that would be an appropriate basis for an All Writs Act order.

A violation of the automatic stay would be a threat to the integrity of Rohe’s 

bankruptcy case. The automatic stay is a “fundamental procedural mechanism” 

facilitating the bankruptcy court’s basic role in ensuring the orderly administration 

and equitable distribution of the bankruptcy estate, Fla. Dept. of Revenue v. Diaz

(In re Diaz), 647 F.3d 1073, 1085 (11th Cir. 2011), and enforcing the automatic 

stay could certainly serve to protect the bankruptcy case. The bankruptcy case, 

15 Rohe’s appeals were dismissed in relevant part by the District Court eleven days before 

we held oral argument in this case. At oral argument, Rohe asserted that she could still file a 

motion for reconsideration of that order, which decided in part that some of her claims were 

barred there because they had been brought here. The docket reflects that Rohe has filed a 

motion for reconsideration, and we express no opinion on the appropriate resolution of that 

motion. 

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however, is a proceeding in the bankruptcy court, and that court has all the powers 

necessary to enforce the automatic stay. Indeed, the bankruptcy court can exercise 

authority provided by both the All Writs Act, see Estate of Jackson v. Schron (In re 

Fundamental Long Term Care, Inc.), 873 F.3d 1325, 1338-41 (11th Cir. 2017), and 

11 U.S.C. § 105(a), which provides that the court “may issue any order, process, or 

judgment that is necessary or appropriate to carry out the provisions of this title.” 

Because the bankruptcy case falls within the purview of the bankruptcy court, 

which is well-equipped to protect the proceeding’s integrity, the bankruptcy case is 

not a proceeding on which non-appellate use of the All Writs Act by the District 

Court could be predicated.

Similar considerations apply to the issue of the removal stay. While the 

parties have raised issues about whether removal of the state foreclosure case was 

effective and, if so, whether the case remains within the bankruptcy court’s 

jurisdiction, we need not resolve these questions in order to dispose of this appeal. 

Whenever a case has been removed to federal court, the continued prosecution of 

the state case by a party and attempted further action in the case by the state court 

could present a threat to the federal court’s capacity to effectively adjudicate the 

removed case.16 Once again, however, the removed foreclosure case, insofar as it 

16 It is for this reason that federal courts have the power to enjoin state-court proceedings 

in a removed case, see supra note 5.

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exists, is a proceeding in the bankruptcy court, and the bankruptcy court is wellequipped to safeguard that proceeding. Hence the removed foreclosure case is also

not a proper basis for the requested All Writs Act order. And any proceedings 

other than the bankruptcy case and the removed case would be even less relevant 

to Rohe’s petition.

In sum, there is no underlying proceeding of which the District Court has 

jurisdiction and which it would be properly acting to protect by issuing the 

requested order. Thus there is no basis for non-appellate use of the All Writs Act 

in this case. The Act does not empower the District Court to issue the order sought 

by the petition, and dismissal was proper.

AFFIRMED.

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