Response to Motion to Relate Cases 

No. 3:17-cv-00485-WHO 

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CHAD A. READLER 

Acting Assistant Attorney General 

BRIAN STRETCH 

United States Attorney 

JOHN R. TYLER 

Assistant Director 

W. SCOTT SIMPSON (Va. Bar #27487) 

Senior Trial Counsel 

Department of Justice, Room 7210 

Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch 

Post Office Box 883 

Washington, D.C. 20044 

Telephone: (202) 514-3495 

Facsimile: (202) 616-8470 

E-mail: scott.simpson@usdoj.gov 

COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS 

(See signature page for parties represented.) 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 

SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION 

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN 

FRANCISCO, 

 Plaintiff, 

 v. 

DONALD J. TRUMP, et al., 

 Defendants. 

 No. 3:17-cv-00485-WHO 

DEFENDANTS’ RESPONSE TO 

 ADMINISTRATIVE MOTION TO 

 CONSIDER WHETHER CASES 

 SHOULD BE RELATED PURSUANT TO 

 N.D. CAL. CIVIL L.R. 3-12(B) 

 The City and County of San Francisco asks this Court to consider whether a new case that 

San Francisco has filed, City and County of San Francisco v. Sessions, et. al., Case No. 3:17-cv04642-SBA, should be deemed related to this case. The government would have no objection to 

the standard, random assignment of Case No. 4642 to this judge or any other district judge of this 

Court pursuant to the Court’s Assignment Plan. See General Order No. 44. 

Case 3:17-cv-00485-WHO Document 155 Filed 08/18/17 Page 1 of 3
Response to Motion to Relate Cases

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 Plaintiff asks the Court to deviate from the standard assignment plan based on Civil Local 

Rule 3-12(a), which provides that one civil action is related to another, and thus should be 

assigned to the same judge, when “(1) The actions concern substantially the same parties, 

property, transaction or event; and (2) It appears likely that there will be an unduly burdensome 

duplication of labor and expense or conflicting results if the cases are conducted before different 

Judges.” Civ. L.R. 3-12(a). 

 Defendants have not objected to prior related-case motions in this action. Nevertheless, 

the unique aspects of this case and Case No. 4642, reflected in part in the Court’s prior rulings in 

this action, suggest that the two cases do not satisfy Rule 3-12(a)’s “substantially the same” 

standard. In its Order of April 25, 2017, preliminarily enjoining Section 9(a) of Executive Order 

13,768, the Court emphasized the precise confines of this litigation. Specifically, the Court did 

“not address or enjoin any other independent authority that may allow the government to impose 

grant conditions on funds, as no such issue was before the court.” Cty. of Santa Clara v. Trump, 

___ F. Supp. 3d ___, 2017 WL 3086064, at *1 n.1 (N.D. Cal. July 20, 2017) (emphasis added). 

In contrast to this challenge to Executive Order No. 13,768, an action by the President, Case No. 

4642 concerns a program operated through the Attorney General, pursuant to statutory authority 

(independent of the Executive Order) to impose conditions on the acceptance of a particular 

federal grant that the Department of Justice administers. See Case No. 4642, Compl. ¶¶ 1, 6; 42 

U.S.C. §§ 3712(a)(6), 3752(a)(5). In other words, Case No. 4642 centers on an issue not 

challenged or addressed in this action, namely, the Department’s “exercising [of] legal authority, 

independent of the Executive Order, to impose conditions on grant programming.” 2017 WL 

3086064, at *1 n.1 (quoting Dkt. No. 113 at 1 n.2). 

 Accordingly defendants doubt whether Civil Local Rule 3-12(a) is satisfied here. 

Dated: August 18, 2017 

 Respectfully submitted, 

 CHAD A. READLER 

 Acting Assistant Attorney General 

 BRIAN STRETCH 

 United States Attorney 

Case 3:17-cv-00485-WHO Document 155 Filed 08/18/17 Page 2 of 3
Response to Motion to Relate Cases

No. 3:17-cv-00485-WHO 3

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 JOHN R. TYLER 

 Assistant Director 

 /s/ W. Scott Simpson 

 

 W. SCOTT SIMPSON (Va. Bar #27487) 

 Senior Trial Counsel 

 Attorneys, Department of Justice 

 Civil Division, Room 7210 

 Federal Programs Branch 

 Post Office Box 883 

 Washington, D.C. 20044 

 Telephone: (202) 514-3495 

 Facsimile: (202) 616-8470 

 E-mail: scott.simpson@usdoj.gov 

 COUNSEL FOR DEFENDANTS 

 DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the 

 United States; UNITED STATES OF 

 AMERICA; ELAINE C. DUKE, Acting 

 Secretary of Homeland Security; 

 JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS, III, 

 Attorney General of the United States 

Case 3:17-cv-00485-WHO Document 155 Filed 08/18/17 Page 3 of 3