NOT RECOMMENDED F OR F ULL-TEXT PUBLICATION File Na me: 12a0688n.06 No. 12-3114 UNI TED STATES COURT OF A PPEAL S FOR THE SI XTH CI RCUI T

UNI TED STATES OF AMERI CA, Plaintiff-Appellee ,
v. VERA DEMJ ANJUK, Ex ecutr ix of the Estate of J ohn Demjanjuk Def endant- Appellant. ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ON APPEAL

FROM THE U

NI TED STATES DI STRI CT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DI STRI CT OF OH I O

Be fore : MARTI

N and CL AY, Circuit J udg es; HOOD , District J udg e. * PER CURI AM. J ohn Demjanjuk, the de fenda nt below, appe aled the de nial of hi s Fe dera l Rule of Civil P roce dure 60 motion to vaca te a judg ment of dena turalization. On Marc h 17, 2012, while the appeal wa s p ending , J ohn Demjanjuk died. His wife Ver a, as the executrix of J ohn Demjanjuk’s estate, has been substitut ed as the appellant. The United States moves to dismiss the appea l as moot based on J ohn Demjanjuk’s death. Ver a Demjanjuk opposes the motion to dismiss

. An appea l should be dismiss ed as moot “if an event occur s while a case is pending on appea l that makes it impossibl e for the court to g rant any eff ectua l relief whateve r to a preva iling party ....” Church of Scientology of Cal. v. United States , 506 U.S. 9, 12 (1992) (interna quotation marks and citation omitted). The g overnme nt arg ues that with the death of J ohn De m j an j u k t here is no

* The Honora

ble J oseph M. Hood, Senior United States District J udg e of the Easter n District of Ke ntucky , sitti ng by

desig nation.eff

ective relief that can be g rante d by the Court. Ver a Demjanjuk claims that if the denatur alization order is va cate d, either the estate or J ohn Demjanjuk’s survivors may be entitled to the pay ment of withheld social secur ity benef its and other entitlements. She also argue s t h at even if there is no longe r a live c ase or controve rsy conce rning J ohn Demjanjuk’s de natura liz ation, the Court reta ins jurisdiction to addre ss issues of fra ud on the court. We disag ree , concluding that the case is moot. T he curr ent appea l is meritless, beca use our Court has alre ady decide d that h i s denatur alization should not be revoke d, United States v. De mjanjuk , 367 F.3d 623 ( 6th Cir.), cert. denied 543 U.S. 970 (2004), and nothing in Demjanjuk’s curr ent appea l war rants relief

. Over three d ec ades, we have repe atedly reje cted Demjanjuk’s challeng es to the authenticity of the Traw nik i

car d and fr aud on the court. Moreove r, the a ppeal is moot due to Demjanjuk’s de ath—despite his family ’s arg uments that the Social Security benef its issue keeps the case alive. The Social Security Ad m i nistration (SSA) terminated its pay ments to Demjanjuk beca use he was remove d from t h e country , and the SSA is not authorized to rec ommence pay ments until he is lawfully admitted to the country as a perma

nent resident. See 42 U.S.C. § 402(n); 20 C.F.R. § 404.464(a)

. Demjanjuk’s death obviousl y fore closes that possibili ty

. I n any event, an aw ar d o f benefits would be repaid t o Demjanjuk’s family members in their pe rsonal ca pacities, but those fa

mily members a

re not party to this appea l. See 42 U.S

. C

. § 4 04(d); 20 C.F.R. § 404.503(b). His wife Ver a is a party to the appea l only in her position as executrix of Demjanjuk’s estate, but Demjanjuk’s estate does not have standing to challeng e the issue of benef its to the family members. See id. Finally , Ver a’s arg uments with respec t to the “ca

pable of repe tition, y et eva ding r eview” doctrine a re c ompletely

frivolous. Acc ording ly , the motion to dis miss the appeal a s moot is GR ANTED.