Source: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/05-85.ZD.html
Timestamp: 2017-04-29 07:34:56
Document Index: 451407558

Matched Legal Cases: ['§1447', '§1447', '§1447', '§1447', '§1447', '§1447', '§1447', '§1447', '§1447', '§1447', '§1447', '§1603', '§1603', '§101']

Unlike the Court, I believe the District Court’s remand order is reviewable on appeal. And, reviewing the decision below, I would hold that Powerex is an organ of the Government of British Columbia.
The majority concludes that 28 U. S. C. §1447(d) took from the Ninth Circuit the power to review the District Court’s remand decision. The statutory argument is a strong one. Section 1447(c) says that, “[i]f at any time before final judgment it appears that the district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, the case shall be remanded” to state court; and §1447(d), referring to subsection (c), adds that a district court “order remanding a case to the State court from which it was removed is not reviewable on appeal or otherwise.” Thermtron Products, Inc. v. Hermansdorfer, 423 U. S. 336, 345–346 (1976)
Nonetheless this Court has found exceptions to §1447’s seemingly blanket prohibition. See, e.g., id., at 350–352; Osborn v. Haley, 549 U. S. ___, ___ (2007) (slip op. at 12–16). In doing so, the Court has recognized that even a statute silent on the subject can create an important conflict with §1447(d)’s “no appellate review” instruction. And where that is so, we have, in fact, resolved the conflict by reading a later more specific statute as creating an implicit exception to §1447(d) (though Osborn did not say as much). Id., at___ (slip op., at 15–16).
That assurance forms a separate and central FSIA objective. The very purpose of sovereign immunity is to avoid subjecting a foreign sovereign to the rigors and “inconvenience of suit.” Dole Food Co. v. Patrickson, 538 U. S. 468, 479 (2003)
. In such a case, a state court likely will feel bound by the federal court’s prior judgment on the lack of immunity (under state law-of-the-case doctrine) and this Court’s review (of an adverse state-court judgment) will come too late. In such a case, the FSIA’s basic objective (unrelated to choice of forum) will have become “weightless.” Osborn, supra, at ___ (slip op., at 14). It is difficult to see how this conflict between the FSIA’s basic objective and §1447(d) is any less serious than the conflict at issue in Osborn. The statutory objective here, harmonious relations with foreign sovereigns, is more, not less, important. See Ex parte Peru, 318 U. S. 578, 587 (1943)
; Schooner Exchange v. McFaddon, 7 Cranch 116 (1812); H. R. Rep. No. 94–1487, p. 13 (1976) (hereinafter H. R. Rep.) (FSIA intended to avoid “adverse foreign relations consequences”).
Finally, as in Osborn, the FSIA is a specific, later enacted statute. Cf. Osborn, supra, at ___ (slip op., at 15); see generally Long Island Care at Home, Ltd. v. Coke, ante, at ___ (slip op., at 10) (where statutory provisions are inconsistent, “normally the specific governs the general”); Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U. S. 374, 384–385 (1992)
The conflict is important, this case is special, and we should resolve it by reading the FSIA as implicitly pre-empting the general application of §1447(d). Indeed, I do not see how we could read the FSIA differently in this respect depending upon whether commercial or noncommercial sovereign activity is at issue. For these reasons, I believe that the Ninth Circuit correctly determined that it possessed legal authority to review the case. It is true, as the majority states, that Congress has in other contexts carved out certain removal orders as being specifically reviewable on appeal. Ante, at 12. The majority reads these specific statutes to suggest that had Congress intended §1447(d) not to apply in FSIA cases, it could simply have said so. Ibid. However, in fact, for the reasons articulated above, I believe that Congress must have assumed the FSIA overrode §1447. Congress enacted the FSIA soon after the Court’s decision in Thermtron Products, 423 U. S., at 345, held that implicit §1447(d) exceptions might exist. Cf. Osborn, 549 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 13–15) (despite statutory silence, reading Westfall Act as overriding §1447(d)). And, as I have said, the FSIA would otherwise fail to achieve Congress’ basic objectives. Context and purpose make clear that few if any members of Congress could have wanted to block appellate review here. Were the Court to pay greater attention to statutory objectives and purposes and less attention to a technical parsing of language, it might agree. Were it to agree, we would exercise our interpretive obligation, not “lawmaking power,” ante, at 13, n. 5, with increased fidelity to the intention of those to whom our Constitution delegates that lawmaking power, namely the Congress of the United States. And, law in this democracy would be all the better for it.
I part company with the Ninth Circuit on the merits. The Circuit held that the District Court’s remand was proper because, in its view, Powerex is not “an organ of a … political subdivision” of a “foreign state.” 28 U. S. C. §1603(b)(2) (emphasis added). Hence, it is not an “agency or instrumentality” of a foreign government and falls outside the scope of the FSIA’s provision authorizing removal. §1603(a); see generally California v. NRG Energy Inc., 391 F. 3d 1011, 1025–1026 (2004).
In my view, however, Powerex is “an organ” of the Province of British Columbia, a “political subdivision” of Canada. The record makes clear that Powerex is a government-owned and government-operated electric power distribution company, not meaningfully different from ordinary municipal electricity distributors, the Tennessee Valley Authority, or any foreign “nationalized” power producers and distributors, such as Britain’s former Central Electricity Generating Board or Electricité de France. See generally C. Harris, Electricity Markets: Pricing, Structures, and Economics 15–20 (2006) (summarizing features of electricity companies in United States and Europe, among others); J. Nelson, Marginal Cost Pricing in Practice 3–6, 32, 37 (1964) (summarizing features of France hydropower industry). See also http://tva.com/abouttva/index.htm (summarizing general features of Tennessee Valley Authority) (all Internet materials as visited June 8, 2007, and available in Clerk of Court’s case file); Government Corporation Control Act, §101, 59 Stat.
597–598 (describing Tennessee Valley Authority as “ ‘wholly owned Government Corporation’ ”); Lebron v. National Railroad Passenger Corporation, 513 U. S. 374, 388–389 (1995)
(noting that corporate entities in Government Corporation Control Act were incorporated by other government-owned corporations); Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Career Guide to Industries, Utilities, online at http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs018.htm (describing features of public run utilities); G. Rothwell & T. Gmez, Electricity Economics: Regulation and Deregulation 129–241 (2003) (comparing electricity markets and industries in California and various foreign nations).
The Ninth Circuit noted that Powerex may earn a profit and that the Government of British Columbia does not provide financial support. And the Ninth Circuit thought these facts made a critical difference. But a well-run nationalized firm should makea reasonable profit; nor should it have to borrow from the government itself. See, e.g., Nelson, supra, at 8–12; Harris, Electricity Markets, at 125, 130–132; Rothwell & Gmez, supra, at 3–4. The relevant question is not whether Powerex earns a profit but where does that profit go? Here it does not go to private shareholders; it goes to the benefit of the public in payments to the province and reduced electricity prices. App. 215, 238.
The Ninth Circuit also pointed out that certain provincial regulations that apply to other governmental departments do not apply to Powerex. That fact proves little. The Tennessee Valley Authority, which is “perhaps the best known of the American public corporations,” First Nat. City Bank v. Banco Para el Comercio Exterior de Cuba, 462 U. S. 611, 625, n. 15 (1983)