Opinion ID: 75167
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Right Denied or Unenforceable in State Courts

Text: Generally, the denial of the petitioner’s equal civil rights must be “manifest in a formal expression of state law.” Rachel, 384 U.S. at 803. This requirement ensures that removal is available only in cases where the denial of the right can be clearly predicted and avoids involving federal judges in “the unseemly process of prejudging their brethren of the state courts.” Id. at 803-04. However, under a narrow exception recognized by the Supreme Court in Rachel, even where the action is premised upon a facially neutral state law, if the very act of bringing the state court proceedings will constitute a denial of the rights conferred by the federal statute, § 1443(1) removal is proper. Id. at 804-05. For example, in Rachel, the state court defendants were prosecuted for criminal trespass after they refused to leave a privately-owned restaurant open to conspirators. 9 the general public. The defendants were civil rights demonstrators protesting the restaurant’s policy of segregating its customers based on race. Although Georgia’s criminal trespass statute was facially neutral, the act of prosecuting the defendants for criminal trespass directly conflicted with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which precludes such state prosecutions for “peaceful attempts to be served upon an equal basis in establishments covered under the Act.” Id. at 785. Conley concedes that Alabama’s eminent domain provisions are facially neutral. He argues that his case falls within the latter category of cases recognized in Rachel. Conley contends that the filing of the eminent domain action is itself the act by which his federal civil rights have been violated. His argument is foreclosed, however, by Sunflower County Colored Baptist Association v. Trustees of Indianola Municipal Separate School District, 369 F.2d 795 (5th Cir. 1966), in which our predecessor circuit held that a state’s facially neutral eminent domain statutes do not conflict with or deny an eminent domain defendant’s federal rights. In Sunflower County, the Trustees of Indianola Municipal Separate School District brought eminent domain proceedings in Mississippi state court against the Sunflower County Colored Baptist Association, among others, to obtain land to build schools and playgrounds. Sunflower County Colored Baptist Ass’n v. Trustees of Indianola Mun. Separate Sch. Dist., 369 F.2d 795, 795-96 (5th Cir. 10 1966). At the time, the property owned by the Baptist Association was being used by civil rights organizations to give classes to black children and adults. Id. at 796. The Baptist Association filed a removal petition alleging jurisdiction under § 1443 because in the condemnation proceedings it would be “denied a fair trial, equal protection of the laws and particularly [would] be denied its federal rights arising under 42 U.S.C. § 1981, 1982 and 1983.” Id. Although the court found that the Baptist Association had satisfied the first prong of Rachel when it cited § 1981, it concluded that it did not meet the second prong. Id. at 796-97. In reaching this conclusion, the former Fifth Circuit quoted Peacock, in which the Supreme Court stated that allegations of corruption or unfairness preceding or during a particular court proceeding do not support removal under § 1443(1), as follows: It is not enough to support removal under § 1443(1) to allege or show that the defendant’s federal equal civil rights have been illegally and corruptly denied by state administrative officials in advance of trial, and that the charges against the defendant are false, or that the defendant is unable to obtain a fair trial in a particular state court. The motives of the officers bringing the charges may be corrupt, but that does not show that the state trial court will find the defendant guilty if he is innocent, or that in any other manner the defendant will be “denied or cannot enforce in the courts” of the State any right under a federal law providing for equal civil rights. The civil rights removal statute does not require and does not permit the judges of the federal courts to put their brethren of the state judiciary on trial. Under § 1443(1), the vindication of the defendant’s federal rights is left to the state courts except in the rare situations where it can be clearly 11 predicted by reason of the operation of a pervasive and explicit state of federal law that those rights will inevitably be denied by the very act of bringing the defendant to trial in the state court. Id. at 797 (quoting Peacock, 384 U.S. at 827-28). Noting that “the Association’s claim that their federal civil rights will be denied must be based on the state constitution, a statute, municipal ordinance, rule of court or regulatory provision binding on the court which expressly deny such federal rights,” the court concluded that “[n]o Mississippi statute, including the eminent domain statute, which confers on municipal separate school districts the power to acquire property for school purposes, or the Mississippi constitutional provision allowing the taking of property for public use, precisely conflicts and conclusively denies the federal rights of the Association.” Id. at 797-98 (citations omitted). Finally, again relying upon Peacock, the court noted that any denial of federal rights that might come to pass as the proceedings progressed could be redressed by direct review of the federal claims by the state appellate court and the United States Supreme Court or in other proceedings designed to remedy claims of unfair proceedings, denial of equal protection, and rights protected under § 1983. Id. at 798. We agree with the reasoning in Sunflower County. ASU’s act of bringing a proceeding under Alabama’s eminent domain laws does not directly conflict with 12 Conley’s rights under §§ 1981 and 1985(3).8 Unlike the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in Rachel, neither § 1981 or § 1985(3) contains specific provisions that immunize Conley from the precise type of proceeding being brought in state court. In Rachel, it was only because section 203(c) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 expressly immunized the defendants from prosecution for trespass when they peacefully attempted to gain admittance and remain at the restaurant, that “the mere pendency of the prosecutions enables the federal court to make the clear prediction that the defendants will be ‘denied or cannot enforce in the courts of (the) State’ the right to be free of any ‘attempt to punish’ them for protected activity.” See Rachel, 384 U.S. at 804-05.9 No similarly explicit prohibition 8 Conley does not state precisely which rights under §§ 1981 and 1985(3) he has been denied. 9 Conley’s reliance upon Sofarelli v. Pinellas County, 931 F.2d 718 (11th Cir. 1991) is equally unavailing. In Sofarelli, the removing defendant was attempting to move a house on a trailer over a public road in order to place it on a lot and sell it to a minority purchaser. The plaintiffs sought an injunction to prevent the defendant from relocating the house. The defendant’s removal petition alleged that the plaintiffs’ request for an injunction was motivated by race and invoked § 3617 of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which makes it unlawful “to coerce, intimidate, threaten, or interfere with any other person . . . on account of his having aided or encouraged any other person in the exercise or enjoyment of any right granted” by the Fair Housing Act. See Sofarelli v. Pinellas County, 931 F.2d 718, 720-22 & n.2 (11th Cir. 1991). In other words, the Fair Housing Act prohibited prosecution of a criminal or civil action against a person who had encouraged another to exercise their rights under the Fair Housing Act. Id. at 724-45. Neither § 1985(3) nor § 1981 contains a similar provision that could be read to prohibit the bringing of a civil eminent domain action. Furthermore, the court in Sofarelli did not squarely address this issue as the parties did not dispute that Sofarelli’s allegations fell within the holding of Rachel. See id. at 725. Rather the court addressed whether remand was nonetheless proper in light of the district court’s conclusion that Sofarelli had failed to state a claim under the Fair Housing Act. Id. 13 against proceedings brought in retaliation for engaging in a protected activity, and certainly no proscription against eminent domain proceedings, can be found in §§ 1981 or 1985(3). Therefore, no “equivalent basis [can] be shown for an equally firm prediction that the defendant would be ‘denied or cannot enforce’ the specified federal rights in the state court.” Id. at 804. Furthermore, Conley’s allegation that he cannot get a fair trial in state court because the state trial judge is biased in favor of the defendant for political reasons does not state a cognizable ground for removal under § 1443(1). As the Supreme Court has made clear, charges “that the defendant is unable to obtain a fair trial in a particular state court” are insufficient to support removal under § 1443(1). See Peacock, 384 U.S. at 827. The allegedly corrupt or otherwise improper motives of an individual state court judge do not show that Conley will be unable ultimately to obtain fair market value for his property in Alabama’s state courts or to raise any due process claims he may have in either the state court action or a separate action in federal court.10 10 We note that, as a result of Conley’s allegations of corruption in his removal petition, the state trial judge has recused himself from the case to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Furthermore, we agree with ASU that Conley has failed to show that he cannot vindicate his rights in Alabama’s appellate courts. The denial of Conley’s petition for a writ of mandamus does not “operate as a binding decision on the merits.” See R.E. Grills, Inc. v. Davison, 641 So.2d 225, 229 (Ala. 1994). Likewise, his request to appeal a discovery order was an interlocutory matter, the denial of which does not have res judicata effect. See Ex Parte Ryals, 773 So.2d 1011, 1014 (Ala. 2000) (holding that trial court’s interlocutory order was not a final 14 In conclusion, Conley’s removal petition fails to satisfy the second prong of the Rachel test by demonstrating that the eminent domain proceeding filed in state court is itself an act by which his equal civil rights have been violated. Therefore, Conley’s allegations do not fall within the scope of § 1443(1), and the district court’s order remanding this action to state court was proper. AFFIRMED. judgment for purposes of res judicata). 15