Opinion ID: 3011376
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Test for Frivolousness

Text: In California Med. Ass'n v. Fed. Election Comm'n , 453 U.S. 182, 193-94 n.14 (1981), the Supreme Court stated that we do not construe S 437h to require certification of constitutional claims that are frivolous. The Court cited with approval a district court decision from an in forma pauperis action that employed the standard from the in forma pauperis statute, 28 U.S.C. S 1915(e)(2)(B), to determine whether a challenge to FECA was frivolous. See id. at 193-94 n. 14 (citing Gifford v. Congress, 452 F. Supp. 802 (E.D. Cal. 1978)). The in forma pauperis statute authorizes a district court to dismiss sua sponte any action that it determines to be legally frivolous. An action is not frivolous under the statute where the complaint raises an arguable question of law that ultimately will be resolved against the plaintiff. Neitzke v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 328 (1989). The District Court applied the standard for frivolousness set forth in Neitzke and certified Mariani's challenge to the en banc Court of Appeals after concluding 11 that it cannot be said that the constitutional challenges are plainly foreclosed by existing precedent. Mariani v. United States, No.3 CV-98-1701 (March 25, 1999). The government and the FEC argue that the District Court should have used a more exacting standard for frivolousness and rejected Mariani's challenge. They submit that the correct standard is that set forth by the Ninth Circuit in Goland v. United States, 903 F.2d 1247, 1257 (9th Cir. 1990), which viewed the role of the District Court as akin to that of a single judge deciding a motion to convene a three-judge court to hear a constitutional challenge and noted that this standard is closer to the standard used to review a claim under FED. R. CIV. P. 12(b)(6) than it is to the in forma pauperis standard. We need not decide which standard applies, because under either standard Mariani's claim is not frivolous. As the Ninth Circuit noted, a genuinely new variation on an issue raised under a particular section of the FECA that already has been challenged and upheld may give rise to a nonfrivolous challenge to that section: [o]nce a core provision of FECA has been reviewed and approved by the courts, unanticipated variations also may deserve the full attention of the appellate court. At the same time, not every sophistic twist that arguably presents a `new' question should be certified. Goland v. United States, 903 F.2d at 1257; see also Khachaturian v. FEC, 980 F.2d 330, 331 (5th Cir. 1992). Mariani's challenge to S 441b(a) is not simply a sophistic twist, but can fairly be characterized as a new challenge based on the rise in importance in campaign finance of soft money and issue advocacy. Moreover, the facial validity of the statute never has been squarely determined by the Supreme Court. The District Court did not make an independent assessment of the frivolousness of the challenge toS 441f. Hereafter, district courts considering challenges to separate provisions of the FECA should make the required determination regarding frivolousness for each of the challenges.5 However, because the government does not challenge the lack of an independent assessment here, and _________________________________________________________________ 5. That determination is best made initially by District Courts. 12 because the pending criminal case awaits a determination of this action, we will reach the challenges toS 441f without remanding for a determination regarding frivolousness.