Opinion ID: 3012894
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Cognizability of Habeas Corpus Claims Under

Text: FARRA Notwithstanding the above, the District Court in this case concluded that it lacked habeas jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 to consider claims arising under CAT and its implementing legislation and regulations. After consideration of the parties’ arguments, we conclude that FARRA’s jurisdictional provisions do not preclude habeas jurisdiction. As noted above, two provisions of FARRA affect the jurisdiction of the federal courts. Only one is relevant to 19. Felker involved provisions of AEDPA, entirely unrelated to those at issue in St. Cyr, that provide habeas relief to persons confined pursuant to a state-court conviction. 518 U.S. at 656. 14 this case. FARRA’s jurisdiction-limiting provision provides that “[n]o court shall have jurisdiction to review the regulations adopted to implement this section.” FARRA § 2242(d). Here, however, Ogbudimkpa does not challenge the regulations themselves, but the IJ’s application of the regulations to his case, and thus this provision is not implicated. At issue here is whether the jurisdictionconsolidating clause in § 2242(d), which limits courts’ jurisdiction to consider CAT claims to the review of final orders of removal, precludes habeas review.
Guided by St. Cyr’s analysis of a similar provision in IIRIRA, we join the First, Second and Ninth Circuits in concluding that, because § 2242(d) of FARRA fails to state explicitly that a district court may not exercise jurisdiction over habeas corpus claims or mention 28 U.S.C. § 2241, the District Court retains that jurisdiction.20 St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 312 (holding that a statute must “explicitly mention[ ] habeas, or 28 U.S.C. § 2241,” to “speak[ ] with sufficient clarity to bar jurisdiction pursuant to the general habeas statute”); see also Demore, 123 S.Ct. at 1714 (describing St. Cyr as “establish[ing] ‘a superclear statement, “magic words” requirement for the congressional expression of ’ an intent to preclude habeas review”) (quoting St. Cyr, 533 20. Prior to the Supreme Court’s decision in St. Cyr, the Ninth Circuit concluded that habeas review was available for CAT claims. CornejoBarreto v. Seifert, 218 F.3d 1004, 1015-16 (9th Cir. 2000). The Court reasoned that, although § 2242(b) of FARRA did not provide a new grant of jurisdiction to federal courts, nothing precluded them from “look[ing] to existing jurisdictional statutes to entertain a petition for review.” Id. at 1015. After St. Cyr, the First and Second Circuits recently concluded as well that habeas review is available for CAT claims. Saint Fort v. Ashcroft, 329 F.3d 191, 200 (1st Cir. 2003); Wang v. Ashcroft, 320 F.3d 130, 141 (2d Cir. 2003). We note that several district courts in this Circuit have anticipated our holding in this case, apparently assuming that, as a result of St. Cyr, district courts have jurisdiction to consider habeas corpus claims alleging CAT or FARRA claims. See, e.g., Builes v. Nye, 239 F. Supp. 2d 518, 525 (M.D. Pa. 2003); Chinchilla-Jimenez v. INS, 226 F. Supp.2d 680, 683 (E.D. Pa. 2002). 15 U.S. at 327 (Scalia, J., dissenting)); Wang, 320 F.3d at 141 (“[A] statute must, at a minimum, explicitly mention either ‘habeas corpus’ or ‘28 U.S.C. § 2241’ in order to limit or restrict § 2241 jurisdiction.”). We note first that the same constitutional concern that guided the Supreme Court to its conclusion in St. Cyr is present in this case. As in St. Cyr, the Government asks us to interpret a statute in a way that would foreclose an individual’s ability to invoke the writ of habeas corpus. To determine whether this foreclosure violates the Suspension Clause of the Constitution would require us to construe that Clause’s scope, a task the Supreme Court concluded should be a last resort in light of the considerable differences of opinion on the breadth of the Clause. 533 U.S. at 301 n.13. The danger of a Suspension Clause violation here is as acute as in St. Cyr because this case involves the “historical core” of the writ of habeas corpus: providing a means for “reviewing the legality of Executive detention,” including the detention of aliens. Id. at 301. We decline to consider the Government’s argument that “ ‘[a]cknowledging no habeas corpus remedy for a narrow subject-matter category of claims does not effect an outright ‘suspension’ of the writ of habeas corpus.” Resp’t Br. at 24-25. Accepting or denying the truth of this statement is, spot on, what the St. Cyr Court sought to avoid. 553 U.S. at 301 n.13 (“The fact that this Court would be required to answer the difficult question of what the Suspension Clause protects is in and of itself a reason to avoid answering the constitutional questions that would be raised by concluding that review was barred entirely.”). We follow the Supreme Court’s lead and thus forgo construing the Suspension Clause. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 300-01; see also Wang, 320 F.3d at 141 (noting desire to “avoid serious constitutional concerns”). We note also that the reasons to require a clear statement of Congressional intent are also present here. As discussed above, while Ogbudimkpa initially sought review of the final order of removal issued in his case, that petition was dismissed by our Court for lack of jurisdiction. If we were to conclude here that there is no habeas jurisdiction, no Article III court will review Ogbudimkpa’s CAT claims. 16 We are reluctant to construe the statute to bar any type of judicial review without a clear statement from Congress indicating its intent to do so. Accord St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 299. In addition, the construction that the Government proposes would eliminate habeas jurisdiction, something that also requires a clear statement of intent on the part of Congress. Id. at 298. With these considerations in mind, we turn to the language of FARRA. A side-by-side comparison (with emphasis added) of the provision of IIRIRA at issue in St. Cyr that most closely mirrors the language of FARRA at issue here convinces us that FARRA does not foreclose habeas review. IIRIRA § 306(a) FARRA § 2242(d)4 “Notwithstanding any “Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no other provision of law, . . . court shall have jurisdic- nothing in this section tion to review any final shall be construed as pro- order of removal against viding any court jurisdican alien who is removable tion to consider or by reason of having com- review claims under [CAT] mitted” certain enumer- or this section . . . except ated criminal offenses. as part of the review of a final order of removal pur- suant to section 242 of the [INA].” With strong indication from the Supreme Court that nothing will suffice but the most explicit statement that habeas jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 is repealed, and because § 2242(d) of FARRA does not mention habeas corpus or 28 U.S.C. § 2241, we conclude, by analogy to St. Cyr, that FARRA does not foreclose a district court from exercising habeas jurisdiction over claims alleging violations of CAT. 17

The Government reasons that a different result from St. Cyr should occur in this case, carefully parsing the differences between the statutory language of FARRA and IIRIRA in search of support. It notes that FARRA does not just forbid “review” but also “expressly prohibits any interpretation of its terms that would confer jurisdiction either to ‘consider’ or to ‘review’ ” a CAT claim. St. Cyr rejects this line of argument. That the wording of FARRA is minimally different from IIRIRA is immaterial in the absence of a clear statement by Congress of its intent explicitly to foreclose habeas jurisdiction. Even assuming that FARRA’s language is broader than IIRIRA’s language at best does nothing more than create a slight ambiguity as to Congress’ intent. But statutory “ambiguity does not help the INS” and “[o]nly the clearest statement of congressional intent will support the INS’ position.” St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 312 n.35. Indeed, in St. Cyr the Court concluded that habeas relief under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 remained available notwithstanding the fact that one provision under review, entitled “Elimination of Custody Review by Habeas Corpus,” repealed the INA provision authorizing habeas relief, INA § 106(a)(10).21 The Court reasoned that this provision could not “eliminate what it did not originally grant — namely, habeas jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241.” St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 311. In other words, excising a specific INA provision theretofore authorizing habeas review did not affect the general habeas authority granted by § 2241. If excising a provision authorizing habeas review is not sufficiently explicit an expression of Congressional intent to foreclose habeas jurisdiction, then the use of the word “consider” in addition to the word “review” cannot be deemed sufficiently explicit. 21. As already noted, see supra note 14, St. Cyr considered jurisdictional provisions of both IIRIRA and AEDPA. The caption quoted is from AEDPA § 401(3). 18
The Government argues that because St. Cyr did not involve a non-self-executing treaty, the Supreme Court’s reasoning does not apply to FARRA. Further, because FARRA involves such a treaty, there is no habeas jurisdiction unless Congress grants it. With a self-executing treaty, “no domestic legislation is required to give [it] the force of law in the United States.” Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Franklin Mint Corp., 466 U.S. 243, 252 (1984). Conversely, a non-self-executing treaty is one that “must be implemented by legislation before it gives rise to a private cause of action.” Mannington Mills, Inc. v. Congoleum Corp., 595 F.2d 1287, 1298 (3d Cir. 1979) (citing Head Money Cases, 112 U.S. 580, 589-90 (1884)). As noted above, in ratifying CAT the Senate gave its “advice and consent subject to [the declaration by the United States] that the provisions of Articles 1 through 16 of [CAT] are not selfexecuting.” 136 Cong. Rec. 36,198.22 22. Ogbudimkpa argues that (a) CAT should be deemed a self-executing treaty, (b) the District Court erred in relying solely on the Senate’s declaration that CAT was non-self-executing, and (c) the Senate’s declaration that the treaty was non-self-executing was unconstitutional. Because in enacting FARRA Congress implemented CAT, we need not consider whether CAT is self-executing. See Cornejo-Barreto, 218 F.3d at 1011 n.6 (“Because Congress passed legislation implementing Article 3 of [CAT], we need not reach the issue of whether that provision of the treaty is self-executing.”). We similarly find it unnecessary to consider the proposition that habeas corpus claims may be based on violations of treaties regardless whether the treaty is non-self-executing or self-executing. While this argument is well-thought-out, it has been rejected by a number of our sister Circuits in a rather cursory manner. The argument starts from the basic premise that CAT, as a ratified treaty, is the law of the United States, with or without implementing legislation. See U.S. Const. art. VI, cl. 2 (“This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land.”). Courts have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1331 to consider cases arising out of treaties. 28 U.S.C. § 1331 (“The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States.”). While the exact meaning of the terms “self-executing” and “non-self-executing” is the subject of much scholarly 19 Premised on its conclusion that CAT is not self-executing, the Government states that an alien has only those CAT debate, see, e.g., Carlos Manuel Vazquez, The Four Doctrines of SelfExecuting Treaties, 89 Am. J. Int’l L. 695 (1995), the law of this Circuit, as already noted, defines a non-self-executing treaty as one that “must be implemented by legislation before it gives rise to a private cause of action.” Mannington Mills, 595 F.2d at 1298; see also Tel-Oren v. Libyan Arab Republic, 726 F.2d 774, 808 (D.C. Cir. 1984) (Bork, J., concurring) (quoting Mannington Mills, 595 F.2d at 1298); but see Restatement (Third) on Foreign Relations Law, § 111 cmt h (“Whether a treaty is selfexecuting is a question distinct from whether the treaty creates private rights or remedies.”). Ratification purporting to cabin a treaty as nonself-executing nonetheless provides jurisdiction to the United States courts to hear cases premised on its violation (one example might be where CAT is interposed as a defense to removal), but does not provide a cause of action. Dreyfus v. Von Finck, 534 F.2d 24, 28, 30 (2d Cir. 1976) (dismissing claim based on non-self-executing treaty violation because while 28 U.S.C. § 1331 provided jurisdiction for the court to consider a claim under a treaty, it did not provide a cause of action). Habeas relief is available for violations of a treaty. See 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3) (providing that writs of habeas corpus may be granted to a prisoner who is “in custody in violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States”); see also Mali v. Keeper of the Common Jail, 120 U.S. 1 (1887) (considering habeas petition premised on treaty violation). Thus, the general habeas statute, 28 U.S.C. § 2241, provides a cause of action that 28 U.S.C. § 1331 does not. As a result, the argument continues, a treaty that is ratified but not self-executing need not be implemented in order for a party to have a habeas cause of action under that treaty. But see Wang, 320 F.3d at 140 (“Unless a treaty is self-executing, however, it does not, in and of itself, create individual rights that can give rise to habeas relief.”); accord Bannerman v. Snyder, 325 F.3d 722, 724 (6th Cir. 2003) (concluding that “the reference to ‘treaties of the United States’ in § 2241 cannot be construed as an implementation of non-self-executing provisions of treaties so as to render them judicially enforceable under § 2241”); Al Odah v. United States, 321 F.3d 1134, 1146 (D.C. Cir. 2003) (rejecting habeas claim because “[t]reaties do not generally create rights privately enforceable in the courts. Without authorizing legislation, individuals may sue for treaty violations only if the treaty is self-executing.”) (Randolph, J., concurring); Wesson v. U.S. Penitentiary Beaumont, 305 F.3d 343, 348 (5th Cir. 2002) (“Wesson’s claim of a violation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights fails because the treaty is not selfexecuting and Congress has not enacted implementing legislation. Thus, 20 claims that Congress has expressly provided. In essence, the Government contends, the question that the Supreme Court asked in St. Cyr — is there evidence that Congress intended to foreclose the availability of habeas review — is turned around in the context of a non-self-executing treaty and becomes, instead, whether there is evidence that Congress intended to provide for the availability of habeas review. Were this analysis correct, habeas review would not be available for claims based on violations of CAT because, the Government points out, there is no explicit evidence that Congress intended to provide for that review. We agree with the First and Second Circuits that the proper starting point is the question whether FARRA deprives the District Court of habeas jurisdiction, not whether it grants it. Habeas relief is available for an individual who claims his or her continued detention violates a statute or a treaty. 28 U.S.C. § 2241(c)(3). CAT has been implemented by FARRA and its accompanying regulations. FARRA makes it federal law that no one shall be removed “to a country in which there are substantial grounds for believing the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” FARRA, § 2242(a). It follows that those individuals whose detention violates FARRA may challenge their detention under 28 U.S.C. § 2241, just as with any other detentions that violate federal law. See Wang, 320 F.3d at 141 n.16 (“Once Congress created rights under CAT by enacting FARRA, § 2241 necessarily became habeas relief is not available for such a violation.”); United States v. Warden, FMC Rochester, 286 F.3d 1059, 1063 (8th Cir. 2002) (rejecting § 2241 claim alleging violations of treaty on ground that it “does not bind federal courts because the treaty is not self-executing and Congress has yet to enact implementing legislation”). Thus, while we sidestep this thicket (whether a treaty is self-executing or non-self-executing treaty has been dubbed “the most confounding” distinction in the law of treaties, Vazquez, The Four Doctrines of SelfExecuting Treaties, 89 Am. J. Int’l L. at 695 (quoting United States v. Postal, 589 F.2d 862, 876 (5th Cir. 1979))), we note the interesting issues the argument engenders, particularly those with respect to the availability of habeas relief under a non-self-executing treaty absent implementing legislation. 21 a proper avenue of relief for individuals in custody in violation of FARRA and its implementing regulations.”); Saint Fort, 329 F.3d at 202 (“Saint Fort’s claims do not rest solely on a treaty that is not self-executing, they rest on the CAT through the FARRA and the regulations, and on a claim of violation of constitutional rights.”).23 Thus, whether CAT is or is not self-executing is irrelevant.
In support of its argument that Congress must affirmatively grant habeas jurisdiction, the Government notes that there is no history of district courts reviewing CAT claims in the form of habeas corpus petitions. We are unpersuaded that this is relevant. In the words of the Second Circuit (which also dismissed this argument), “it makes no difference whether the type of claim allegedly being excluded from § 2241 is long-standing or newly created.” Wang, 320 F.3d at 141 n.16. Once Congress created rights under CAT by enacting FARRA, § 2241 “became a proper avenue of relief for individuals in custody in violation of FARRA and its implementing regulations.” Id. In a similar vein, the Government contends that the lack of history of habeas review of CAT claims distinguishes this case from St. Cyr because there was a longstanding history of habeas review of deportation and exclusion orders prior 23. The Government argues that because FARRA provides “an affirmative, but limited grant of jurisdiction,” it must also affirmatively grant habeas jurisdiction. Resp. Br. at 24. For this argument to be correct, FARRA must be different from other statutes with a limited grant of jurisdiction. For instance, every federal criminal law provides an affirmative, though limited, grant of jurisdiction (because the federal Government has no general police power) and yet nearly all federal criminal laws do not explicitly provide for habeas jurisdiction. If the Government’s theory of habeas jurisdiction is correct, every time Congress enacted a criminal law, a district court would lack jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus claims based on violations of that law unless that criminal statute affirmatively granted habeas jurisdiction. Cf. Reply Br. at 13 (“The Government’s position would . . . require Congress to go through the pointless exercise of attaching (redundant) jurisdiction grants to each and every point of legislation implementing a treaty’s provisions.”). 22 to IIRIRA, whereas there is no such history of CAT claims prior to FARRA. But the St. Cyr Court’s analysis of the historical availability of the writ of habeas corpus did not focus narrowly, as the Government would have us do, on whether there was a history of habeas review of the exact claims at issue in that case. Using the broad lens of the St. Cyr Court, we conclude that the question is whether the general nature of the claims at issue were historically reviewable on a writ of habeas corpus. Habeas corpus writs were traditionally issued “to command the discharge of seamen who had a statutory exemption from impressment into the British Navy, to emancipate slaves, and to obtain the freedom of apprentices and asylum inmates.” St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 302. Here, as in St. Cyr, the general nature of the claim is that of a challenge to the validity of executive detentions, and we are persuaded by St. Cyr’s analysis demonstrating that these challenges invoke the writ’s protections in their purest form. Id. at 301 (“At its historical core, the writ of habeas corpus has served as a means of reviewing the legality of Executive detention”); id. at 303-04 (noting “the historical use of habeas corpus to remedy unlawful Executive action” and “to redress the improper exercise of official discretion”); id. at 305 (arguing that “to conclude that the writ is no longer available in this context would represent a departure from historical practice in immigration law. The writ of habeas corpus has always been available to review the legality of Executive detention.”). Even if we were to narrow the lens, disallowing habeas relief would still be a departure from historical practice. Not only did the writ traditionally issue as a means to review the legality of Executive detention of citizens, it also issued as a means of reviewing the legality of Executive detention of aliens. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 305-06. And it traditionally issued as a means of reviewing the legality of the detention of aliens in the face of alleged treaty violations. Brief Amici Curiae of Legal Historians Listed Herein in Support of Respondents: INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 (2001), 16 Geo. Immigr. L.J. 465, 482 (2001) (describing cases in which deserting alien sailors brought habeas corpus petitions 23 based on violations of treaties or federal laws); see also Mali, 120 U.S. at 1 (considering habeas corpus petition brought on behalf of alien sailor alleging violations of consular agreement between the United States and Belgium). Hence the conclusion that habeas review was not available for CAT claims would, as in St. Cyr, represent “a departure from historical practice,” a departure we decline to follow. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 305. We therefore hold that district courts may exercise habeas jurisdiction over petitions alleging violations of CAT or FARRA and that FARRA does not speak with sufficient clarity to deprive the district courts of that jurisdiction.24 24. We hold that a district court has jurisdiction to consider habeas corpus petitions that allege violations of CAT. If CAT is a non-selfexecuting treaty (and individuals do not have a right to bring habeas claims based on violations of non-self-executing treaties, as discussed supra note 22), then, strictly speaking, the District Court may have jurisdiction only to consider claims alleging FARRA violations. The Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law, § 111 cmt h (1987), suggests that “it is the implementing legislation, rather than the agreement itself, that is given effect as law in the United States. That is true even when a non-self-executing agreement is ‘enacted’ by, or incorporated in, implementing legislation.” Assuming that CAT is nonself-executing, then so-called CAT claims may be, in fact, FARRA claims. But because the language of FARRA is virtually identical to the language of Article 3 of CAT, the distinction is one without a difference. It would be absurdly formalistic to conclude that there is no habeas jurisdiction if a petitioner invokes Article 3 of CAT, but that there is habeas jurisdiction if a petitioner invokes § 2242(a) of FARRA, when the language of the two provisions are substantively the same. Compare Article 3, CAT (“No State Party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”) with FARRA § 2242(a) (“It shall be the policy of the United States not to expel, extradite, or otherwise effect the involuntary return of any person to a country in which there are substantial grounds for believing the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”). The “bottom line” — if CAT is indeed non-self-executing, then FARRA implements CAT and provides a cause of action for violations of CAT, but it does not make CAT self-executing. The technical result — an individual has a claim under FARRA for a violation of CAT, but not under CAT itself. But because the distinction between FARRA and Article 3 of CAT is inconsequential, the continued colloquial reference to CAT rather than FARRA is likewise inconsequential and thus we relegate this discussion to a footnote. 24