Opinion ID: 479151
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the asylum applications of salvadorans

Text: 38 Plaintiffs mount a broad attack on the INS' handling of Salvadorans' applications for asylum. Their argument, in essence, is that these applications do not receive all the scrutiny that is due them. They argue that the due process clause and the Act both require more thorough and more individualized consideration of asylum applications than they now receive. 39 They attempt to demonstrate the alleged shortcomings of current INS procedures in several respects. First, they argue that the employees in the State Department who recommend dispositions of these applications are poorly trained, unversed in the politics of central America, and inadequately supervised. Plaintiffs maintain that the procedures give principal control to a political and policy-oriented branch of the State Department and permit only a minimal amount of time for review of each individual application. They also allege that foreign policy considerations play an illegitimate role in the consideration of these applications. 40 Before evaluating these substantive challenges, we must examine the district court's determination that defendants' summary judgment motion was ripe for review. Appellants argue that the district court prematurely terminated their efforts to develop an evidentiary record without which the court's legal analysis is unfounded. In granting summary judgment, the district court failed to articulate its reasons for not permitting the further discovery requested by plaintiffs. Without this explanation, we cannot adequately review the propriety of the district court's apparent conclusion that plaintiffs received adequate opportunities to uncover material issues of fact, and failed to do so. We therefore remand to the district court for a ruling on the discovery matters, and do not reach the issue of whether defendants were entitled to judgment as a matter of law. 41
42 As the linchpin in establishing a due process violation, plaintiffs sought to uncover conclusive evidence that the INS was merely rubber-stamping the BHRHA's advisory opinion in every case. The plaintiffs argued that the INS' allegedly pro forma approval of recommendations rendered by the Office of Asylum Affairs denied Salvadoran aliens their right to an asylum hearing before either an immigration judge or the Deputy Director. During discovery both parties took extensive depositions, produced numerous documents, and responded to lengthy interrogatories. Nevertheless, two of plaintiffs' document requests pertaining to the asylum issue were still outstanding when the district court ruled on defendants' summary judgment motion. 43 Plaintiffs sought two sets of documents. First, they requested to review the individual INS file for each Salvadoran national who applied for asylum (the A files); the INS has established an A file for every asylum applicant. Second, they sought a breakdown by nationality of the State Department's recommendation rates of asylum. Defendants objected to these requests, claiming that they were oppressive and unduly burdensome, immaterial and irrelevant, and that [t]o disclose the documents requested would violate the confidentiality which [the defendants] traditionally extended to the files of aliens and would violate their right to privacy. Responses and Objections by Defendants to Plaintiffs' Second Request for Production of Documents, filed Oct. 17, 1983, at 1-2, 3. 44 Without having produced the requested documentation, defendants moved for partial summary judgment on the asylum issue. Thereafter, plaintiffs moved to compel discovery and requested in camera review of the allegedly confidential records. In response, defendants filed a motion for a protective order seeking denial of plaintiffs' motion to compel and preclusion of further discovery until the court ruled on their dispositive motion. The district court held a status call at which it entertained pending motions but did not dispose of the relevant discovery issues, indicating it would take the parties' motions under advisement. The district court apparently had not ruled on the cross-motions when it heard oral argument on defendants' motions for summary judgment. Appellants' Brief at 22.
45 Appellants argue that by granting summary judgment to defendants the district court improperly aborted essential factual development and therefore the court's legal analysis cannot be supported. Essentially, appellants contend that they would have been able to raise genuine issues of fact in opposition to defendants' motion had their discovery requests been granted. They accordingly conclude that defendants' summary judgment motion was not ripe. 46 On a motion for summary judgment, the court cannot try issues of fact. It must resolve all ambiguities and draw all reasonable inferences in favor of the party against whom summary judgment is sought, with the burden on the moving party to demonstrate the absence of any material factual issue genuinely in dispute. Abraham v. Graphic Arts International Union, 660 F.2d 811, 814 (D.C.Cir.1981). Ordinarily, summary judgment motions [are] premature until all discovery has been completed. City of Rome v. United States, 450 F.Supp. 378, 384 (D.D.C.1978) (Richey, J.) (granting motion for extension of time until completion of all discovery and resolution of all discovery disputes). A district court, however, has broad discretion over the scope of discovery. 8 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure Sec. 2036, at 267-68 (1970). Although this broad power cannot excuse a grant of summary judgment in the face of an issue of fact, it is discretionary with a trial court whether to deny summary judgment in response to a motion seeking additional discovery. See Nixon v. Freeman, 670 F.2d 346, 363-65 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. Nixon v. Carmen, 459 U.S. 1035, 103 S.Ct. 445, 74 L.Ed.2d 601 (1982). Thus our standard of review is abuse of discretion. Id.; 6 Part 2 Moore's Federal Practice, p 56.24, at 56-1428 (1982). 47 Under Rule 56(f), the district court may defer ruling on a motion for summary judgment and permit further discovery so that the nonmoving party may obtain the information necessary to show an issue of material fact in dispute. Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(f). The nonmoving party, however, has the burden of showing the trial court what facts he hopes to discover that would create a triable issue and what reason justifies his inability to produce them on the motion. Exxon Corp. v. FTC, 663 F.2d 120, 126-27 (D.C.Cir.1980). 48 Appellants attempted to meet this burden. In opposing defendants' motion for partial summary judgment, plaintiffs urged the district court to deny the motion and allow their challenge to proceed through discovery to trial. They complained that they were unable to establish the impact of State Department advisory opinions on Salvadoran applicants because the defendants have withheld discovery which would allow tracing and comparison of recommendations and results even on a sample basis. Corrected Copy of Plaintiffs' Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Opposition to Defendants' Motion for Partial Summary Judgment on the Asylum Issue, filed Jan. 4, 1984, at 35. 49 Normally, in order to stay consideration of the summary judgment motion, a nonmoving party files an affidavit outlining his position. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(f). Although several courts which have considered the issue agree that filing an affidavit is necessary for the preservation of a Rule 56(f) contention, see Mid-South Grizzlies v. National Football League, 720 F.2d 772, 780 n. 4 (3d Cir.1983), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1215, 104 S.Ct. 2657, 81 L.Ed.2d 364 (1984), other courts have assayed Rule 56(f) showings made in summary judgment opposition papers together with outstanding discovery requests, see, e.g., id.; Wallace v. Brownell Pontiac-GMC Co., Inc., 703 F.2d 525, 527-28 (11th Cir.1983); Nixon, 670 F.2d at 363-65. We find this practice sensible under the present circumstances. The district court's refusal to stay consideration of defendants' motion pending further discovery is not automatically justified by appellants' failure to file a Rule 56(f) affidavit. 50 The purpose of the affidavit is to ensure that the nonmoving party is invoking the protections of Rule 56(f) in good faith by affirmatively demonstrating why he cannot respond to the summary judgment motion. The procedure is designed to prevent fishing expeditions by narrowing the scope of discovery and affording the trial court the showing necessary to assess the merit of a party's opposition. See First National Bank of Arizona v. Cities Service Co., 391 U.S. 253, 298, 88 S.Ct. 1575, 1597, 20 L.Ed.2d 569 (1968). There is no question that the district court was positioned to judge appellants' plea for further discovery. Appellants' outstanding discovery requests identified the information sought with specificity; their opposition papers outlined the use they sought to make of the information which remained in defendants' hands. 51 Plaintiffs sought to examine the A files to establish empirical correlations between the State Department's asylum recommendations and the INS' decisions to grant or deny asylum. Plaintiffs believe that this statistical information will demonstrate complete INS deferral to State Department recommendations in violation of 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1158(a), which vests asylum decisions in the Attorney General. In plaintiffs' view, the denial of discovery into this information prevented them from establishing the impropriety of the State Department's involvement in the asylum process. Plaintiffs also argue that the district court's denial of discovery of the statistics concerning the State Department's recommendation rates by nationality denied them the opportunity to demonstrate that, contrary to the Refugee Act of 1980, El Salvadorans were being treated less favorably than aliens of other nationalities. Although we express no view as to the likelihood that these particular data will enable plaintiffs to raise a genuine issue of material fact, we note that statistical evidence alone, if sufficiently condemning, is capable of withstanding a motion for summary judgment. See McKenzie v. Sawyer, 684 F.2d 62, 71 (D.C.Cir.1982) (Title VII); Thompson v. Sawyer, 678 F.2d 257, 284 (D.C.Cir.1982) (same); see also Teamsters v. United States, 431 U.S. 324, 339, 97 S.Ct. 1843, 1856, 52 L.Ed.2d 396 (1977) (same). 52 In granting summary judgment, the district court identified the issue between the parties as the propriety of the Department of State's involvement in INS asylum decisions. 594 F.Supp. at 510. The court ruled that there were no genuine issues of fact in dispute. It perceived the issues as purely a question of law. Thus, in the court's view, the issues may appropriately be resolved by summary judgment. Id. 53 The district court offered no reasons for declining to permit further discovery before ruling on defendants' summary judgment motion. Indeed, plaintiffs' attempt to seek Salvadoran A and other files for tracing and comparison was never addressed. Plaintiffs' Motion to Compel remained unresolved. At best, we can imply denial of the pending discovery motions from the court's unexplicated, conclusory statement: There are no genuine issues of fact in dispute here. See 594 F.Supp. at 510. 54 We cannot adequately assess the propriety of the district court's exercise of discretion without articulation of its reasoning. It is impossible to determine if the court based its decision to deny plaintiffs' discovery requests on its belief that the extreme burden of the production would outweigh its probativeness, or that the personal nature of the documents precluded their release, or that the information sought was irrelevant to the litigation. We therefore reverse the judgment and remand to the district for its ruling and reasoning on plaintiffs' two document requests. Our holding, of course, reflects no opinion on the merits of the case.