Opinion ID: 2807870
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Commonwealth’s claims concern acts “for

Text: or relating to” an act under color of federal office We conclude that the Federal Community Defender satisfies the causation element because the Commonwealth’s claims concern acts “for or relating to” the Federal Community Defender’s federal office. Prior to 2011, the proponent of jurisdiction was required to show that it has been sued “for any act under color of [federal] office.” 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1) (2010) (emphasis added).7 In other words, the proponent was required to “show a nexus, a causal connection between the charged conduct and asserted official authority.” Jefferson Cnty. v. Acker, 527 U.S. 423, 431 (1999) (quotation marks omitted). For example, in Maryland v. Soper (No. 2), 270 U.S. 36 (1926), the Supreme Court decided that four prohibition agents and their chauffeur could not take advantage of the federal officer removal statute for their state prosecutions for lying under oath to a coroner. According to the agents, what required them to testify in front of the coroner was their discovery of a man who was wounded, and who eventually died, on their way back from investigating an illegal alcohol still. Thus, they claimed that their federal duties were a cause of their allegedly perjurous testimony. Id. at 41. The Court 7 Both before and after the 2011 amendments, however, the statute also permitted the removal of actions brought “on account of any right, title or authority claimed under any Act of Congress for the apprehension or punishment of criminals or the collection of the revenue.” 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1). 25 determined that this connection was insufficient to justify removal because testifying before the coroner was not part of the agents’ official duties, and those were the acts that the State relied on for prosecution. Id. at 42. The Court acknowledged, however, that the acts need not be “expressly authorized” by a federal statute, so long as the acts complained of are “an inevitable outgrowth of” and “closely interrelated” with the officer’s federal duty. Id. By contrast, the Court found a sufficient causal connection for removal jurisdiction in Acker, 527 U.S. 423. There, two federal district court judges resisted payment of a county’s occupational tax,8 claiming that it violated the “intergovernmental tax immunity doctrine.” Id. at 429. After the State brought a collection action against the judges in state small claims court, the judges removed under § 1442 and asserted that the small claims suits were “for a[n] act under color of office.” Id. at 432. The judges argued that there was a sufficient causal relationship because the ordinance at issue made it unlawful to engage in their federal occupation without paying the tax. Id. For its part, the State argued that the tax was levied against the judges personally, and not on them as judges, so the collection suit was unrelated to their federal office. Id. The Court decided that “[t]o choose between those readings of the Ordinance is to decide the merits of this case,” which it would not do at this stage. Id.; see also id. at 431 (“We . . . do not require the officer virtually to win his case before he can have it removed.”) (quotation marks omitted). The Court concluded that the 8 Defined as “[a]n excise tax imposed for the privilege of carrying on a business, trade, or profession.” TAX, Black’s Law Dictionary (9th ed. 2009). 26 judges had made an adequate threshold showing at this stage to grant federal courts jurisdiction under § 1442 because “[t]he circumstances that gave rise to the tax liability, not just the taxpayers’ refusal to pay, ‘constitute the basis’ for the tax collection lawsuits at issue.” Id. at 433. The tax suits arose out of the judges’ “holding court in the county and receiving income for that activity” and therefore had a sufficient nexus to the judges’ official duties. Id. Thus, before 2011, proponents of removal jurisdiction under § 1442 were required to “demonstrate that the acts for which they [we]re being sued” occurred at least in part “because of what they were asked to do by the Government.” Isaacson, 517 F.3d at 137. In 2011, however, the statute was amended to encompass suits “for or relating to any act under color of [federal] office.” 28 U.S.C. § 1442(a)(1) (2011) (emphasis added). Neither the Supreme Court nor any federal appellate court has addressed the significance of the insertion of the words “or relating to” in the statute. However, the Supreme Court has defined the same words in the context of another statute: “The ordinary meaning of the[] words [‘relating to’] is a broad one—‘to stand in some relation; to have bearing or concern; to pertain; refer; to bring into association with or connection with.’” Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U.S. 374, 383 (1992) (quoting Black’s Law Dictionary 1158 (5th ed. 1979)); see also Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U.S. 85, 96-97 & n.16 (1983) (same). Thus, we find that it is sufficient for there to be a “connection” or “association” between the act in question and the federal office. Our understanding comports with the legislative history of the amendment to § 1442(a)(1), which shows that the addition of the words “or relating to” was intended to “broaden the universe of acts that enable Federal officers to remove to Federal court.” H.R. Rep. No. 112-17, 27 pt. 1 (2011), as reprinted in 2011 U.S.C.C.A.N. 420, 425. In this case, the acts complained of undoubtedly “relate to” acts taken under color of federal office. First, the Federal Community Defender attorneys’ employment with the Federal Community Defender is the very basis of the Commonwealth’s decision to wage these disqualification proceedings against them. The Commonwealth has filed these motions to litigate whether the Federal Community Defender is violating the federal authority granted to it. As the Supreme Court has noted, whether a federal officer defendant has completely stepped outside of the boundaries of its office is for a federal court, not a state court, to answer. See Acker, 527 U.S. at 431-32; Willingham, 395 U.S. at 409 (“If the question raised is whether they were engaged in some kind of ‘frolic of their own’ in relation to respondent, then they should have the opportunity to present their version of the facts to a federal, not a state, court.”). Moreover, the Federal Community Defender’s representation of state prisoners in PCRA proceedings is closely related to its duty to provide effective federal habeas representation. As the Supreme Court has emphasized on numerous occasions, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 significantly increased the extent to which federal habeas relief is contingent on the preservation and effective litigation of claims of error in state court, including state post-conviction proceedings: Under the exhaustion requirement, a habeas petitioner challenging a state conviction must first attempt to present his claim in state court. 28 U.S.C. § 2254(b). If the state court rejects the claim on procedural grounds, the claim is 28 barred in federal court unless one of the exceptions to the doctrine of Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U.S. 72, 82-84, 97 S.Ct. 2497, 53 L.Ed.2d 594 (1977), applies. And if the state court denies the claim on the merits, the claim is barred in federal court unless one of the exceptions to § 2254(d) set out in §§ 2254(d)(1) and (2) applies. Section 2254(d) thus complements the exhaustion requirement and the doctrine of procedural bar to ensure that state proceedings are the central process, not just a preliminary step for a later federal habeas proceeding, see id., at 90, 97 S.Ct. 2497. Harrington v. Richter, 562 U.S. 86, 103 (2011). As a result, counsel in PCRA proceedings must be careful to comply with state procedural rules, file within applicable limitations periods, and fully exhaust their clients’ claims in order to secure meaningful habeas review in federal court. The impact PCRA litigation can have on a subsequent federal habeas petition is, of course, one of the reasons the Federal Community Defender represents prisoners in such litigation. This impact is significant enough to convince us that the Federal Community Defender’s actions in PCRA litigation “relate to” its federal duties for purposes of removal jurisdiction.