Opinion ID: 799387
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether CDIA has standing to seek declaratory relief against the Attorney General

Text: The foregoing analysis applies with equal force to the question whether CDIA's request for a declaratory judgment presented a justiciable case or controversy. The State contends a declaratory judgment against the Attorney General would not prevent private litigants from suing CDIA's members for violations of FCRISA, but if injunctive relief against the Attorney General meets the redressability requirement, the same must be true of declaratory relief. See Nashville, C. & St. L. Ry. v. Wallace, 288 U.S. 249, 264, 53 S.Ct. 345, 77 L.Ed. 730 (1933) (holding that a controversy justiciable if presented in a suit for injunction is justiciable in a suit for declaratory relief). To satisfy the `case or controversy' requirement, a request for declaratory relief must settle some dispute which affects the behavior of the defendant toward the plaintiff. Hewitt v. Helms, 482 U.S. 755, 761, 107 S.Ct. 2672, 96 L.Ed.2d 654 (1987). Here, CDIA's members are faced with the imminent threat of the FCRISA's enforcement. A declaration that the challenged provisions are preempted by federal law would redress the threat of enforcement in two respects: directly, because once the declaration has issued, the court could issue follow-up relief to enjoin enforcement of the preempted provisions should the Attorney General decide to sue in state court; and indirectly, because the declaratory judgment would have binding collateral effect in the New Mexico state courts, thereby frustrating a subsequent attempt by the Attorney General to enforce the FCRISA. [3] See D.L. v. Unified Sch. Dist. No. 497, 392 F.3d 1223, 1228 (10th Cir.2004).