Opinion ID: 500380
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Immunity Under the Supremacy Clause.

Text: 160 In Tennessee v. Davis, 100 U.S. (10 Otto) 257, 25 L.Ed. 648 (1879) the Supreme Court affirmed the power of Congress to provide for removal to federal court, before trial, of a state criminal action prosecuted against a defendant who claimed federal authority to act as he did. 6 In declaring the removal legislation constitutionally valid, the Court reasoned that the possibility of the general government's preserving its own existence (id. at 262) depended upon such a holding. The Court stated: 161 [The federal government] can act only through its officers and agents, and they must act within the States. If, when thus acting, and within the scope of their authority, those officers can be arrested and brought to trial in a State court, for an alleged offense against the law of the State, yet warranted by the Federal authority they possess, and if the general government is powerless to interfere at once for their protection,--if their protection must be left to the action of the State court,--the operations of the general government may at any time be arrested at the will of one of its members. 162 Id. at 263. 163 In other situations involving attempted state prosecution of a federal officer, the federal courts consistently adhered to the rule that federal supremacy is the principle determinative of the jurisdiction of a state court to try a federal agent for a state crime. So, for example, in Ohio v. Thomas, 173 U.S. 276, 19 S.Ct. 453, 43 L.Ed. 699 (1899), the State of Ohio indicted the governor of a federally instituted soldiers' home when he served oleomargarine without posting a notice required by state law. Following his conviction, the defendant applied to the federal court for a writ of habeas corpus. The writ was granted, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, and the Supreme Court affirmed on appeal, holding that the defendant was not subject to the state law in question, and that the state court had no jurisdiction to subject him to criminal proceedings, because the act complained of was performed as part of the duty of the governor as a Federal officer in and by virtue of valid Federal authority, and in the performance of that duty he was not subject to the direction or control of the legislature of Ohio. Id. at 284, 19 S.Ct. at 456. 164 So too, in Johnson v. Maryland, 254 U.S. 51, 41 S.Ct. 16, 65 L.Ed. 126 (1920), the Court held that a state has no power to require a post office employee to obtain a state driver's license in order to deliver the mail in his government mail truck. Such a requirement, said the Court through Mr. Justice Holmes, does not merely touch the Government servants remotely by a general rule of conduct; it lays hold of them in their specific attempt to obey orders and requires qualifications in addition to those that the Government has pronounced sufficient. Id. at 57, 41 S.Ct. at 17. 165 It should be noted, however, that the Court in Johnson v. Maryland drew a distinction between general local rules of conduct, and local laws specifically affecting the manner in which one's federal duties are carried out. In a passage providing some guidance for us here, the Johnson v. Maryland Court explained the difference as follows: 166 Of course an employee of the United States does not secure a general immunity from state law while acting in the course of his employment.... It very well may be that, when the United States has not spoken, the subjection to local law would extend to general rules that might affect incidentally the mode of carrying out the employment--as, for instance, a statute or ordinance regulating the mode of turning at the corners of streets. This might stand on much the same footing as liability under the common law of a State to a person injured by the driver's negligence. But even the most unquestionable and most universally applicable of state laws, such as those concerning murder, will not be allowed to control the conduct of a marshal of the United States acting under and in pursuance of the laws of the United States. 167 Id. at 56, 41 S.Ct. at 16 (citing In re Neagle, 135 U.S. 1, 10 S.Ct. 658, 34 L.Ed. 55) (other citations omitted). 168 In citing In re Neagle, 135 U.S. 1, 10 S.Ct. 658, 34 L.Ed. 55 (1890), the Johnson v. Maryland Court cited what has become generally recognized as the benchmark case in the field. Neagle was a deputy U.S. Marshal assigned to protect Supreme Court Justice Stephen J. Field as the justice duly made his rounds as Ninth Circuit judge. When a would-be assassin named Terry assaulted Justice Field and then appeared to Neagle to make an attempt to draw a knife, Neagle shot and killed the attacker. Neagle was then arrested and charged with murder by the State of California, where the incident occurred. The United States Circuit Court for the District of California discharged the prisoner upon writ of habeas corpus, finding that Neagle was held in custody for an act done in pursuance of a law of the United States, and that he was imprisoned in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States. On appeal, the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed the judgment of the circuit court discharging the prisoner from the custody of the California County Sheriff. Following an exhaustive analysis of prior case law, the In re Neagle Court uttered the words of the following passage which have since become the standard against which cases of this sort are measured: 169 To the objection made in argument, that the prisoner is discharged by this writ from the power of the state court to try him for the whole offense, the reply is, that if the prisoner is held in the state court to answer for an act which he was authorized to do by the law of the United States, which it was his duty to do as marshal of the United States, and if in doing that act he did no more than what was necessary and proper for him to do, he cannot be guilty of a crime under the law of the State of California. When these things are shown, it is established that he is innocent of any crime against the laws of the State, or of any other authority whatever. There is no occasion for any further trial in the state court, or in any court.... 170 Id. at 75, 10 S.Ct. at 672 (emphasis in original). The Court then concluded: 171 The result at which we have arrived upon this examination is, that in the protection of the person and the life of Mr. Justice Field while in the discharge of his official duties, Neagle was authorized to resist the attack of Terry upon him; that Neagle was correct in the belief that without prompt action on his part the assault of Terry upon the judge would have ended in the death of the latter; that such being his well-founded belief, he was justified in taking the life of Terry, as the only means of preventing the death of the man who was intended to be his victim; that in taking the life of Terry, under the circumstances, he was acting under the authority of the law of the United States, and was justified in so doing; and that he is not liable to answer in the courts of California on account of his part in that transaction. 172 Id. 173 It is by now well settled that under In re Neagle, a two-part test determines whether or not a state court has jurisdiction to prosecute a federal agent for conduct facially violative of a state's criminal code. Under Neagle, a state court has no jurisdiction if (1) the federal agent was performing an act which he was authorized to do by the law of the United States and (2) in performing that authorized act, the federal agent did no more than what was necessary and proper for him to do. 174 In the leading case of In re McShane's Petition, 235 F.Supp. 262 (N.D.Miss.1964), the facts arose out of the famous controversy surrounding James Meredith's enrollment at the University of Mississippi. It is a case often cited for its well reasoned opinion and exhaustive analysis of In re Neagle principles. The case arose in the following manner. 175 When violent opposition met the Fifth Circuit's orders that Mississippi University officials admit James Meredith as a student, the Attorney General of the United States assigned the U.S. Marshals to ensure enforcement of the court's orders. McShane was the marshal in charge of the entire operation. As the marshals surrounded the University's administration building, a crowd gathered, and as the day went on the crowd grew angrier and larger and hurled objects at the marshals. At last McShane ordered the marshals to fire tear gas into the crowd, after which a terrible riot ensued and two people were killed. Expert opinions later differed as to whether the use of tear gas was a wise or a foolish crowd control method under the circumstances. 176 McShane was indicted in Mississippi State Court for breach of the peace and inciting a riot. The federal district court, Clayton, J., presiding, released McShane under a writ of habeas corpus on In re Neagle principles. The court first held there was no dispute that McShane was acting in the performance of his duties imposed by federal law. McShane was acting under express statutory authority to execute federal court orders and also under the express specific orders of the Attorney General to remove all obstructions of justice to ensure that the subject court orders would be executed and enforced. 177 Following a comprehensive review of the reported case law, the McShane court then held that the petitioner, within the meaning of Neagle 's teaching, had done no more than what was necessary and proper for him to do in the performance of his duties. 178 The court noted that it was undisputed that McShane had no motive other than to do his job under circumstances as they appeared to him, and that he had an honest and reasonable belief that what he did was necessary. The court stated there was no question it was reasonable to believe that drastic action was necessary, based upon the attitude and actions of the crowd. Thus, the court reasoned it was also reasonable to believe that the use of tear gas, a discretionary choice of means on McShane's part, was a proper measure, and the dispute as to the wisdom of McShane's decision to use tear gas was immaterial to the whole question. 179 The substance of the standards applied in the foregoing cases is that of honest and reasonable belief. If, as here, the petitioner shows without dispute that he had no motive other than to discharge his duty under the circumstances as they appeared to him and that he had an honest and reasonable belief that what he did was necessary in the performance of his duty to see to the execution of the two court orders, then he is entitled to the relief he seeks. This is so even though his belief was mistaken or his judgment poor. 180 McShane, 235 F.Supp. at 274. 181 Thus the case law teaches that a mistake in judgment or a botched operation, so to speak, will not of itself subject a federal agent to state court prosecution. In the more recent example of Clifton v. Cox, 549 F.2d 722 (9th Cir.1977), Clifton was an undercover federal narcotics agent. He and his partner obtained an arrest warrant for a drug suspect who was reported to be armed and possibly dangerous. The agents landed in the suspect's yard via an army helicopter. Clifton's partner tripped and fell just as Clifton heard a noise that sounded like gunfire. Clifton, thinking his partner had been shot by the suspect, rushed the suspect's house, kicked the door down, and saw the suspect fleeing for the woods. After the suspect ignored two warnings to halt, Clifton shot and killed him. 182 Clifton was indicted for second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter by the State of California. The district court granted Clifton's petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The court of appeals affirmed, holding that Clifton had acted within the scope of his authority and had not employed means which he could not honestly consider reasonable in the discharge of his duties. 183 The Clifton court stated that even though an agent exceeds his express authority, he does not necessarily act outside of the authority conferred by the laws of the United States. The court distinguished an error of judgment from an act done wantonly and with criminal intent. The court analogized the Clifton situation to an old case, In re Lewis, 83 F. 159 (D. Washington 1897), where the court granted a writ for United States Marshals who wrongfully seized some private papers while executing a search warrant. Judge Hanford in In re Lewis, stated: 184 In my opinion, the warrant itself was improvidently and erroneously issued, and the proceedings were all ill-advised, and conducted with bad judgment. But where an officer, from excess of zeal or misinformation, or lack of good judgment in the performance of what he conceives to be his duties as an officer, in fact transcends his authority, and invades the rights of individuals, he is answerable to the government or power under whose appointment he is acting, and may also lay himself liable to answer to a private individual who is injured or oppressed by his action; yet where there is no criminal intent on his part he does not become liable to answer to the criminal process of a different government. 185 In re Lewis, id. at 160 (quoted in Clifton v. Cox, at 549 F.2d at 727 fn. 10). 186 Upon considering the necessary and proper question, the Clifton court said that the ultimate issue is whether Clifton employed means which he could consider reasonable in the discharge of his duty. The concept contains both a subjective and an objective element. On the subjective side, the agent must have an honest belief that his action was justified. On the objective side, his belief must be reasonable. We note that the court stated that an agent is not required to show that his action was in fact necessary, or in retrospect justifiable. He must only show that he reasonably thought it to be necessary and justifiable. See also Connecticut v. Marra, 528 F.Supp. 381, 387 (D.Conn.1981) (applying In re Neagle immunity to private citizen working as FBI informant). 187 But while it is necessary for federal officials to be able to enforce federal laws without undue interference from the states, on the other hand the Supremacy Clause was not intended to be a shield for anything goes conduct by federal law enforcement officers. 188 For example, in a case decided not long after In re Neagle, the Supreme Court upheld the lower court's refusal to issue a writ of habeas corpus releasing from state custody United States army personnel indicted for murder and manslaughter by the State of Pennsylvania. In United States ex rel. Drury v. Lewis, 200 U.S. 1, 26 S.Ct. 229, 50 L.Ed. 343 (1906), the soldiers had shot and killed a man who was suspected of stealing from the federal arsenal located in Pennsylvania. The testimony conflicted as to whether the suspect was attempting to escape or whether he had in fact surrendered. The government conceded that if the suspect had surrendered before he was shot, a writ of habeas corpus should not issue to protect the soldiers from prosecution for murder. In affirming the lower court's denial of the writ, the Supreme Court stated as follows: 189 The Circuit Court was not called on to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused. That was for the state court if it had jurisdiction, and this the state court had, even though it was petitioners' duty to pursue and arrest [the suspect], if the question of [the suspect] being a fleeing felon was open to dispute on the evidence; that is, if that were the gist of the case, it was for the state court to pass upon it, and its doing so could not be collaterally attacked. The assertion that [the suspect] was resisting arrest and in flight when shot was matter of defense.... 190 Drury, id. at 8, 26 S.Ct. at 232. 191 Following the reasoning of the Drury case, in Morgan v. California, 743 F.2d 728 (9th Cir.1984), the Ninth Circuit recently reversed the district court's grant of a writ releasing two federal officers from the custody of the state court, where they were charged with several misdemeanors. 192 In the Morgan scenario, Drug Enforcement Administration agents became involved in an altercation with civilians following a minor fender-bender traffic accident. Not only was there evidence that the agents had been drinking, there was disputed evidence as to whether the agents were en route to meet an informant or en route to a bar to have drinks; as to whether the agents used force on the civilians before or after one civilian displayed a gun; and even as to whether the civilian displayed a gun at all. 193 In light of that conflicting evidence, the Morgan court held it to be an abuse of discretion to release the federal agents from state custody. Citing Drury, supra, the court held that when the facts upon which state court jurisdiction depend are open to dispute, the federal court should permit the state court to determine those facts. Morgan, 743 F.2d at 732. 7 194 In a leading Second Circuit case arising in a somewhat different context, the court in dicta similarly rejected the notion that a federal agent should have carte blanche simply because he is acting in an official capacity. 195 In United States v. Archer, 486 F.2d 670 (2d Cir.1973), at issue was whether the federal government's participation in a crime should vitiate the convictions of private individuals who took part in committing the crime. The court never decided the question, as it reversed the convictions on other grounds. However, through the pen of Judge Friendly the court in dicta announced its utter distaste for the conduct of the government agents in carrying out a very complicated sting operation designed to expose corruption in New York City's criminal justice system. The court found it distasteful that the government agents had lied to the police department, to a Queens County judge, and to the grand jury. To support its view that the government's conduct was wrong, the court relied upon the concepts that the government should not set a bad example; that the government should not subject innocent citizens to become victims of crime instigated by the government; and that the federal government should not lightly interfere with a state's judicial/police process, even though corruption may be present. 196 In expounding on these three concepts, the Archer court first quoted from the following passage in which Justice Brandeis one time expressed his dissenting view that governmental participation in a crime should vitiate the conviction of private individuals who took part in the crime: 197 Decency, security, and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of law, existence of the government will be imperilled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the means--to declare that the government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal--would bring terrible retribution. Against that pernicious doctrine this court should resolutely set its face. 198 Archer, 486 F.2d at 674 (quoting Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 485, 48 S.Ct. 564, 575, 72 L.Ed. 944 (Brandeis, J., dissenting)). 199 The Archer court then noted that although the view of Justice Brandeis has yet to be espoused by a majority of the Supreme Court, 200 there is certainly a limit to allowing governmental involvement in crime. It would be unthinkable, for example, to permit government agents to instigate robberies and beatings merely to gather evidence to convict other members of a gang of hoodlums. Governmental investigation involving participation in activities that result in injury to the rights of its citizens is a course that courts should be extremely reluctant to sanction. Prosecutors and their agents naturally tend to assign great weight to the societal interest in apprehending and convicting criminals; the danger is that they will assign too little to the rights of citizens to be free from government-induced criminality. 201 Archer, id. at 676. 202 Finally, the court expressed its concern that in the Archer sting operation, the Government agents displayed an arrogant disregard for the sanctity of the state judicial and police processes.... Id. at 677. 203 Archer, of course, was an entrapment case and not a Supremacy Clause case. Its expressed principles are applicable here, however, where we are faced with alleged governmental involvement in criminal activity. Before proceeding further, we note that we think it unwise and impractical to announce a wholesale condemnation of governmental participation in criminal activity. Indeed, the Archer court opined that the sting operation there was substantially more offensive than the common cases where government agents induce the sale of narcotics in order to make drug arrests. Archer, 486 F.2d at 677. 204 In the context of a due process challenge, this circuit has addressed the issue of the propriety of governmental involvement in criminal activity. In United States v. Brown, 635 F.2d 1207 (6th Cir.1980), we upheld a conviction for receiving stolen goods resulting from the government's infiltration of an interstate burglary ring, including the use of a paid informant. In Brown, an FBI agent had infiltrated the burglary ring and accompanied the suspects on many home burglaries. He reported to the FBI daily, revealed the locations of the burglaries, and provided inventories of the stolen items. The undercover investigation eventually led to the arrest and conviction of Norbert Brown, one of the fences for the stolen goods. In appealing his conviction, Brown argued among other things that the government's participation in the burglaries was so outrageous and shocking to the universal sense of justice that principles of due process barred his conviction. See Hampton v. United States, 425 U.S. 484, 495, 96 S.Ct. 1646, 1652, 48 L.Ed.2d 113 (1976) (Powell, J., concurring in judgment); United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973). In affirming Brown's conviction, we acknowledged the basic proposition that the use of paid informants to infiltrate criminal enterprises is a 'recognized and permissible means of investigation.'  Brown, 635 F.2d at 1212 (citations omitted). Following our investigation of the considerations relevant to determining the scope of permissible government conduct, we observed the dilemma faced by law enforcement officials in attempting to obtain convictions in criminal enterprises. We stated: 205 Law enforcement officials are often presented with a formidable problem when they become aware of the criminal activity of individuals who are involved in a large criminal enterprise. The alternatives presented to those officials are exceedingly poor. They may arrest known criminals, thus ceasing their particular harmful effect on society; or they may allow them to continue in their violation of the law with the hope that further investigation will reveal a greater number of those involved in the criminal enterprise, the exposure and arrest of whom may effectively eliminate a much broader range and degree of criminal activity. 206