Opinion ID: 165800
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mootness overview

Text: 27 We review mootness questions de novo. Id. We also review questions of statutory interpretation de novo. Hill v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., 393 F.3d 1111, 1117 (10th Cir.2004). 28 Article III of the Constitution allows federal courts to adjudicate only actual, ongoing controversies. Honig v. Doe, 484 U.S. 305, 317, 108 S.Ct. 592, 98 L.Ed.2d 686 (1988). As an appellate court, we cannot rule on a case which, although live when brought in the district court, has been rendered moot by later events. See id. An appeal is moot when we are unable to redress a plaintiff's injury by a favorable judicial decision, even if redressability was possible when the suit was initiated. Park County Resource Council v. USDA, 817 F.2d 609, 614-15 (10th Cir.1987), overruled on other grounds by Village of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque v. Marsh, 956 F.2d 970, 973 (10th Cir.1992); see also Airport Neighbors Alliance v. United States, 90 F.3d 426, 428-29 (10th Cir.1996). 29 The appeal in this case arose after the Shawnee Tribe claimed entitlement to a mandatory transfer of the Sunflower Property pursuant to § 523, which provides: 30 The Administrator of General Services shall prescribe procedures necessary to transfer to the Secretary of the Interior, without compensation, excess real property located within the reservation of any group, band, or tribe of Indians that is recognized as eligible for services by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.... [T]he Secretary shall hold excess real property transferred under this section in trust for the benefit and use of the group, band, or tribe of Indians, within whose reservation the excess real property is located. 31 40 U.S.C. §§ 523(a), (b)(1). 32 In contrast, the new § 2841 authority on which the Government makes its mootness argument provides: 33 (a) The Secretary of the Army, in consultation with the Administrator of General Services, may convey to an entity selected by the Board of Commissioners of Johnson County, Kansas (in this section referred to as the entity and the Board, respectively), all right, title, and interest of the United States in and to a parcel of real property, including any improvements thereon, consisting of approximately 9,065 acres and containing the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant. The purpose of the conveyance is to facilitate the re-use of the property for economic development and revitalization.... 34 (c) The conveyance authority provided by subsection (a) is in addition to the conveyance authority provided by section 2823 of the Military Construction Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 (division B of Public Law 107-314, 116 Stat. 2712) to convey a portion of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant to the Johnson County Park and Recreation District. 7 35 § 2841, 118 Stat. at 2135. 36 Faced with whether the new § 2841 moots the Shawnee's claim to a transfer under § 523, we must first decide whether § 2841's grant of discretion to the Secretary of the Army, combined with the Secretary's election to exercise that discretion, in fact operates to relieve the GSA of its mandatory transfer duties under § 523. After concluding that it does, we must determine whether Congress has constitutionally exercised its authority in enacting § 2841, which has the effect of mooting a specific pending lawsuit. We conclude that § 2841 is a permissible exercise of legislative authority. Therefore, we proceed to decide whether § 2841 also moots Shawnee's breach of fiduciary duty and due process claims, which were raised but not decided below. Ultimately, we conclude that § 2841 moots this entire appeal. 37 B. Effect of the Secretary of the Army's existing discretion under § 2841 on GSA's authority under § 523 38 It is a fundamental canon of statutory construction that, when there is an apparent conflict between a specific provision and a more general one, the more specific one governs. United States v. Groves, 369 F.3d 1178, 1188 n. 5 (10th Cir.2004) (quotation omitted). By enacting § 2841, Congress granted specific discretion to the Secretary of the Army to dispose of the Sunflower Property in particular. Therefore, the most logical reading of this scheme is that Congress intended the specificity of § 2841 to control over the general obligations of § 523 and the Property Act. 8 39 The Shawnee Tribe raises two arguments against the applicability of § 2841 to this case.
40 First, the Shawnee rely on a provision of the Property Act that they say makes § 523 controlling regardless of the subsequent passage of § 2841. Specifically, they rely on § 113 of the Property Act as codified, a section entitled Limitations, which mandates: 41 Except as otherwise provided in this section, the authority conferred by this subtitle [including § 523] is in addition to any other authority conferred by law and is not subject to any inconsistent provision of law. 42 40 U.S.C. § 113(a). This section then proceeds to enumerate several exceptions to which the Property Act expressly does not apply; however, none of these exceptions apply here. See 40 U.S.C. § 113(b)-(e). Therefore, the Shawnee Tribe reads this language in § 113(a) to mean that the Property Act trumps any other inconsistent grant of authority, including § 2841, and therefore that § 523 still governs this case. 43 However, the language of § 113 does not compel this reading. Instead, the phrase in addition to any other authority suggests the opposite — that § 523 does not preempt other laws. Similarly, the fact that § 523 is not itself subject to any inconsistent provision of law does not necessarily mean that § 523 controls regardless of the subsequent passage of any other authority. As we conclude later, this language most likely means only that § 523 is not subject to any inconsistent law then in existence, rather than addressing future legislation. 44 The Government and the Shawnee refer to different sections of the legislative history to support their very different readings of this statute. First, the Shawnee Tribe points to an earlier version of § 113, which provides that the Property Act shall be in addition and paramount to any authority conferred by any other law. 40 U.S.C. § 474(c) (2000) (emphasis added). The Shawnee argue we should read the current language of § 113(a) as consistent with this paramount meaning. The Shawnee emphasize that paramount was removed from § 113 in 2002 as part of a recodification of the Property Act, and that recodification was intended to make[ ] no substantive change in existing law and may not be construed as making a substantive change in existing law. 9 Act of August 21, 2002, Pub.L. No. 107-217, § 5(b)(1), 116 Stat. 1062, 1303 (codified as note preceding 40 U.S.C. § 101). Therefore, the Shawnee say we should interpret the current § 113(a) as meaning that the Property Act, and specifically § 523, is paramount and therefore that the GSA's mandatory duties under § 523 attach regardless of the subsequent passage of § 2841. 10 45 However, the Shawnee's interpretation would have us read § 2841 as being a nullity. They would have the preexistent Property Act give exclusive authority to the GSA to dispose of the Sunflower Property irrespective of the subsequent enactment of § 2841. We have an obligation to construe statutes together so as to prevent such a result. See Bridger Coal Co./Pac. Minerals, Inc. v. Dir., Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, 927 F.2d 1150, 1153 (10th Cir.1991) (We will not construe a statute in a way that renders words or phrases meaningless, redundant, or superfluous.); accord F.D.I.C. v. Canfield, 967 F.2d 443, 447-48 (10th Cir.1992). The clear intent of § 2841 is to give the Secretary of the Army authority to dispose of the Sunflower Property in an alternative manner, and thus to remove this property from the reach of § 523. We must give this intent effect. 46 Therefore, we think the Government's interpretation is not only correct, but also more sensible. The Government emphasizes § 5(b)(3) of the Legislative Purpose and Construction statement passed as part of the 2002 recodification of the Property Act, which says: 47 This Act restates certain laws enacted before April 1, 2002. Any law enacted after March 31, 2002, that is inconsistent with this Act, including any law purporting to amend or repeal a provision that is repealed by this Act, supersedes this Act to the extent of the inconsistency. 48 § 5(b)(3), 116 Stat. at 1303 (codified as note preceding 40 U.S.C. § 101). Although the Shawnee try to discount this as just a reviser's note, this statement was legislatively enacted as part of the public law and is a good indication of Congressional intent, even though it is not an operative part of the statute itself. 11 See 1 Sutherland Statutory Construction § 5A:5 (6th ed.); cf. Public Lands Council v. Babbitt, 167 F.3d 1287, 1299 n. 5 (10th Cir.1999) (rehearing). 49 We find this time restriction very persuasive. Construing § 113 in light of this legislative statement produces the only reading that makes sense — leaving § 113 to stand for the relatively unremarkable proposition that the Property Act trumps any pre-existing laws not specifically excluded by § 113 when it was re-enacted in 2002, but that the Congress is, of course, free to change the Property Act's coverage in the future by any act enacted after March 31, 2002. Thus, § 2841 of the 2005 National Defense Authorization Act, which was passed in October of 2004, suspends the Property Act's applicability in this case as it gives discretion to dispose of this particular property to the Secretary of the Army.
50 This leads to the Shawnee's second argument, which is that implied amendments and implied repeals are disfavored, and therefore we should not read § 2841 as impliedly amending the reach of § 523 with regard to the Sunflower Property. See City of Tulsa v. Midland Valley R. Co., 168 F.2d 252, 254 (10th Cir.1948) (Since repeals by implication are not favored in the law, we should not impute to the Legislature an intent to repeal, modify or supersede the former Act unless such intention is manifestly clear from the context of the legislation.). The Shawnee Tribe correctly points out that § 2841's more recent Sunflower-specific grant of discretion to the Secretary of the Army was added to the 2005 military authorization bill without discussion or reference to its impact on either § 523 or the Property Act more generally. 51 Nonetheless, § 2841 is very specific, applying only to the Sunflower Property. Therefore, it is exceedingly difficult to imagine that Congress did not intend § 2841 to control over any other statutory property provisions that might otherwise have affected this case. Moreover, § 523 is not repealed or even amended; it simply has no application to the Sunflower Property so long as the property is subject to disposal in this alternative fashion by the Secretary of the Army. 52 C. Congressional authority to moot this lawsuit 53 Having held that § 2841 controls this case in light of the Secretary of the Army's election to exercise his discretion to dispose of the Sunflower Plant pursuant to § 2841, we must decide whether Congress had the power to moot the Shawnee's pending claim under § 523 by enacting § 2841 after the lower court's decision in this case. 12 It is well settled that the enactment of legislation can moot an appeal even though there may have been a viable issue in the district court. New Mexico State Highway Dep't v. Goldschmidt, 629 F.2d 665, 667 (10th Cir.1980); see also 5 Am.Jur.2d Appellate Review § 657. This includes legislation that specifically eliminates the source of the original dispute or changes the law pertaining to a particular lawsuit. e.g., Khodara Envtl., Inc. v. Beckman, 237 F.3d 186, 193-94 (3rd Cir.2001); Walker v. United States Dept. of Housing and Urban Dev., 912 F.2d 819, 828-29 (5th Cir.1990); Stop H-3 Ass'n v. Dole, 870 F.2d 1419, 1432, 1435 n. 24 (9th Cir.1989); Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Weinberger, 562 F.Supp. 265, 270-71 (D.D.C.1983). 54 Congress clearly can make changes in the law and apply those changes to cases still pending on appeal. Plaut v. Spendthrift Farm, Inc., 514 U.S. 211, 233 n. 7, 115 S.Ct. 1447, 131 L.Ed.2d 328 (1995). Thus, when a plaintiff, as here, seeks only prospective relief, appellate courts must consider the law as it exists at the time of the appeal. 13 Kikumura v. Hurley, 242 F.3d 950, 961 n. 5 (10th Cir.2001); Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Slater, 228 F.3d 1147, 1158 (10th Cir.2000). 55 However, the principle of separation of powers does place some limits on the ability of Congress to dictate the work of the Article III courts. See generally Plaut, 514 U.S. at 219-25, 115 S.Ct. 1447. Congress cannot set aside a final judgment of an Article III court by retroactive legislation. Id. at 240, 115 S.Ct. 1447. Similarly, the separation of powers prevents Congress from vesting in the Executive Branch the authority to review the decisions of Article III courts. Hayburn's Case, 2 U.S. (2 Dall.) 408, 410 (1792). 56 Finally, and most importantly for our purposes, Congress cannot dictate findings or command specific results in pending cases. See United States v. Klein, 80 U.S. (13 Wall.) 128, 146-47, 20 L.Ed. 519 (1871). In Klein, the Supreme Court refused to give effect to a statute that was said to prescribe rules of decision to the Judicial Department of the government in cases pending before it. Id. at 146. In Klein, the Court considered a proviso in an appropriations bill for the Court of Claims in which Congress attempted to prevent the court from considering previously granted presidential pardons as the proof of loyalty required to restore individuals' property rights in the aftermath of the Civil War. See United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371, 402-08, 100 S.Ct. 2716, 65 L.Ed.2d 844 (1980) (setting out facts in Klein ). The proviso also required the court to dismiss any pending case, and any future case, where a pardon had been used to establish loyalty or where a claimant had received a pardon. Id. at 403, 100 S.Ct. 2716. The Court in Klein found unacceptable this proviso's great and controlling purpose ... to deny to pardons granted by the President the effect which this court had adjudged them to have in pending cases. 14 Klein, 80 U.S. at 145. 57 Although Klein might be read broadly, it has been significantly limited by subsequent Supreme Court decisions. See, e.g., Plaut, 514 U.S. at 218, 115 S.Ct. 1447 (Whatever the precise scope of Klein, however, later decisions have made clear that its prohibition does not take hold when Congress amends applicable law.) (quotations, alterations omitted). In Robertson v. Seattle Audubon Society, 503 U.S. 429, 441, 112 S.Ct. 1407, 118 L.Ed.2d 73 (1992), for example, the Court upheld a provision in an appropriations bill that Congress passed in direct response to ongoing litigation involving timber sales in the Northwest. The new statute at issue in Robertson mandated new standards for forest management in thirteen national forests that were intended to serve as adequate consideration for the purpose of meeting the statutory requirements that are the basis for the consolidated cases in the litigation in question. Id. at 434-35, 112 S.Ct. 1407 (quotation omitted). The Court held that this new authority compelled changes in law, not findings or results under old law and therefore was a permissible exercise of legislative power. Id. at 438, 112 S.Ct. 1407. In addition, the Court stressed that the new authority did not purport[ ] to direct any particular findings of fact or applications of law, old or new, to fact. Id. Instead, because Congress left the courts to adjudicate the impact of the newly articulated standards in the particular cases at bar, the act was lawful. Id.; see also Anixter v. Home-Stake Prod. Co., 977 F.2d 1533, 1544 (10th Cir.1992) (recognizing Congress can change existing law or create new law as long as the courts are left to their adjudicative function of interpreting and applying the meaning and effect of the new governing law); Miller v. French, 530 U.S. 327, 342-44, 120 S.Ct. 2246, 147 L.Ed.2d 326 (2000). 58 In this case, § 2841 simply provides a supervening way to dispose of the particular Sunflower Property. As long as the Secretary of the Army exercises that authority to dispose of the property, we hold that any claim under § 523 is moot. However, § 2841 itself purports neither to compel a particular decision in the case before us nor to decide how the law applies to our specific facts. That function is left to us as a court. Therefore, we conclude that § 2841 is a constitutional exercise of Congress's power to amend existing law and make it applicable to the property which is the subject of this pending case. See Adarand Constructors, 228 F.3d at 1158. Thus, we conclude that § 2841 constitutionally makes § 523 inapplicable to the Sunflower Property and moots the Shawnee's claim that they are entitled to such a transfer. 59 D. Effect of § 2841 on Shawnee Tribe's other claims 60 Finally, we need to determine what effect § 2841 has on the Shawnee Tribe's breach of the federal trust and due process claims. In its Rule 28(j) letter, the Government does note that § 2841 might not moot these claims that are not based directly on § 523. However, the district court never reached these other claims because it concluded they were moot once the court determined the Shawnee reservation had been terminated pursuant to the 1854 Treaty. Shawnee Tribe, 311 F.Supp.2d at 1196-97. 61 To be clear, the Shawnee's other claims, as articulated by the district court, are: 62 that Defendants breached their fiduciary duties by: (1) refusing to act on the Tribe's transfer requests; (2) refusing to stay proceedings pending review of the requests; (3) failing to represent the best interests of the Tribe; (4) allowing sham transactions to dispossess the Shawnees of their land; (5) failing to notify the Shawnees of the surplus status of the SFAAP; (6) allowing the SFAAP to be contaminated and environmentally challenged; and (7) failing to keep current records of federally-recognized Indian tribes[, and] the Tribe claims that they were deprived of due process under the Constitution by the arbitrary and capricious actions of Defendants. 63 Id. In addition, the Tribe originally raised an equity claim relating, at least in part, to alleged misrepresentations made by the United States in Nineteenth Century treaty negotiations; however, the Tribe agreed to dismiss this claim voluntarily before the district court issued its decision. Id. at 1196 n. 4. 64 Some of these remaining claims are facially distinct from a § 523 transfer obligation — particularly the allegations of improper record-keeping of federally recognized tribes, the contaminated state of the Sunflower Property, and the unspecified sham transactions that allegedly dispossessed the Shawnee of the land. However, all of the relief the Tribe seeks is tied to its quest for a transfer of the Sunflower Property pursuant to § 523. 65 Specifically, the Tribe seeks only injunctive and declaratory relief. Id. at 1196. In particular, the Tribe asks the court to declare that Defendants' refusal to transfer the SFAAP to the Shawnee Tribe is unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious, and to enjoin Defendants from transferring the SFAAP to any other federal or non-federal entity, other than to the DOI to be held in trust for the benefit of the Tribe. 15 Id. 66 Because we conclude that the Army's authority under § 2841 now controls in this case, we are unable to grant the Shawnee any of the prospective relief they seek. In other words, we can no longer order the GSA to transfer the property to the Shawnee or declare that the Shawnee are entitled to a § 523 transfer because the Sunflower Property is now subject to transfer to another entity, by another official, pursuant to other constitutional legislation. [A] case becomes moot when it becomes impossible for the court to grant any effectual relief whatever to a prevailing party. District 22 United Mine Workers of Am. v. Utah, 229 F.3d 982, 987 (10th Cir.2000). Because we simply could not give the Shawnee Tribe the relief they seek — even as to the non § 523 claims and even though the status of the reservation itself remains an important legal question — this entire suit is moot. See Park County, 817 F.2d at 615. E. Vacatur 67 Generally, [w]hen causes beyond the appellant's control make a case moot pending appeal, a federal appellate court generally should vacate the judgment below and remand with a direction to dismiss. McClendon v. City of Albuquerque, 100 F.3d 863, 868 (10th Cir.1996); see also United States v. Munsingwear, 340 U.S. 36, 39, 71 S.Ct. 104, 95 L.Ed. 36 (1950) (describing Supreme Court's established practice of reversing and vacating lower courts' decisions when case becomes moot on appeal). Because the Shawnee Tribe sought a review on the merits of the adverse ruling below, and is now precluded from that review because of circumstances beyond the Tribe's control, in fairness we will not force the Shawnee to acquiesce in the district court's judgment. See Jones v. Temmer, 57 F.3d 921, 923 (10th Cir.1995). Thus, we will remand the case and order that the district court's order be vacated, leaving the important issue of the Shawnee's reservation status open for full consideration another day.