Opinion ID: 739698
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Impermissible Retroactive Effect

Text: 20 Even if the language of the statute did not mandate that administrative exhaustion be required only in actions brought after the effective date of the Act, the Supreme Court's decision in Landgraf would do so. Footnote 29 of the Court's opinion is controlling:A new rule concerning the filing of complaints would not govern an action in which the complaint had already been properly filed under the old regime, and the promulgation of a new rule of evidence would not require an appellate remand for a new trial. 21 Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 275 n. 29, 114 S.Ct. at 1502 n. 29. Although the states suggest that this language could refer only to changes to the technical requirements of filing a complaint, and that the footnote is thus distinguishable from the cases at bar, we will not give the opinion such a narrow reading. The new exhaustion requirement concerns the bringing of actions and, under Landgraf, does not affect cases brought before the Act's passage. 6 22 The states argue that because footnote 29 is dictum it is not binding on this court. Cf. Covino v. Reopel, 89 F.3d 105, 108 (2d Cir.1996) (dismissing footnote 29 as distinguishable dictum). We believe this footnote is instructive of the Supreme Court's views and cannot be dismissed out of hand. If anything, this particular dictum, which eight Justices endorsed, carries more weight than much of the Landgraf analysis, which commanded a bare majority. See Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 290-92, 114 S.Ct. at 1524-25 (Scalia, J., concurring in judgment). Where there is no clear precedent to the contrary, we will not simply ignore the Court's dicta. See Jordon v. Gilligan, 500 F.2d 701, 707 (6th Cir.1974) (Even the [Supreme] Court's dicta is of persuasive precedential value.). 23 The states argue that there is, in fact, contrary Supreme Court precedent: Cort v. Ash, 422 U.S. 66, 95 S.Ct. 2080, 45 L.Ed.2d 26 (1975), in which the plaintiff sought to enjoin a corporation from including partisan political literature with its dividend checks, and Weinberger v. Salfi, 422 U.S. 749, 95 S.Ct. 2457, 45 L.Ed.2d 522 (1975), which involved a challenge to Social Security eligibility requirements. Neither case is apposite. Cort involved two of the situations, inapplicable here, in which, under Landgraf, a court should apply the law in effect at the time it renders its decision. Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 273, 114 S.Ct. at 1501 (quoting Bradley v. School Bd. of Richmond, 416 U.S. 696, 711, 94 S.Ct. 2006, 2016, 40 L.Ed.2d 476 (1974)). First, Cort differs from the cases at bar in that Ash was seeking to enjoin the defendants from future misconduct. Cort, 422 U.S. at 71, 74, 95 S.Ct. at 2084-85, 2086. In that circumstance, a statute enacted after the decision of the Court of Appeals requires reversal of the holding of the Court of Appeals. Id. at 74, 95 S.Ct. at 2086. (citation omitted) (emphasis added). See id. at 77, 95 S.Ct. at 2087 ([N]or is there any possible 'manifest injustice' in requiring respondent to pursue with respect to alleged violations which have yet to occur the statutory remedy for injunctive relief created by the [intervening] Amendments.) (emphasis added). Under Landgraf, applying a new statute to pending cases is proper where plaintiff seeks only future injunctive relief. Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 273-74, 114 S.Ct. at 1501-02. 7 24 Second, the intervening statute 8 in Cort expressly vest[ed] the [Election] Commission with 'primary jurisdiction' over any claimed violation of [the relevant election law] within its purview. Cort, 422 U.S. at 75-76, 95 S.Ct. at 2086. Under Landgraf, intervening statutes conferring or ousting jurisdiction will regularly be applied to pending cases because jurisdictional statutes 'speak to the power of the court rather than to the rights or obligations of the parties,'  Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 274, 114 S.Ct. at 1502 (quoting Republic Nat. Bank of Miami v. United States, 506 U.S. 80, 100, 113 S.Ct. 554, 565-66, 121 L.Ed.2d 474 (1992) (Thomas, J., concurring)). See Lyons, 105 F.3d at 1075. The statute in Cort contained a specific grant of jurisdiction to the Commission which, the Court held, served at the same time to divest the federal courts of jurisdiction over such cases. Cort, 422 U.S. at 75-76 & n. 9, 95 S.Ct. at 2086-87 & n. 9. Section 1997e(a), in contrast, addresses a party's right to bring suit in court and does not speak in terms of jurisdiction or the power of the court: it is merely an exhaustion requirement. See Castille v. Peoples, 489 U.S. 346, 349, 109 S.Ct. 1056, 1059, 103 L.Ed.2d 380 (1989) (Codified since 1948 in 28 U.S.C. § 2254, 9 the [habeas corpus] exhaustion rule, while not a jurisdictional requirement, creates a 'strong presumption in favor of requiring the prisoner to pursue his available state remedies.' ) (citing 28 U.S.C. § 2254 and quoting Granberry v. Greer, 481 U.S. 129, 131, 107 S.Ct. 1671, 1673-74, 95 L.Ed.2d 119 (1987)) (emphasis added); McCarthy v. Madigan, 503 U.S. 140, 144, 112 S.Ct. 1081, 1085-86, 117 L.Ed.2d 291 (1992) (The doctrine of exhaustion of administrative remedies is one among related doctrines--including abstention, finality, and ripeness--that govern the timing of federal court decisionmaking.) (emphasis added). 10 25 Cort, then, does not suggest that the exhaustion requirement should apply to these pending cases. Landgraf specifically cites Cort as involving application of [an] intervening statute transferring to [an] administrative agency jurisdiction over [a] claim for injunctive relief. Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 279 n. 33, 114 S.Ct. at 1504 n. 33. In the cases before us, where plaintiffs seek monetary damages and the intervening statute does not purport to oust district court jurisdiction, Cort is inapposite. 26 The states next argue that the new administrative exhaustion requirement is jurisdictional under Weinberger v. Salfi, 422 U.S. 749, 95 S.Ct. 2457, 45 L.Ed.2d 522 (1975), and should thus govern pending cases. 11 The essence of their argument is that Salfi held that a statute that involved agency exhaustion and contained seemingly prospective language was jurisdictional, and therefore that § 1997e(a) must also be jurisdictional. The Salfi opinion makes plain, however, the difference between the statute involved there and the one now before us. In Salfi, the Court held that it was clear that the relevant statute 12 was more than a codified requirement of administrative exhaustion on the grounds that the statute's own language was sweeping and direct and [ ] state[d] that no action shall be brought under [28 U.S.C.] § 1331, not merely that only those actions shall be brought in which administrative remedies have been exhausted. Salfi, 422 U.S. at 757, 95 S.Ct. at 2463. See id. at 756-57, 95 S.Ct. at 2462-63 (On its face, this provision bars district court federal-question jurisdiction over suits, such as this one, which seek to recover Social Security benefits. Yet it was § 1331 jurisdiction which appellees successfully invoked in the District Court.). Section 1997e(a), in contrast, contains neither the sweeping and direct language of § 405(h) nor that statute's explicit bar to district court jurisdiction. It, rather, indicates merely that only those actions shall be brought in which administrative remedies have been exhausted. Salfi, 422 U.S. at 757, 95 S.Ct. at 2463. 27 Because neither Cort nor Salfi requires a contrary result, we believe that even if the prospective statutory language were not dispositive in this case, footnote 29 of Landgraf would require that the new administrative exhaustion provision not apply to pending cases. 13