Opinion ID: 4549553
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: First Amendment and Fifth Amendment Bivens

Text: Claims Against the Agent Defendants Plaintiffs seek monetary damages directly under the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses and the equal protection component of the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause, relying on Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents. We will not recognize a Bivens claim where there is “‘any alternative, existing process for protecting’ the plaintiff’s interests.” W. Radio Servs. Co. v. U.S. Forest Serv., 578 F.3d 1116, 1120 (9th Cir. 2009) (quoting Wilkie v. Robbins, 551 U.S. 537, 550 (2007)). The existence of such an alternative remedy raises the inference that Congress “‘expected the Judiciary to stay its Bivens hand’ and ‘refrain from providing a new and freestanding remedy in damages.’” Id. (quoting Wilkie, 551 U.S. at 550, 554); see also Abbasi, 137 S. Ct. at 1863; Schweiker v. Chilicky, 487 U.S. 412, 423 FAZAGA V. WALLS 85 (1988). Accordingly, we “refrain[] from creating a judicially implied remedy even when the available statutory remedies ‘do not provide complete relief’ for a plaintiff that has suffered a constitutional violation.” W. Radio Servs., 578 F.3d at 1120 (quoting Malesko, 534 U.S. at 69). As long as “an avenue for some redress” exists, “bedrock principles of separation of powers forclose[s] judicial imposition of a new substantive liability.’” Id. (alteration in original) (quoting Malesko, 534 U.S. at 69). Here, we conclude that the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb et seq., taken together, provide an alternative remedial scheme for some, but not all, of Plaintiffs’ First and Fifth Amendment Bivens claims. As to the remaining Bivens claims, we remand to the district court to decide whether a Bivens remedy is available in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in Abbasi. As to the collection and maintenance of records, Plaintiffs could have, and indeed did, challenge the FBI’s surveillance of them under the Privacy Act’s remedial scheme. Again, the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a, creates a set of rules governing how such records should be kept by federal agencies. See supra Part III.A. Under § 552a(e)(7), an “agency that maintains a system of records shall maintain no record describing how any individual exercises rights guaranteed by the First Amendment unless expressly authorized by statute or by the individual about whom the record is maintained or unless pertinent to and within the scope of an authorized law enforcement activity.”39 When an agency fails to comply with 39 The term “maintain” is defined to mean “maintain, collect, use, or disseminate.” 5 U.S.C. § 552a(a)(3). 86 FAZAGA V. WALLS § 552a(e)(7), an individual may bring a civil action against the agency for damages. Id. § 552a(g)(1)(D), (g)(4). Thus, § 552a(e)(7) limits the government’s ability to collect, maintain, use, or disseminate information on an individual’s religious activity protected by the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses. We have not addressed the availability of a Bivens action where the Privacy Act may be applicable. But two other circuits have, and both held that the Privacy Act supplants Bivens claims for First and Fifth Amendment violations. See Wilson v. Libby, 535 F.3d 697, 707–08 (D.C. Cir. 2008) (holding, in response to claims alleging harm from the improper disclosure of information subject to the Privacy Act’s protections, that the Privacy Act is a comprehensive remedial scheme that precludes an additional Bivens remedy); Downie v. City of Middleburg Heights, 301 F.3d 688, 696 & n.7 (6th Cir. 2002) (holding that the Privacy Act displaces Bivens for claims involving the creation, maintenance, and dissemination of false records by federal agency employees). We agree with the analyses in Wilson and Downie. Although the Privacy Act provides a remedy only against the FBI, not the individual federal officers, the lack of relief against some potential defendants does not disqualify the Privacy Act as an alternative remedial scheme. Again, a Bivens remedy may be foreclosed “even when the available statutory remedies ‘do not provide complete relief’ for a plaintiff,” as long as “the plaintiff ha[s] an avenue for some redress.” W. Radio Servs., 578 F.3d at 1120 (alteration in original) (emphasis added) (quoting Malesko, 534 U.S. at 69). Thus, to the extent that Plaintiffs’ Bivens claims involve improper collection and retention of agency records, the Privacy Act precludes such Bivens claims. FAZAGA V. WALLS 87 As to religious discrimination more generally, we conclude that RFRA precludes some, but not all, of Plaintiffs’ Bivens claims. RFRA provides that absent a “compelling governmental interest” and narrow tailoring, 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb-1(b), the “Government shall not substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability.” Id. § 2000bb- 1(a). The statute was enacted “to provide a claim or defense to persons whose religious exercise is substantially burdened by government.” Id. § 2000bb(b)(2). It therefore provided that “[a] person whose religious exercise has been burdened in violation of this section may assert that violation as a claim or defense in a judicial proceeding and obtain appropriate relief against a government.” Id. § 2000bb-1(c). RFRA thus provides a means for Plaintiffs to seek relief for the alleged burden of the surveillance itself on their exercise of their religion. RFRA does not, however, provide an alternative remedial scheme for all of Plaintiffs’ discrimination-based Bivens claims. RFRA was enacted in response to Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), which, in Congress’s view, “virtually eliminated the requirement that the government justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religion,” 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb(a)(4). Accordingly, “to restore the compelling interest test . . . and to guarantee its application in all cases where free exercise of religion is substantially burdened,” id. § 2000bb(b)(1), RFRA directs its focus on “rule[s] of general applicability” that “substantially burden a person’s exercise of religion,” id. § 2000bb-1(a). Here, many of Plaintiffs’ allegations relate not to neutral and generally applicable government action, but to conduct 88 FAZAGA V. WALLS motivated by intentional discrimination against Plaintiffs because of their Muslim faith. Regardless of the magnitude of the burden imposed, “if the object of a law is to infringe upon or restrict practices because of their religious motivation, the law is not neutral” and “is invalid unless it is justified by a compelling interest and is narrowly tailored to advance that interest.” Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520, 533 (1993) (emphasis added). It is the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment—not RFRA— that imposes this requirement. Moreover, by its terms, RFRA applies only to the “free exercise of religion,” 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb(a)(1); indeed, it expressly disclaims any effect on “that portion of the First Amendment prohibiting laws respecting the establishment of religion,” id. § 2000bb-4. But intentional religious discrimination is “subject to heightened scrutiny whether [it] arise[s] under the Free Exercise Clause, the Establishment Clause, or the Equal Protection Clause.” Colo. Christian Univ. v. Weaver, 534 F.3d 1245, 1266 (10th Cir. 2008) (citations omitted). Here, Plaintiffs have raised religion claims based on all three constitutional provisions. Because RFRA does not provide an alternative remedial scheme for protecting these interests, we conclude that RFRA does not preclude Plaintiffs’ religion-based Bivens claims. We conclude that the Privacy Act and RFRA, taken together, function as an alternative remedial scheme for protecting some, but not all, of the interests Plaintiffs seek to vindicate via their First and Fifth Amendment Bivens claims. The district court never addressed whether a Bivens remedy is available for any of the religion claims because it dismissed the claims in their entirety based on the state secrets privilege. In addition, Abbasi has now clarified the standard for FAZAGA V. WALLS 89 determining when a Bivens remedy is available for a particular alleged constitutional violation. And, as we have explained, the scope of the religion claims to which a Bivens remedy might apply is considerably narrower than those alleged, given the partial displacement by the Privacy Act and RFRA. If asked, the district court should determine on remand, applying Abbasi, whether a Bivens remedy is available to the degree the damages remedy is not displaced by the Privacy Act and RFRA.