Opinion ID: 587250
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Would Issue Preclusion Result in Inequitable Administration of the Laws?

Text: 153 Finally, the majority concludes that a new determination of the issues is necessary to avoid inequitable administration of the laws. Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 28(2)(b) (1982). The panel believes that the Supreme Court may have premised its denial of certiorari in HRC v. Baker on the government's representation that it would bring screened-in individuals to the United States for further asylum proceedings. The government later deviated from this representation by holding second interviews at Guantanamo Bay for Haitians with communicable disease, such as the HIV virus, see Haitian Centers Council, Inc. v. McNary, Nos. 92-6090, 92-6104, slip op. 4371, 4382, 1326 F.2d 1332-1333 (2d Cir. June 10, 1992), and by inadvertently returning some screened-in Haitians to Haiti. The panel also makes the assertion, which I find unwarranted, that the May 23, 1992 Order further violated this representation by permitt[ing] a policy, subsequently implemented, of no screening whatsoever. Majority Op. at 1357. The panel concludes that, under these circumstances, application of collateral estoppel would inequitably deny plaintiffs the opportunity for Supreme Court review. 154 One problem with this argument is that plaintiffs are not entitled to certiorari, which is granted on a discretionary basis. But even if the argument were that the government had inequitably dampened plaintiffs' chances of attaining Supreme Court review, it seems to me that the proper redress is to be found in the Supreme Court, not this one. Plaintiffs have no cause to argue that this court should fail to apply collateral estoppel. After all, there is no dispute that they received full appellate court review in HRC v. Baker. Their argument must be that they were denied a full opportunity to gain Supreme Court review on the merits, and that that Court, in deciding whether to hear an appeal from our collateral estoppel ruling, should, for reasons of equity, take the case up on the merits as well. Equity does not require that we hesitate to apply collateral estoppel. In sum, I believe that the HRC v. Baker litigation operates as collateral estoppel with respect to the following issues: (1) whether INA § 243(h) applies extraterritorially, see HRC v. Baker II, 953 F.2d at 1509-10; (2) whether Article 33 is self-executing, see HRC v. Baker I, 949 F.2d at 1110; and (3) whether the Administrative Procedure Act gives plaintiffs a right to judicial review, see HRC v. Baker II, 953 F.2d at 1503-1506. The HRC v. Baker court decided all three issues against plaintiffs. 155