Opinion ID: 389242
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: claims against mitchell

Text: 11 In reviewing Judge Gasch's dismissal of the Title III claim and grant of summary judgment on the Fourth Amendment claim, we must take account of the substantial burden that such suits place on present and former federal officials. The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure should be firmly applied, through motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, so as to avoid unnecessary trials against such officials. Butz v. Economou, 438 U.S. 478, 507-08, 98 S.Ct. 2894, 2911, 57 L.Ed.2d 895 (1978); Chagnon v. Bell, 642 F.2d 1248 (D.C.Cir. 1980). The plaintiffs' decision to take no depositions, their failure to file a Statement of Genuine Issues, and the insufficient evidentiary support of their claims from the little discovery they have conducted indicate that the claims against Mitchell were properly dismissed.
12 Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 prohibits, in part, electronic telephone surveillance without judicial warrant. 18 U.S.C. § 2511 (1970). Section 2511(3), however, provides that Title III is not intended to limit the constitutional power of the President to take such measures as he deems necessary to protect the United States against the overthrow of the Government by force or other unlawful means, or against any other clear and present danger to the structure or existence of the Government. 13 In its September 27, 1977 memorandum and order, the district court properly concluded that Mitchell authorized the Black Panther Party surveillance for appropriate national security reasons and that he was therefore exempted from Title III's provisions by its national security exemption. As the district court held, Mitchell's liability under Title III depends upon the terms of the statute whether the surveillance was intended to protect the United States against the overthrow of the Government by force. See Halperin v. Kissinger, 606 F.2d 1192 (D.C.Cir.1979), cert. granted, 445 U.S. 924, 100 S.Ct. 1308, 63 L.Ed.2d 757 (1980). In Zweibon v. Mitchell, 516 F.2d 594, 666 (D.C.Cir.1975), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 944, 96 S.Ct. 1684, 48 L.Ed.2d 187 (1976) (hereinafter Zweibon I ), this court narrowly interpreted the national security exemption to exclude only those national security wiretaps that can constitutionally be performed without a warrant. Applied retroactively to this case, Zweibon I would prohibit Mitchell from relying on the exemption because Keith held that the wiretaps at issue were unconstitutional. However, the Zweibon I interpretation of the exemption applies only prospectively. Zweibon v. Mitchell, 606 F.2d 1172, 1182 (D.C.Cir.1979), pet. and cross-pet. for cert. filed, 48 U.S.L.W. 3404 (Dec. 12, 1979) (hereinafter Zweibon III ). Accordingly, the Supreme Court's holding in Keith does not restrict Mitchell's defense under the national security exemption as long as the surveillance was undertaken for proper national security reasons. See Chagnon, supra, at 1260. 14 On the record before us, we agree with the district court that there is no evidence that the Black Panther Party surveillance was undertaken for improper reasons. Mitchell's authorizations for the surveillances recited contacts maintained by Party members with foreign governments and organizations; and, as this court observed in Halperin, supra, 606 F.2d at 1204, contacts with foreign representatives provide the clearest justification for a national security exception to Title III. The plaintiffs do not create a genuine issue of fact by merely suggesting that the memoranda might be read to reach a different conclusion. Although the plaintiffs have had their discovery on the Black Panther Party surveillance and their chance to take Mitchell's deposition, they can point to no evidentiary basis for impugning Mitchell's motives. Therefore, given the paucity of evidence before it, the district court properly dismissed the plaintiffs' Title III claim under the national security exception.
15 The plaintiffs also seek compensation under Bivens v. Six Unknown Federal Narcotics Agents, 403 U.S. 388, 91 S.Ct. 1999, 29 L.Ed.2d 619 (1971). The district court held that Mitchell was not liable in a Bivens action by virtue of the doctrine of qualified immunity that was outlined in Wood v. Stickland, 420 U.S. 308, 95 S.Ct. 992, 43 L.Ed.2d 214 (1975), and was applied to federal officials in Butz v. Economou, supra. We agree. 16 As stated in Halperin, governmental defendants charged with illegal wiretaps 17 are entitled to a qualified immunity on both the Fourth Amendment and the Title III claims if they can show that they had reasonable grounds for believing their actions were legal (the objective basis) and that there was no malice or bad faith in either the initiation or conduct of the wiretapping (the subjective basis). 18 606 F.2d at 1208 (footnote omitted). The plaintiffs have provided no facts indicating any genuine issue regarding either the subjective or objective branch of the qualified immunity test upon which Mitchell relies. 19 The objective branch of the qualified immunity test asks only whether the official violated clearly established, authoritatively declared law. See Procunier v. Navarette, 434 U.S. 555, 562, 98 S.Ct. 855, 859, 55 L.Ed.2d 24 (1978); Chagnon, supra, at 1257-1258. Although the Supreme Court had expressly reserved ruling on this question in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 358 n. 23, 88 S.Ct. 507, 515 n. 23, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967), at the time of the wiretaps the only federal courts that had addressed the need for a warrant for domestic security wiretaps concluded that they were unnecessary. See, e. g., United States v. Stone, 305 F.Supp. 75 (D.D.C.1969), United States v. O'Baugh, 304 F.Supp. 767 (D.D.C.1969). 20 It was not until shortly before Mitchell had authorized the last surveillance at issue here that any federal court ruled that a warrant was required for national security wiretaps, United States v. Smith, 321 F.Supp. 424 (C.D.Cal.1971). The Supreme Court did not address the issue until 1972 in Keith, which involved these very plaintiffs. For purposes of the qualified immunity, the reasonableness of Mitchell's belief in constitutionality of his authorizations cannot be judged by principles that had not yet been announced. Chagnon, supra, at 1258. 21 Nor have plaintiffs produced any evidence which suggests that Mitchell was not entitled to qualified immunity because he acted in bad faith. Mitchell's authorization memoranda recite adequate facts concerning the surveillance to establish legitimate national security concerns, and the plaintiffs offer nothing in response except mere speculation that those concerns may not have supplied the actual motivation for the wiretaps. Moreover, Mitchell's minimization memoranda, which predated any judicial requirement for them in national security surveillances, prohibited overhearings like those of plaintiff Sinclair's personal conversations in Ann Arbor. The plaintiffs challenge Mitchell's good faith in issuing those minimization memoranda by asserting that damaging evidence might conceivably be discovered if more discovery were to take place, yet the plaintiffs did not submit a Rule 56(f) affidavit requesting further discovery before resolution of the summary judgment motion. In light of the strong evidentiary support for qualified immunity, the continuation of this case against a former high government official after the plaintiffs have failed, for seven years, to produce any evidence would constitute the kind of harassment the Supreme Court criticized in Butz, supra. Under these circumstances, the district court quite properly granted Mitchell's motion for summary judgment. 22