Opinion ID: 610593
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Pure Retroactivity

Text: 98 The Defendants also contend that Article I does not confer authority upon Congress to enact purely retroactive legislation. We view such a blanket prohibition as tantamount to a civil Ex Post Facto Clause, something that the Court has explicitly refused to recognize. See Galvan v. Press, 347 U.S. 522, 531, 74 S.Ct. 737, 743 n. 4, 98 L.Ed. 911 (1954) (The Court ... has undeviatingly enforced the ... position, first expressed in Calder v. Bull, that the ex post facto Clause applies only to prosecution for crime.... It would be an unjustifiable reversal to overturn a view of the Constitution so deeply rooted and so consistently adhered to.) (citation omitted); cf. Cummings v. Bostwick, 481 F.Supp. 1251, 1254 & n. 6 (D.N.H.1980) (the constitutions of Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas explicitly prohibit all retroactive legislation). 99 To the contrary, the Court has held that a statute is not unconstitutional merely for its retroactivity. See Usery, 428 U.S. at 19, 96 S.Ct. at 2893; see also Scientific-Atlanta, 971 F.2d at 1573 (rejecting argument that § 27A transgresses separation of powers doctrine because it is purely retroactive). The Defendants do not adequately distinguish Usery by explaining that the statute at issue in that case had some prospective effect. The Usery Court nowhere predicates its blessing of retroactive legislation on an associated prospective component. Indeed, the Court has before upheld purely retroactive legislation against a separation-of-powers challenge. See United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 448 U.S. 371, 424, 100 S.Ct. 2716, 2745, 65 L.Ed.2d 844 (1980). The Constitution imposes no bar on purely retroactive legislation per se.c. Final Judgments 100 Lastly, the Defendants assert that § 27A(b) unconstitutionally usurps judicial authority by upsetting final judgments. 17 They say that § 27A(b) places Congress in the position of a super-appellate court, exercising review authority over the Supreme Court and its decisions in Lampf and Beam. 101 To define the constitutional separation of legislative and judicial authority, the Court focuses upon the practical effect that the congressional action will have on the constitutionally assigned role of the federal judiciary. Commodity Futures Trading Com. v. Schor, 478 U.S. 833, 851, 106 S.Ct. 3245, 3257, 92 L.Ed.2d 675 (1986). Under this standard, we find § 27A(b) harmless. 102 With § 27A(b), Congress did not overrule decisions of the Supreme Court. As we have held through Scientific-Atlanta, Congress changed the law after final judgment in Lampf and Beam, giving plaintiffs a new right to assert in court through a reinstatement motion. The Defendants understandably claim a violation of their constitutional rights by this action, but § 27A(b) takes no authority from the judiciary. Most significantly, § 27A(b) leaves the final resolution of securities-fraud disputes to the courts--we will decide, indeed are here deciding, which controversies will end in dismissal despite § 27A(b). If we understood a statute's purpose to be the reversal of results in particular controversies between private individuals, we would strike the statute as violative of our authority to decide cases. See, e.g., United States v. O'Grady, 89 U.S. (22 Wall.) 641, 648, 22 L.Ed. 772, 773-74 (1875) (finding that the Treasury Secretary invaded judicial authority by offsetting a court's judgment with claimed, but unlitigated tax liability). But § 27A(b) is innocent on this score. 103 By upsetting final judgments, § 27A(b) at most denies us some authority to say when a controversy is over. There is no constitutional impediment to this denial if we share authority with Congress to say when a controversy is done. In Sioux Nation, the Court held that the Constitution does not forbid Congress from mandating that a controversy continues when the Court says that it is done. 104 The Sioux Nation brought a Fifth Amendment takings claim against the United States because our government breached a treaty obligation to reserve the Black Hills of South Dakota to the Sioux. The United States Court of Claims dismissed the Sioux Nation's claim for interest on the value of the seized property as barred by res judicata. United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, 207 Ct.Cl. 234, 518 F.2d 1298, 1306 (1975). The Supreme Court denied certiorari. 423 U.S. 1016, 96 S.Ct. 449, 46 L.Ed.2d 387 (1975). Three years later, Congress directed the Court of Claims to review the claim's merits without consideration of res judicata. See 25 U.S.C. § 70s(b); 448 U.S. at 389, 100 S.Ct. at 2727. After the Court of Claims ruled in favor of the Sioux Nation, the government appealed, asserting that § 70s(b) violates the constitutional separation of legislative and judicial authority. The Court upheld § 70s(b), permitting Congress to say that a controversy continues after the Court has said that it does not. 448 U.S. at 405, 100 S.Ct. at 2735-36; see also Tonya K., 847 F.2d at 1247 (citing Sioux Nation for the proposition that Congress may invite a court to reconsider even when it may not dictate the outcome). 105 Schooner Peggy and its extensive progeny also represent compelling evidence that the Constitution permits Congress and the judiciary to share authority in deciding when a court is finished deciding a particular controversy between individuals. See 5 U.S. (1 Cranch) at 110. With the exception of McCullough, 18 the Court has repeatedly observed Chief Justice Marshall's admonition that appellate courts must decide cases according to the law that exists when they decide, not the law that existed when the lower court rendered its decision. 106 In an extreme and stringent application of this rule, the Court rendered 149 Madison Avenue Corp. v. Asselta, 331 U.S. 795, 67 S.Ct. 1726, 91 L.Ed. 1822 modifying, 331 U.S. 199, 67 S.Ct. 1178, 91 L.Ed. 1432 (1947). The 149 Madison Avenue Court had affirmed a judgment for overtime pay due plaintiffs. 331 U.S. at 209, 67 S.Ct. at 1184. But before the time for rehearing had run, Congress retroactively created a defense for the defendants, who asked the Court to reconsider its affirmance in light of the change in law. The Court changed its judgment from an affirmance to a remand so that the district court could consider the case in light of the new law. 331 U.S. at 795, 67 S.Ct. at 1726. The district court eventually entered judgment for the defendants. Asselta v. 149 Madison Ave. Corp., 90 F.Supp. 442 (S.D.N.Y.1950). 107 Of course, the rule announced in Schooner Peggy does not depend on whether the intervening law helps a particular party. Courts must apply the new law regardless of whether it ends a case that the court otherwise would have remanded for further proceedings. Thus, we interpret Schooner Peggy to support the constitutional proposition that Congress and the judiciary share authority to decide when the judiciary's word on a controversy is its last. 108 The Defendants have articulated no constitutional reason why these controversies should not continue.