Opinion ID: 530524
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: AID Restrictions on Direct Grants to FNGOs

Text: 97 The other argument that DKT's associational rights are infringed, is advanced more vigorously by amici American Civil Liberties Union, et al., than by DKT itself. That argument is that the AID restriction on grants to any FNGO that performs or actively promotes abortion as a method of family planning infringes DKT's right to associate with FNGOs on abortion-related projects. Amici argue that [t]he Clause cripples DKT in its efforts to initiate, with its own funds, international cooperative projects to preserve or advance abortion rights, because the grant clause forbidding foreign grant recipients from receiving AID funds if they participate in abortion promotion even with non-AID funds buys off DKT's potential partners in international association to promote abortion for family planning purposes. Brief of Amici Association for Voluntary Surgical Contraception, et al., at 10. This argument asserts that rather than lose AID funding for their nonabortion projects, DKT's fair-weather foreign associates will withdraw from or decline to participate in abortion-related projects with DKT. 98 Whether this restriction and the alleged infringement of DKT's associational rights are constitutionally impermissible raises problematic constitutional questions. First, before this Court are only organizations asserting that restrictions applied to them qua organizations infringe the right of the organizations to associate together. Neither this Court nor the Supreme Court has held that the Constitution protects rights of association between two organizations. NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson, 357 U.S. 449, 78 S.Ct. 1163, 2 L.Ed.2d 1488 (1958), and Roberts v. United States Jaycees, 468 U.S. 609, 104 S.Ct. 3244, 82 L.Ed.2d 462 (1984), both find a constitutionally protected 'freedom of association.'  Id. at 617, 104 S.Ct. at 3249. Both cases also recognize the right of individuals to associate in groups to exercise constitutional freedoms. NAACP, 357 U.S. at 460-63, 78 S.Ct. at 1170-72; Roberts, 468 U.S. at 622, 104 S.Ct. at 3251. Nevertheless, we know of no case, and plaintiffs have not drawn our attention to any case, protecting associational relationships exclusively between organizational entities. Indeed, although NAACP allowed the NAACP to assert the rights of its members, the Supreme Court specifically addressed only the right of the members to associate and not the right of the organization itself. NAACP, 357 U.S. at 458-59, 78 S.Ct. at 1169-70. Similarly Roberts examined the members' freedom of intimate association and [the members' ] freedom of expressive association. Roberts, 468 U.S. at 618, 104 S.Ct. at 3250 (emphasis added). Likewise, Board of Directors of Rotary Int'l v. Rotary Club, 481 U.S. 537, 107 S.Ct. 1940, 95 L.Ed.2d 474 (1988), considered the effect of a state statute prohibiting gender discrimination on individuals' freedom of association even though the club was a party. Id. at 544-45, 107 S.Ct. at 1945. 99 Lyng v. Int'l Union, UAW, 485 U.S. 360, ----, 108 S.Ct. 1184, 1189, 99 L.Ed.2d 380 (1988), refers to the associational right of appellee individuals and their unions, thus offering some support for a recognition of organizational rights of association. However, Lyng does not extend to the right of one organizational entity to associate with another organizational entity. Like the preceding cases, Lyng focused on the impairment of individuals' ability to join together. 100 Second, DKT asserts its right to associate with foreign organizations. Although the right of Americans to maintain First Amendment relationships with foreigners has been upheld in Lamont v. Postmaster General, 381 U.S. 301, 85 S.Ct. 1493, 14 L.Ed.2d 398 (1965) (allowing U.S. citizen to receive, without interference, mail from foreign communist organizations), the right of Americans to associate with nonresident aliens is not an absolute. Palestine Information Office v. Shultz, 853 F.2d 932, 941 (D.C.Cir.1988). 101 In Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753, 92 S.Ct. 2576, 33 L.Ed.2d 683 (1972), using logic parallel to amici 's here, a group of American professors argued that the Attorney General's failure to allow a foreign Marxist to speak at their invitation deprived the Americans of their First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court permitted the exclusion of Mr. Mandel over this constitutional objection. Because of Congress's plenary power to regulate admissions to the United States, the Supreme Court did not require that the government's interest in exclusion be balanced against the First Amendment infringement. Id. at 770, 92 S.Ct. at 2585. In Shultz, however, presented with important interests, but not plenary power, this Court held that we must weigh [the interests of U.S. citizens in associations with foreigners] against those of the government. Palestine Information Office v. Shultz, 853 F.2d at 941. 102 AID asserts that our decision on the present case should be informed by the Supreme Court decision in Lyng. There the Supreme Court noted that the statute restricting food stamp eligibility of households containing striking union members did in fact interfere with the striker's right to associate either with his family or his union for expressive purposes, both of which are protected exercises of the right of association. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court held that the statute was not unconstitutional because it did not  'directly and substantially interfere'  with the exercise of the associational rights. Id. 485 U.S. at ----, 108 S.Ct. at 1189 (quoting Lyng v. Castillo, 477 U.S. 635, 638, 106 S.Ct. 2727, 2729, 91 L.Ed.2d 527 (1986)). The Court further observed that the statute did not 'order' appellees not to associate together for the purpose of conducting a strike, or for any other purpose, and it does not 'prevent' them from associating together or burden their ability to do so in any significant manner. Id. 485 U.S. at ----, 108 S.Ct. at 1189-90. Thus, the Supreme Court held the statute constitutional while acknowledging that the Government's refusal to extend food stamp benefits to those on strike undeniably makes it harder for strikers to maintain themselves and their families during the strike and exerts pressure on them to abandon their union. Id. 103 Here, too, AID argues the challenged clauses may make it harder for DKT to find partners for its international abortion promotion ventures, but it does not prevent any association, nor does it order anyone not to associate with anyone else. 104 Also supportive of AID's position is Grove City College v. Bell, supra. In that case the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the application of certain limitations on federal aid to education in a context somewhat analogous to that posed by amici on behalf of DKT. In that case the Court was construing a limitation imposed by section 901(a) of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. Sec. 1681(a). Regulations promulgated under that section forbade aid to educational programs which did not execute an Assurance of Compliance required by 34 C.F.R. Sec. 106.4 (1983). Grove City College did not discriminate, did not receive any direct federal aid, but on religious and other First Amendment protected grounds declined to enter into compacts with the government and refused to execute the Assurance of Compliance. Although Grove City College received no direct federal aid, 140 of its students received federal grants and 342 obtained guaranteed student loans. In the face of First Amendment challenges from Grove City College and some of its students, the Supreme Court held that Congress could attach reasonable and unambiguous conditions to federal financial assistance that educational institutions are not obligated to accept. Grove City College, 465 U.S. at 575, 104 S.Ct. at 1222. The Supreme Court further stated [s]tudents affected by the Department's action may either take their [grant money] elsewhere or attend Grove City College without federal financial assistance. Id. 105 The present allegations cast DKT in the role of Grove City and the allegedly bought-off FNGOs in the role of the grant-receiving students. The hypothetical FNGOs may forgo the federal aid and associate with DKT in abortion programs or they may take the grants and their association elsewhere. The dissent would distinguish the present case from Grove City by mischaracterizing the Grove City decision. My colleague asserts that abortion (or anti-abortion) counseling is constitutionally sheltered speech ... while discriminating adversely on the basis of race, national origin, religion or sex is not one's constitutional right. Dissent at 301, n. 2 (citations omitted). However, in Grove City [t]he undisputed fact is that Grove City does not discriminate--and so far as the record in this case shows--never has discriminated against anyone on account of sex, race, or national origin. This case has nothing whatever to do with discrimination past or present. Grove City College v. Bell, 465 U.S. at 577, 104 S.Ct. at 1223 (Powell, J., concurring). Section V of the majority opinion in Grove City, 465 U.S. at 575-76, 104 S.Ct. at 1222, from which we quoted in the last preceding paragraph and in which the Supreme Court rejected the First Amendment claim of Grove City and its students, neither cited Bob Jones University v. United States, 461 U.S. 574, 103 S.Ct. 2017, 76 L.Ed.2d 157 (1983), nor accused Grove City of discrimination. 106 In any event, on the present record we need not decide between the arguments of DKT, their amici, and the dissent, on the one hand and AID on the other with respect to this point. Indeed, we must not so decide, for we have no jurisdiction. The doctrine underlying our lack of jurisdiction is pointedly demonstrated by amici 's argument. They seek to illuminate the effect of the challenged clauses, not with facts but with a hypothetical example concerning a United States agency bribing foreigners not to attend a political speech by an American politician travelling abroad. Brief for Amici Curiae Association for Voluntary Surgical Contraception, et al., at 10 n. 14. We, of course, can do nothing for the fictitious American or her audience, since that is but a hypothetical case. The greater problem is that the case of the fleeing FNGOs is just as hypothetical as the amici 's example. So far as the record establishes, neither of these cases has ever happened yet. We are barred from determining the issues presented in either of these hypotheticals by the absence of a claim ripe for adjudication. 7 While the ripeness doctrine has a prudential branch, see, e.g., Better Government Ass'n v. Department of State, 780 F.2d 86 (D.C.Cir.1986), a lack of ripeness arising from the fact that no concrete injury has yet occurred is jurisdictional. As the Supreme Court has often told us,  'the federal courts established pursuant to Article III of the Constitution do not render advisory opinions.'  Laird v. Tatum, 408 U.S. 1, 14, 92 S.Ct. 2318, 2326, 33 L.Ed.2d 154 (1972) (quoting United Public Workers v. Mitchell, 330 U.S. 75, 89, 67 S.Ct. 556, 564, 91 L.Ed. 754 (1947)). An advisory opinion is what plaintiffs seek in the present case on this issue. After cross-motions for summary judgment, an appeal with a remand and an opportunity to amend the complaint, and another round of cross-motions for summary judgment, DKT has yet to point to the first grant-receiving FNGO who would be associating with it but for the limitations in the challenged grant clauses. The amended complaint offered allegations sufficient to give DKT standing to assert its objections to the subgrant restrictions. However, as to the claim that the restrictions on direct grants to FNGOs infringe DKT's rights, DKT does not allege that PSS or PSFP has broken off association or that they will break off association with DKT. Indeed, appellant's complaint specifies that none of the appellant NGOs will cease performing abortions. Consequently, the only harm even inferable from the facts alleged is to the FNGOs who would forgo funding rather than cease their abortion-related activities and associations. As we have stated earlier, the FNGOs are without standing to assert this claim and DKT, without any injury to itself, is likewise without standing to assert the rights of the FNGOs. See Craig v. Boren, 429 U.S. 190, 193-94, 97 S.Ct. 451, 454-55, 50 L.Ed.2d 397 (1976) (plaintiff permitted to assert jus tertii standing because she suffered injury in fact); Secretary of State v. J.H. Munson Co., 467 U.S. 947, 958, 104 S.Ct. 2839, 2847, 81 L.Ed.2d 786 (1984) (in order to bring any claim, including one jus tertii, party must sustain injury in fact). 107 DKT does not allege that any individual or organization has refrained from associating with it. Nor does DKT allege the existence of any particular organization that is likely to break off association. At most, plaintiffs and amici have asserted in briefs that this consequence is possible. Such a claim is the substance of law school exams, not of cases and controversies. Indeed, the only FNGOs ever named by DKT are its co-plaintiffs who, according to the full record, neither accept grants nor curtail their association with DKT. In this regard DKT and its co-plaintiffs rather closely resemble the respondents in Laird v. Tatum, who had complained in district court of the chilling effect upon the exercise of their First Amendment rights of intelligence-gathering programs of the Department of Defense. In rejecting their claim, the Supreme Court concluded that [a]llegations of a subjective 'chill' are not an adequate substitute for a claim of specific present objective harm or a threat of specific future harm.... Laird, 408 U.S. at 13-14, 92 S.Ct. at 2325-26. In so doing, the Supreme Court noted in the margin that respondents ... were 'not people, obviously, who are cowed, and chilled'  but were quite willing 'to open themselves up to public investigation and public scrutiny.'  Thus, the Court concluded, [e]ven assuming a justiciable controversy, if respondents themselves are not chilled, but seek only to represent those ... whom they believe are so chilled, respondents clearly lack that 'personal stake in the outcome of the controversy' essential to standing. Id. at 13-14, n. 7, 92 S.Ct. at 2326, n. 7 (quoting Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, 204, 82 S.Ct. 691, 703, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962)). Ripeness, like standing, serves the central perception ... that courts should not render decisions absent a genuine need to resolve a real dispute. 13A C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure Sec. 3532.1 (1984), and authorities collected therein. 108 Here it is not only the application of the grant clause but also the response of unidentified third parties to that clause that is in question. If the injury be a future one the occurrence of the injury must be reasonably certain and clearly describable for the action to be deemed 'ripe' for adjudication. Martin Tractor Co. v. Federal Election Comm'n, 627 F.2d 375, 379 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied sub nom. National Chamber Alliance for Politics v. Federal Election Comm'n, 449 U.S. 954, 101 S.Ct. 360, 66 L.Ed.2d 218 (1980). Duke Power Co. v. Carolina Environmental Study Group, 438 U.S. 59, 81, 98 S.Ct. 2620, 2634, 57 L.Ed.2d 595 (1978), teaches that the constitutional requirement for ripeness is injury in fact. Likewise, Martin Tractor Co. states that [r]ipeness enters the Article III 'case or controversy' picture in the determination whether the requisite injury is in sharp enough focus and the adverseness of the parties concrete enough to permit a court to decide a real controversy and not a set of hypothetical possibilities. 627 F.2d at 379. 109 After rejection of its claim by the District Court on the first summary judgment motions, an opportunity to amend, and remand, with respect to the buy-off argument DKT still comes before us with a bare allegation of subjective chill of unnamed FNGOs. We look to the record in the context of a summary judgment motion, where the party [must] go beyond the pleadings and by [its] own affidavits, or by the 'depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,' designate 'specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.'  Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 2553, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986) (quoting Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(e)). On the present record, after more than ample opportunity, plaintiff can point to nothing demonstrating even the remotest evidence of a controversy ripe for review on this issue. Therefore, we conclude, that summary judgment should have been entered dismissing plaintiffs' constitutional attack on the AID grant clause denying FAA funds to FNGOs unwilling to forgo abortion-related activity during the term of the grant. 110 The dissent would reject our ripeness analysis in part with the accusation that we have lowered the boom on plaintiffs without giving them proper notice and opportunity to be heard. Dissent at 302 n. 3. To this we would offer brief response. The buying-off claim which we find unripe was not articulated by plaintiffs in their complaint. Neither did plaintiffs raise it in their prior appeal to this Court. Nor did plaintiffs assert it in the papers accompanying the cross-motions for summary judgment. Nor did they assert it in their principal brief in this Court. It was only when this argument was raised by amici that plaintiffs adopted it as their own. Underscoring the lack of record support for the buying-off argument is the fact that our dissenting colleague finds concreteness (or documentation of reality to paraphrase the dissent) not in any affidavit or other accompanying evidence from the District Court proceeding, but from the presence of population amici who joined in briefing to this Court. Dissent at 300, n. 1. Therefore, while we grant that we would rather not dispense with an alleged claim by dismissal on ripeness grounds at the eleventh hour, when the argument is not made until the tenth hour plus fifty-nine minutes, we can dispense with it no sooner. 111 We would further remind our colleague that courts have the duty to examine ripeness when the case presents the problem, even when the parties do not wish it addressed. 112 [T]o the extent that questions of ripeness involve the exercise of judicial restraint from unnecessary decision of constitutional issues, the Court must determine whether to exercise that restraint and cannot be bound by the wishes of the parties. 113 Regional Rail Reorganization Act Cases, 419 U.S. 102, 138, 95 S.Ct. 335, 356, 42 L.Ed.2d 320 (1974) (footnote omitted). 114 Since this is such a case, we cannot avoid the ripeness question. As we have previously held [t]he question of ripeness goes to our subject matter jurisdiction, and thus we can raise the issue sua sponte at any time. Duke City Lumber Co. v. Butz, 539 F.2d 220, 221 n. 2 (D.C.Cir.1976). 115 Finally, we perceive that we have inflicted no unfairness on plaintiffs. In our prior review of this case, we did indeed, as the dissent points out, remand the matter for further consideration on the issue of standing. DKT Memorial Fund, Ltd., 810 F.2d at 1239. Ripeness and standing involve the same considerations of currently redressable injury. [R]ipeness ..., indeed, could be seen as providing time-bound perspective[ ] on the injury inquiry of standing. 13 C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure, Sec. 3531 at 350 (1984). Otherwise put: standing and ripeness theories often merge so closely that there is no reason to attempt separation. 13A C. Wright, A. Miller & E. Cooper, Federal Practice and Procedure, Sec. 3532.1 at 131 (1984) (citing, inter alia, Pence v. Andrus, 586 F.2d 733, 736-39 (9th Cir.1978) (Standing and ripeness are similar in that both doctrines prevent courts from becoming enmeshed in abstract questions which have not concretely affected the parties.)). In the present case, this enmeshing of ripeness and standing doctrines is well illustrated. The attempt to substitute subjective 'chill'  for claim of specific present objective harm or threat of future harm caused the District Court initially to determine that plaintiffs lacked standing. DKT Memorial Fund, 630 F.Supp. at 242 (citing Laird v. Tatum, 408 U.S. at 13-14, 92 S.Ct. at 2325-26). The same inadequacy of the attempted substitution, even after the amendment of the complaint, necessarily dooms the belatedly asserted buying-off claim on ripeness grounds. Indeed, Laird v. Tatum is not at pains to distinguish between standing on the one hand and ripeness on the other. Rather, it requires, by whatever doctrinal appellation, specific present objective harm or a threat of specific future harm, Laird v. Tatum, 408 U.S. at 14, 92 S.Ct. at 2326, as opposed to [a]llegations of a subjective 'chill.'  Id. at 13, 92 S.Ct. at 2325-26. Plaintiffs were on quite adequate notice long ago of the need for such specific present harm and have demonstrated none.