Court Opinion

ID: 9498662
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:24:26.034335+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:59.441068
License: Public Domain

WALLACE, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring:
I agree that the recent Congressional enactment has eliminated our jurisdiction to hear the present appeal. Because my analysis differs somewhat from my colleagues, I write separately to explain how existing precedents control this jurisdictional issue and why the number of courts *1055a litigant can appeal to is not a substantive right.
I.
The Supreme Court’s decisions in Ex parte McCardle, 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 506, 19 L.Ed. 264 (1869), and Bruner v. United States, 343 U.S. 112, 72 S.Ct. 581, 96 L.Ed. 786 (1952), as well as our own decision in Duldulao v. INS, 90 F.3d 396 (9th Cir.1996), control this appeal. McCardle addressed almost exactly the same issue we have before us: the effect of a Congressional repeal of a jurisdiction-authorizing statute on a pending appeal.
McCardle appealed to the Supreme Court under a then-proper jurisdictional statute on February 5, 1867. 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) at 508, 19 L.Ed. 264. The case was argued from March 2 to 9 and taken under advisement. Id. at 507-08, 19 L.Ed. 264. On March 27 of that year, Congress repealed the act under which the petitioner’s appeal had been taken. Id. at 508, 19 L.Ed. 264. Thus, like the present case, the appeal was properly filed, argued, submitted, and taken under advisement. Like the present action, Congress repealed the statute that had authorized jurisdiction while the case was under advisement.
The operative question for the Court was whether jurisdiction still existed. ‘Without jurisdiction the court cannot proceed at all in any cause. Jurisdiction is power to declare the law, and when it ceases to exist, the only function remaining to the court is that of announcing the fact and dismissing the cause.” Id. at 514, 19 L.Ed. 264 (emphasis added). Because the Court held jurisdiction was lacking, the court dismissed the appeal. Id. at 514-15, 19 L.Ed. 264.
Bruner, which also addressed a Congressional jurisdiction-withdrawing statute, similarly mandates a conclusion that we lack jurisdiction. While Bruner’s case was pending before the Supreme Court on certiorari review, Congress passed a statute withdrawing district court jurisdiction over Bruner’s claim (a claim for overtime compensation against the government). 343 U.S. at 114, 72 S.Ct. 581. Instead, Congress provided for jurisdiction only in the Court of Claims. Id. at 115, 72 S.Ct. 581. The Court held that “when a law conferring jurisdiction is repealed without any reservation as to pending cases, all cases fall with the law ....” Id. at 116-17, 72 S.Ct. 581, citing, inter alia, McCardle, 74 U.S. (7 Wall.) at 506, 514, 19 L.Ed. 264. The Court held that the Congressional act applied to Bruner and therefore the Court lacked jurisdiction. Id. at 117. Because there was no “reservation as to pending cases” in the statute at issue here, we lack jurisdiction over the present appeal.
Finally, our own decision in Duldulao requires us to find we lack jurisdiction over Santos’s appeal. Duldulao also involved a jurisdiction-withdrawing statute that became effective during the pendency of a petition to our court. 90 F.3d at 397-398. Duldulao had filed a petition for review from a Board of Immigration Appeals decision ordering his deportation. Id. at 397. The petition for review was Duldu-lao’s only potential federal court review of the deportation order. See id. at 399-400. Nonetheless, we held that the statute “affects the power of the court rather than the rights and obligations of the parties” and therefore we held we lacked jurisdiction. Id. at 399.
Duldulao is replete with language that controls this appeal. First, and most importantly, Duldulao held that “the ‘presumption against retroactive application of new legislation to pending cases does not apply to rules conferring or withdrawing jurisdiction.' ” Id. at 399 (punctuation omitted) (emphasis added), quoting In re Arrowhead Estates Dev. Co., 42 F.3d 1306, 1311 (9th Cir.1994), citing Landgraf, 511 *1056U.S. 244, 114 S.Ct. 1483, 128 L.Ed.2d 229 (1994). Duldulao then reiterated that “[t]he Supreme Court has long held that ‘when a law conferring jurisdiction is repealed without any reservation as to pending cases, all cases fall within the law.’ ” Id.,quoting Bruner, 343 U.S. at 116-17, 72 S.Ct. 581. Furthermore, “[t]he Court reaffirmed this ‘consistent practice’ in Land-graf, noting that it has ‘regularly applied intervening statutes conferring or ousting jurisdiction, whether or not jurisdiction lay when the underlying conduct occurred or when the suit was filed.’ ” Id., quoting Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 274, 114 S.Ct. 1483.
This language is obviously dispositive of this appeal. While Santos could call for an en banc court to overrule Duldulao, we cannot ignore its controlling effect on this case. See Barapind v. Enomoto, 400 F.3d 744, 751 n. 8 (9th Cir.2005) (en banc) (per curiam).
II.
Santos appears to contend he has a substantive right to appeal to this court and that, based on this “right,” this court retains jurisdiction under Landgraf and Hughes Aircraft Co. v. United States ex rel. Schumer, 520 U.S. 939, 117 S.Ct. 1871, 138 L.Ed.2d 135 (1997). However, every relevant case has made it clear that a change in the number of tribunals authorized to hear a litigant’s arguments does not implicate the litigant’s substantive rights.
Beginning with Binmer, the Supreme Court has clearly separated substantive rights from the right to appeal to additional courts: a jurisdiction-withdrawing statute does not “alter[ ] the nature or validity of petitioner’s rights ... [but] simply reduce[s] the number of tribunals authorized to hear and determine such rights and liabilities.” Bruner, 343 U.S. at 117, 72 S.Ct. 581. This statement makes it clear that the ability to appeal to multiple courts is distinct from the substantive rights being appealed. Santos would eliminate the distinction between statutes that affect the “nature or validity of petitioner’s rights” and those that affect “the number of tribunals,” by turning the number of courts to which a petitioner can present his arguments into a substantive right.
Landgraf similarly and explicitly distinguishes between the ability to appeal and substantive lights. This Supreme Court precedent holds that “[application of a new jurisdictional rule usually takes away no substantive right but simply changes the tribunal that is to hear the ease.” 511 U.S. at 274, 114 S.Ct. 1483 (internal quotations and citations omitted) (emphasis added). “Present law normally governs in such situations because jurisdictional statutes speak to the power of the court rather than to the rights or obligations of the parties.” Id. Hughes Aircraft Co. reiterates this authority in its opinion and confirms its continuing vitality. 520 U.S. at 951, 117 S.Ct. 1871, quoting Landgraf 511 U.S. at 274, 114 S.Ct. 1483.
Santos’s argument that he has a substantive right to appeal is therefore without merit. The opinions cited all stress that the number and identity of the courts to which a litigant may present his substantive claims is not a substantive right. Santos’s suggested approach 'would eliminate the distinction between statutes that “speak to the power of the court rather than to the rights or obligations of the parties” by making them one and the same.
Santos’s “right” to seek additional review is legally indistinct from McCardle’s “right” to seek Supreme Court review, Bruner’s “right” to bring his action in the district court, and Duldulao’s “right” to petition this court for review of his deportation. Because Santos’s substantive *1057rights have not been affected, Bruner and McCardle control this jurisdictional issue.
III.
I do not believe it is necessary to discuss Gioda v. Saipan Stevedoring Co., 855 F.2d 625 (9th Cir.1988), which was never raised by either party. Nor was any argument about “manifest injustice” ever presented. See Galvan v. Alaska Dep’t of Corr., 397 F.3d 1198, 1204 (9th Cir.2005) (“Courts generally do not decide issues not raised by the parties. If they granted relief to petitioners on. grounds not urged by petitioners, respondents would be deprived of a fair opportunity to respond, and the courts would be deprived of the benefit of briefing ....”) (citation omitted). I therefore do not reach the issue.
IV.
This jurisdiction issue is controlled by McCardle, Bruner, and Duldulao, and we therefore lack jurisdiction over the present appeal. Because the number of tribunals a litigant can present his arguments to is not a substantive right, Landgraf and Hughes Aircraft Co. do not change this analysis.
With these observations, I concur in the result of the majority opinion.