Court Opinion

ID: 9468165
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:07:12.525404+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:40:41.968112
License: Public Domain

WALD, Circuit Judge,
concurring in the result:
I would affirm the decision of the district court, but for different reasons from the majority. Appellants seek two primary kinds of relief: an injunction to prevent any future attempts by appellee, Campbell, to influence legislation using Congressionally appropriated funds; and an injunction requiring Campbell to reimburse the Treasury for any money unlawfully spent on the alleged lobbying activities. The first issue is moot under Network Project v. Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 561 F.2d 963, 966-68 (D.C.Cir.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1068, 98 S.Ct. 1247, 55 L.Ed.2d 770 (1978), since Campbell is no longer a federal official and there is no suggestion that his past acts represented official governmental policy. As to the second issue, I believe that the statutes1 under which appellants sue provide no right to demand reimbursement to the United States Treasury for funds alleged to have been unlawfully spent by appellee. I would therefore affirm the decision of the district court without reaching the far more difficult issue of whether either section 607(a) of Pub.L.No.95-429 or 18 U.S.C. § 1913 creates a private right of action under any circumstances. We need not stretch to decide that important question here, and indeed we should not dp so on so skimpy a record.
*795In my view, appellants’ only non-moot claim rests on a bare assertion that funds of the United States have been unlawfully spent by Campbell in mailing copies of a letter to newspaper editors, and that the funds must therefore be refunded.2 But in order to proceed on that claim appellants must show some statutory basis for their right to demand return of the funds to the Treasury. The majority opinion too facilely slides past the question of whether either section 607(a) or 18 U.S.C. § 1913 provides any basis for this demand, and instead reaches out to decide that neither section 607(a) nor 18 U.S.C. § 1913 creates any private right of action whatsoever. Such a holding is unnecessary, because even assuming arguendo that a private right of action does exist, appellants’ claim for return of the funds must be dismissed because the statutes do not provide any basis for an action by private persons seeking reimbursement of funds to the Treasury. Appellants therefore have failed to state a claim for which relief could be granted under the cited laws. Cf. 31 U.S.C. § 505 (Justice Department may sue to recover funds from persons “accountable for public money”).
Unlike the majority, I would not foreclose for all time and under all circumstances the possibility that some private party might on some other facts be able to state a claim for relief under these laws. It is possible that a Congressman or a group of. potential beneficiaries may state a valid claim under these statutes if, for example, either sought a prohibitory injunction against a continuing, unlawful lobbying campaign conducted against one of the Congressman’s bills. See generally Goldwater v. Carter, 617 F.2d 697 (D.C.Cir.) (en banc), judgment vacated, 444 U.S. 996, 100 S.Ct. 533, 62 L.Ed.2d 428 (1979) (Mem.); Kennedy v. Sampson, 511 F.2d 430 (D.C.Cir.1974) (cases discussing standing of members of Congress); McGowan, Congressmen in Court: The New Plaintiffs, 15 Ga.L.Rev. 241 (1981). Should such a case arise, it would provide a far more appropriate context for deciding whether any implied private right of action exists pursuant to the standards of Cort v. Ash, 422 U.S. 66, 78, 95 S.Ct. 2080, 2087, 45 L.Ed.2d 26 (1975); see California v. Sierra Club, - U.S. -, 101 S.Ct. 1775, 68 L.Ed.2d 101 (1981) (explaining proper application of Cort v. Ash standards).
I would therefore affirm the district court’s dismissal simply on the ground that appellants’ first claim is moot, and that as to the only conceivable non-moot claim (the injunction for reimbursement), appellants have failed to state a. claim upon which relief under these laws could be granted.

. Appellants seek relief under section 607(a) of Pub.L.No.95-429, 92 Stat. 1001, 1016 (1978), and under 18 U.S.C. § 1913.

. The amount of money involved may well be de minimis and hence unworthy of litigation.