Court Opinion

ID: 9561755
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:15:36.289409+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:21.539678
License: Public Domain

BEA, Circuit Judge,
concurring, joined by Judge CALLAHAN:
The plurality opinion holds judicial prudence requires the district court to consider whether Sarei exhausted his local remedies before filing his action in the United States. I concur in the plurality’s conclusion that the district court erred by failing to conduct an exhaustion analysis,1 and I agree a limited remand is the preferable solution. However, I think the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”), 28 U.S.C. § 1350, and not mere judicial prudence, requires the district court to consider exhaustion, and I write separately to explain why.
I read Sosa v. Alvarez-Machain, 542 U.S. 692, 124 S.Ct. 2739, 159 L.Ed.2d 718 (2004), differently than does the plurality. In Sosa, the United States Supreme Court explained the ATS is a jurisdictional statute that does not create any substantive law; it simply provides a forum for hearing existing causes of action that arise under the law of nations, if such causes of action exist. See id. at 712, 124 S.Ct. 2739 (“[W]e think that at the time of enactment the jurisdiction [conferred by the ATS] enabled federal courts to hear claims in a very limited category defined by the law of nations and recognized at common law.”). Thus, the ATS does not create any cause of action of its own, but merely incorporates causes of action that exist in “the present-day law of nations” and fit into “18th-century paradigms,” Sosa, 542 U.S. at 725, 124 S.Ct. 2739, as if they were expressly written into the statute.2
The plurality’s reasoning seems to be that although the ATS incorporates causes of action recognized by the law of nations, it does not incorporate required limitations on those causes of action also recognized by the law of nations. This doesn’t seem logical to me. Rather, it makes more sense to interpret the ATS as incorporating the whole of the law of nations: the rights it grants and the limitations it places on those rights. See David H. Moore, An Emerging Uniformity for International Law, 75 Geo. Wash. L.Rev. 1, 45 (2006) (“If a claim is subject to an exhaustion requirement in international law, it should not be incorporated without that limitation.”).
*834As Judge Bybee carefully demonstrates in his dissent from the merits panel’s majority opinion, “[e]xhaustion is a well-established principle of international law, recognized by courts and scholars both here and abroad. It is so well entrenched that one scholar has written that ‘the celebrated rule of local remedies is accepted as a customary rule of international law [and] needs no proof today, as its basic existence and validity has not been questioned’.... ” Sard v. Rio Tinto, PLC, 487 F.3d 1193, 1231 (9th Cir.2007) (Bybee, J., dissenting) (citation omitted).3
Judge Bybee’s dissent concludes that exhaustion’s “ ‘wide and unchallenged acceptance is evidence of [the] utility and of the soundness of [exhaustion’s] policy foundation’ ” in the law of nations. Id. Since Judge Bybee filed his dissent, a number of other scholars4 have chimed in to recognize the mandatory nature of an exhaustion analysis under customary international law. See, e.g., Rosica (Rose) Popova, Sarei v. Rio Tinto and the Exhaustion of Local Remedies Rule in the Context of the Alien Tort Claims Act: Shortr-Term Justice, But At What Cost?, 28 Hamline J. Pub.L. & Pol’y 517, 519 (2007) (explaining the “exhaustion requirement is a universal and binding norm which should not be severed from the traditional law of nations as applied in American courts through the [ATS]”); Emeka Duruigbo, Exhaustion of Local Remedies in Alien Tort Litigation: Implications for International Human Rights Protection, 29 Fordham Int’l L.J. 1245, 1247-48 (2006) (“The exhaustion of local remedies rule is a well-known principle of customary international law.... [that] has maintained a presence in the international legal system for centuries. ‘Even for a rule of customary international *835law, the local remedies rule has particularly deep roots.’ ”); Richard Frimpong Oppong, Observing the Legal System of the Community: The Relationship Between Community and National Legal Systems Under the African Economic Community Treaty, 15 Tul. J. Int’l & Comp. L. 41, 76 (2006) (referring to exhaustion of local remedies as a “traditional” requirement of international law); Prof. Dr. Ernsk-Ulrich Petermann, Justice as Conflict Resolution: Proliferation, Fragmentation, and Decentralization of Dispute Settlement in International Trade, 27 U. Pa. J. Int’l Econ. L. 273, 304 (2006) (referring to the “traditional international law rules on prior exhaustion of local remedies”). It seems to me that given the ATS’s incorporation of the law of nations, this wide recognition of the customary exhaustion requirement critically undermines the plurality’s conclusion that “[t]he inquiry as to whether exhaustion is required by the [ATS] statute leads with the wrong foot....” Plurality Op. at 827. Quite the contrary.
Indeed, as the Sosa Court observed, there are boundaries other than a “clear definition” of an “international law norm” that may “limit[ ] the availability of relief in the federal courts [under the ATS] for violations of customary international law ...” Id at 732-33 & n. 21, 124 S.Ct. 2739. The Court mentioned two expressly:
(1) “[T]he European Commission argues ... that basic principles of international law require [exhaustion of local remedies]. We would certainly consider this requirement in an appropriate case.” Id at 733 n. 21, 124 S.Ct. 2739 (emphasis added).
(2) “Another possible limitation ... is a policy of case-specific deference to the political branches.” Id (emphasis added).
A careful reading of this passage reveals the key words to be “consider this requirement in an appropriate case.” The Sosa Court did not reject the European Commission’s suggestion that exhaustion is one of the “basic principles of international law”; exhaustion simply had not been raised in that case.5 But if exhaustion is raised, and so the case is appropriate, it would seem Sosa indicated the Court would consider exhaustion as a requirement. “Deference to the political branches,” on the other hand, is not required, but only “possible,” and then only on a case-specific — i.e., prudential — basis.
This distinction matters: because a district court has discretion to waive a prudentially required exhaustion requirement, but not a statutorily required one, see, e.g., Acevedo-Carranza v. Ashcroft, 371 F.3d 539, 541 (9th Cir.2004), the plurality’s rule would permit a single district court judge to interject the judiciary into ongoing international disputes and crises of foreign affairs. See Sarei, 487 F.3d at 1242-45 (Bybee, J., dissenting). This is critical in cases such as this one, where the facts may be so appalling as to tug mightily on the heart but the result of judicial intervention could be counterproductive. Indeed, respect for other nations and a desire to encourage diplomatic, rather than judicial, solutions is precisely why the law of nations imposes an exhaustion requirement, and is why “statutes should be read in accord with the customary deference to the application of foreign countries’ laws within their own territories.” F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. v. Empagran S.A., 542 U.S. 155, 176, 124 S.Ct. 2359, 159 L.Ed.2d 226 (2004) (Scalia, J., concurring).
It is important to note that the exhaustion doctrine, which I think is incorporated *836into the ATS, itself includes exceptions to the requirement that a plaintiff exhaust his local remedies — for instance, where prosecuting an action locally would be futile or ineffective. Logically, these exceptions must also be incorporated into the ATS. See Laura Niada, Hunger and International Law: The Far-Reaching Scope of the Human Right to Food, 22 Conn. J. Int’l L. 131, 194 (2006) (“[T]he principle of exhaustion of domestic remedies demands that these remedies have primacy in the enforcement of international law. When a State, however, is not willing or able to provide ordinary access to justice, the international arena may be called in support.”). In other words, as part of the law of nations’s exhaustion requirement, the futility excuse is also incorporated into the ATS’s statutory exhaustion requirement. Thus, a statutorily required two-step exhaustion analysis would permit Sarei to prosecute his ATS claims without exhausting his local remedies in Papua New Guinea if he can prove that local remedies there are ineffective, unobtainable, unduly prolonged, inadequate, or otherwise futile to pursue.
I wish to make clear that a statutory exhaustion requirement does not mean a plaintiff must prove in every case that he has exhausted his local remedies. Rather, it means a district court must conduct a two-step exhaustion analysis, in the process considering whether first, local remedies exist, and second, whether local exhaustion would be futile,6 unduly prolonged, or subject to one of the other exceptions recognized in customary international law. If so, local exhaustion requirements may be excused. But this is different from the plurality’s prudential exhaustion doctrine, which grants district courts discretion to decide whether or not to consider exhaustion in the first place.
A mandatory requirement of exhaustion of local remedies, except where futile or otherwise unavailable, allows our courts to play the role the ATS intended them to play: an ultimate venue for claimed violations of the law of nations when those claimed violations cannot or will not be cured by the courts of the country in which the injuries occurred. The requirement simultaneously prevents our unelected judiciary, which Hamilton observed in Federalist 78 should have “no influence over either the sword or the purse,” from assuming the role of a roving sheriff in re*837curring, internecine disputes involving claims of inequity and oppression outside the United States. By interpreting the ATS not to include an exhaustion requirement under the law of nations, but only in the court’s prudence, the plurality leaves the decision whether an ATS plaintiff may reach American courts without exhausting his local remedies (or even showing such remedies are futile) to turn on the discretion of the individual judge to whom the case is randomly assigned. Then, as with most questions of mixed fact and law, our review would likely be limited to whether the district court abused that discretion. The law of nations, as incorporated into the ATS, demands a more predictable application in our courts.
Therefore, although I agree with the plurality that the district court should consider whether Sarei exhausted his local remedies before allowing his action in the United States to proceed,7 I would recognize that exhaustion requirement exists in the ATS statute itself. I would require the district court to consider (1) whether Sarei had local remedies and exhausted them and (2) whether such exhaustion would be futile or otherwise inadequate— not merely require the court to decide whether to conduct this two-step exhaustion analysis.

. As explained in this concurrence, I mean "exhaustion analysis” to include the two-step process by which the district court considers (1) whether Sarei had local remedies and has exhausted them, and, if not, (2) whether the requirement Sarei must exhaust his local remedies is excused because local remedies are ineffective, unobtainable, unduly prolonged, inadequate, or otherwise futile to pursue. I understand the plurality's "prudential” exhaustion analysis to require a prior step in which the district court must, in its discretion, choose whether even to reach the two-step analysis described above, depending on considerations such as whether Sarei’s claims have a close nexus to the United States, affect principles favoring international comity and advancement of international institutions, and implicate notions of customary international law. In contrast to the plurality, I would hold the ATS requires the district court to engage in the two-step exhaustion analysis, rather than allow the district court to pick and choose whether claims of torts committed in foreign lands merit such an analysis.

. As I read Sosa, a court may not incorporate causes of action under the ATS in a form substantively different from that recognized by the law of nations. Thus, for instance, a court may not incorporate a torture cause of action to include or exclude elements other than those recognized by customary international law.

. Judge Bybee's dissent from the merits panel majority's opinion details the evidence that exhaustion has long been a part of the law of nations as recognized in the United States and elsewhere, and I do not seek to replicate his fine work here. Id. at 1231-37. Judge Bybee's dissent, which I heartily recommend the reader review, concludes "international law requires exhaustion of local remedies....” Id. at 1224-45. His dissent explains that from the Jay Treaty of 1794, which normalized trade relations between an independent United States and Britain for the first time, to the treaty creating the International Court of Justice and the founding treaties of the European Union, exhaustion has been a commonly accepted component of the law of nations for the past 200 years. Id. at 1231— 32. He cites dozens of scholars who have found exhaustion such an ineluctable piece of the international legal norm they presume its necessity. Id. at 1234-37. He notes that almost all modern treaties require local exhaustion, including the American Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Id. at 1232-34. In other words, Judge Bybee discovers that exhaustion “is so well entrenched that ... '[it] is accepted as a customary rule of international law and needs no proof today, as its basic existence and validity has not been questioned.' ” Id. at 1231 (citation omitted).
However, there is one aspect of Judge By-bee's dissent with which I disagree: once Judge Bybee decided the ATS required exhaustion as a statutory matter, based on the ATS's incorporation of customary international law, there was no need to speculate as to whether there was an additional, prudential basis for exhaustion. Indeed, I do not think the elements that go into a prudential consideration, such as "nexus” or international comity, see supra n. 1, should be left to individual and potentially discordant trial court determinations. The facts underpinning these prudential considerations are generally undisputed; the determinations primarily involve judicial policy with regard to international relations. Rather, as I hope to explain in this concurrence, under the ATS the judicial policy of the courts of the United States is clear: because it is a well-recognized requirement in the law of nations, a two-step exhaustion analysis is mandatory.

. Judge Bybee is a Senior Fellow in Constitutional Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

. That is, no one claimed Dr. Alvarez-Ma-chain first had to seek compensation against the agents who kidnapped him in Mexico in Mexico.

. Judge Reinhardt's dissent urges we accept that futility of exhaustion was conclusively established by the declarations of Thomas Ta-puri and Frances Bom, filed nunc pro tunc as exhibits to Sarei’s opposition to Rio Tinto’s motion to dismiss, which averred fear of physical harm if they brought this action locally in Papua New Guinea. Judge Reinhardt’s suggestion is incorrect. First, while a fear of physical harm may be evidence of futility, determination whether such fear is sufficiently credible to render exhaustion futile — which is a different analysis than that done by the district court for futility under the doctrine of forum non conveniens — should be made in the first instance by the district court when there is a dispute of fact. We are not and should never be fact-finders.
Second, there appears to be such a factual dispute here. The declarations on which Judge Reinhardt relies were signed on April 7, 2001 — months before the October 17, 2001 letter sent by the Papua New Guinean government to the United States Ambassador, which mentioned the signing of a recent peace agreement and objected to Sarei's action in the United States on the ground Papua New Guinean law incorporates “a comprehensive human rights regime consistent with the highest international standards,” effects mechanisms that "enable citizens to secure their rights at law,” and ensures that Papua New Guinean courts continue their “proud record of judicial independence.” See Letter from Robert Igara, Chief Secretary to the Government of Papua New Guinea, to Her Excellency Ms. Susan Jacobs, Ambassador of the United States (Oct. 17, 2001), at 5.

. I see four possible holdings: (1) exhaustion is never required; (2) as a matter of prudence, district courts have discretion to determine whether to conduct an exhaustion analysis; (3) as a matter of prudence, district courts have discretion to determine whether to conduct an exhaustion analysis, but under these facts it would be an abuse of that discretion not to conduct an exhaustion analysis, and (4) a district court is required by the ATS statute to conduct an exhaustion analysis. Judge Reinhardt’s dissent adopts position (1), I adopt position (4), and I believe the plurality adopts position (2), as it directs the district court to "determine whether to impose an exhaustion requirement.” Thus, the position of the merits panel majority, echoed by Judge Reinhardt's dissent— that a court may address an ATS claim on the merits without ever even approaching the question of exhaustion of local remedies — is no longer good law in this circuit. Unfortunately, it appears the plurality holds the district court here has discretion not to conduct a two-step exhaustion analysis should it find one unnecessary due to prudential considerations. If the district court chooses to take the plurality up on this faulty offer, we may see this case again quite soon.