Court Opinion

ID: 9469221
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 02:35:36.790136+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:41:17.632226
License: Public Domain

NEWMAN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part:
Though only a small amount of money is involved in this litigation concerning interstate extradition, the case implicates significant aspects of federalism. Specifically, the issues are whether federal law creates a cause of action in favor of a county in one state to sue another state for expenses incurred in effecting the interstate extradition of a fugitive and, if so, whether the Eleventh Amendment bars such a suit in a federal district court. While I agree with the majority that a suit to recover expenses can be maintained against the demanding state by the extraditing state, I respectfully dissent from the ruling that such a suit is available to a political subdivision of the extraditing state.
The pertinent statute is 18 U.S.C. § 3195 (1976), which provides that expenses incurred in extradition proceedings shall be paid by the demanding state. I agree with the majority that this statute is properly construed to create an implied cause of action against the demanding state to recover extradition expenses.1 See Cort v. Ash, 422 U.S. 66, 95 S.Ct. 2080, 45 L.Ed.2d 26 (1975). But, with deference, I suggest that the majority has unjustifiably concluded that the implied cause of action inures to the benefit of any entity that incurred the recoverable expenses. For several reasons, I think it is clear that Congress has created liability of the demanding state only to the extraditing state.
First, the language of the statute supports this conclusion. As the majority recognizes, the provisions of § 3195 were originally enacted in 1793 in a statute that included the provisions of the Federal Extradition Act that define the basic obligations of interstate extradition. 1 Stat. 302. Those provisions, now contained in 18 U.S.C. § 3182 (1976), specify that whenever the executive authority of a state makes *1136demand “of the executive authority of any State, District or Territory” to which a person has fled, “the executive authority” of such “State, District or Territory” shall cause the person to be arrested and delivered to the agent of the demanding state. In imposing obligations upon the “executive authority” of the extraditing state, the statute implements the Constitution’s authorization for interstate extradition. U.S. Const., Art. IV, § 2, cl. 2. Simply as a matter of textual interpretation, the demanding state’s obligation to pay extradition expenses runs only to the entity that is obliged to respond to the extradition demand — namely, the executive authority of the state to which the fugitive fled. Since neither the Constitution nor the statute imposes any obligation upon the County of Monroe to honor Florida’s demand, and since Florida has made no demand upon the County, the statute should not be read to create an enforceable obligation against Florida in favor of the County.
The Court attempts to draw some textual support for its construction of § 3195 from the absence of language explicitly restricting the demanding state’s liability to the expenses “of any state.” Since the Third Congress, legislating in 1793, did not explicitly create a cause of action for extradition expenses in favor of any entity, it ought to be forgiven for not including limiting language to circumscribe a cause of action that is first held to be implied by this Court in 1982. At least as to such an implied cause of action we ought not to attach significance to Congress’ failure to use words of limitation. Moreover, the Court appears to ascribe significance to the absence of limiting words by reading § 3195 in isolation. Since it was enacted as part of the same provision now codified in § 3182, its scope ought to be drawn from a reading of the original provision as a whole. Since the provision as enacted imposed obligations only upon the executive of the state to which the fugitive fled, the cause of action that a court is willing to hold has been implied should be available only to the state authority upon whom Congress placed the obligation that gives rise to the expenses sought. Congress may well have contemplated, as the Court suggests, that officials of subdivisions would assist states in complying with their extradition obligations, but that is not a sufficient reason to infer that Congress authorized any entity other than the state to maintain a lawsuit to recover expenses incurred in rendering such assistance.
Second, it is highly likely that Congress intended to create an obligation for the benefit only of the extraditing state. Congress, legislating in 1793, was acutely aware of the prerogatives of the sovereign states of the newly formed Union. Only one year prior to proposing to the states the Eleventh Amendment, Congress would not likely have impliedly created an obligation of a state enforceable by any citizen or subdivision of another state that incurred expenses in connection with an extradition demand. In the absence of clear indication that Congress, in its original or any subsequent enactment, intended to confer enforceable rights upon parties other than extraditing states, courts should not broaden the scope of the implied cause of action for expenses.
The majority contends that the demanding state’s liability for expenses was intended to extend to whatever entity incurred the expenses. This view is not drawn from any legislative history, but based solely on the perceived inequity of leaving the claimant (here, the County) “at the mercy” of a state that has no interest in the outcome of the claim. The inequity may be illusory. If Monroe County has expended funds at the request of the State of New York, there is no reason to doubt that the courts or the legislature of New York will afford a remedy. And if they do not, the problem the County faces may never recur; once it is known that New York will not reimburse those who spend money at its request to assist in discharging its constitutionally imposed extradition obligations, New York’s political subdivisions are unlikely to extend wholehearted cooperation in the absence of contractual commitments to reimburse. Indeed, New York’s refusal to honor Monroe County’s claim ranks high on the list of short-sighted governmental decisions. *1137While this claim remains unpaid, how much cooperation can New York expect from its counties, cities, and towns in the future in apprehending other fugitives? Even if New York were to insist that its counties render free service in apprehending fugitives,2 a federal court, in the absence of clear legislative intent, should not interpret § 3195 to interfere with an internal policy choice of the state as to how it chooses to discharge its extradition obligations.
Third, construing § 3195 to permit suit by the County creates troublesome issues under the Eleventh Amendment. While I agree with the majority that, as a general matter, Congress has power to waive a state’s immunity in aid of the constitutional authority to effect interstate rendition, the usual caution against an implied waiver in the absence of clear Congressional intent ought to be respected. See Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 673, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 1360, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974); Employees v. Department of Public Health & Welfare of Missouri, 411 U.S. 279, 285, 93 S.Ct. 1614, 1618, 36 L.Ed.2d 251 (1973). In this regard Missouri Public Health is especially instruc-five. In that case the Supreme Court, in declining to find a clear indication that Congress intended to waive a state’s Eleventh Amendment immunity, relied on the fact that the state’s obligation was enforceable by the United States in an action not subject to an Eleventh Amendment defense. Similarly here, the fact that New York may sue Florida to recover the expenses incurred at New York’s request and equitably owed to Monroe County,3 a suit that would encounter no Eleventh Amendment defense, is a strong consideration against assuming that Congress intended to waive Florida’s immunity to suit by the County.4
Fourth, § 3195 should not be construed to permit suit by the County in order to assure that, with respect to matters like extradition involving relationships between the states, each state is accorded the opportunity to determine, as a matter of internal state law, how the extradition obligation will be discharged and how the costs of doing so will be borne.5 We were advised at oral argument that some states prefer not to sue for extradition expenses, appar-
*1138ently believing that extradition expenses roughly balance out over time, and that, even if they do not, the amounts involved are too slight to justify either the costs of litigation or friction between cooperating states. Section 3195 should be construed to reserve to each state the decision as to whether the expenses of its political subdivisions ought to precipitate litigation with a sister state. New York should be the sole representative of its sovereign interest regarding the reciprocal obligations of the state in cases of interstate extradition. Cf. New Jersey v. New York, 345 U.S. 369, 372-73, 73 S.Ct. 689, 690-91, 97 L.Ed. 1081 (1953) (per curiam) (political subdivision of state not permitted to intervene in suit brought by one state against another in original jurisdiction action because state should be sole representative of its interest on matters of sovereign dignity). If New York wants to sue Florida, it may simply reimburse Monroe County for doing what New York asked it to do and then litigate against Florida, presumably invoking the original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Here New York has not chosen that course.6 This Court ought not to assume that Congress, without expressly stating such an intention, meant to permit political subdivisions to preempt each state’s opportunity to elect or forgo litigation on a matter of sovereign interest.7 The Court cites opinions of the attorneys general of New York and Florida indicating that those officers have in the past expressed no objection to suits brought by political subdivisions against demanding states or their subdivisions for extradition expenses. But even if New York happens to have no objection to this suit by Monroe County against Florida, that is no indication that Congress in 1793 or since intended to permit political subdivisions in every state, either with or without the approval of their state creator, to sue demanding states. Rather, in the absence of any indication to the contrary, Congress should be understood as having legislated a uniform rule of law that reserved to the state itself all decisions regarding the bringing of litigation with sister states on matters of interstate extradition.
Fifth, a somewhat helpful analogy may be drawn from the traditional rule for construing treaties between sovereign nations. *1139Treaty obligations are generally construed to run only between the contracting parties, and rights of enforcement by individuals are not recognized unless the treaty clearly indicates that method of enforcement. The Head Money Cases, 112 U.S. 580, 598-99, 5 S.Ct. 247, 253-54, 28 L.Ed. 798 (1884); Dreyfus v. Von Funck, 534 F.2d 24, 29-30 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 835, 97 S.Ct. 102, 50 L.Ed.2d 101 (1976); Canadian Transport Co. v. United States, 430 F.Supp. 1168, 1171-72 (D.D.C.1977), aff’d in part, 663 F.2d 1081, 1092 (D.C.Cir.1980). In the context of 1793, this traditional canon for construing treaties is a useful indicator of how Congress expected the federal courts to interpret the reciprocal extradition obligations of the states of the Union. States are acting in their most sovereign capacities when they deal with each other on matters of interstate extradition. Federal legislation regulating such relationships is fairly to be analogized to a treaty.
For all of these reasons, I would not construe § 3195 to create a cause of action in favor of the County of Monroe against the State of Florida. I concur in that portion of Judge Mansfield’s opinion that construes § 3195 not to create a cause of action in favor of the County against the State of New York.

. I also agree with the implicit premise of the majority’s decision on this point that the demanding state’s obligation to pay extradition expenses is an obligation enforceable by a federal court. The demanding state, having elected to request the assistance of the extraditing state, should expect that the obligation to pay expenses will be judicially enforced, at least upon a claim by the extraditing state. By contrast, the obligation of the governor of the requested state to extradite the fugitive, though expressed in mandatory terms by both the Constitution, Art. IV, § 2, Clause 2, and federal statute, 18 U.S.C. § 3182 (1976), has been held not to be judicially enforceable, Kentucky v. Dennison, 65 U.S. (24 How.) 66, 107-10, 16 L.Ed. 717 (1861), a principle apparently of current vitality, see Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Services, 436 U.S. at 659, 677-79, 98 S.Ct. at 2019, 2029-30 (1978) (relying on the rationale of Dennison).

. It may be, as the majority asserts, that Monroe County was obliged to honor the warrant issued by New York’s governor. After arresting the fugitive, however, it may not have been obliged to confine him and tend to his medical needs, but may have been entitled to turn him over to state prison or hospital facilities. Arguably the arresting officer’s authority under New York law to “command the aid of all police officers or other persons in the execution of the warrant,” 11A N.Y.Crim.Proc.Law § 570.20 (McKinney 1971), permits imposition of an obligation on county officials to jail the fugitive and tend to his medical needs. But even if such an obligation exists, it does not necessarily follow, as a matter of state law, that the County must absorb the expense.

. In this connection, it is interesting, though admittedly not dispositive, to note the Supreme Court’s decision in Marbles v. Creecy, 215 U.S. 63, 30 S.Ct. 32, 54 L.Ed. 92 (1909). A fugitive, arrested on a warrant of extradition issued by the Governor of Missouri, sought habeas corpus relief, challenging a host of alleged irregularities in the documentation furnished by Mississippi, the demanding state. Among these was the following statement contained in the request from the Governor of Mississippi: “This State will not be responsible for any expenses attending the execution of this requisition for the arrest and delivery of fugitives from justice.” Id. at 66, 30 S.Ct. at 32. Noting that this provision was “unusual, not to say, extraordinary,” id., the Court concluded that the demanding state’s disclaimer of liability for expenses “was a matter for the consideration of the Governor” of Missouri, id. at 69, 30 S.Ct. at 33 (emphasis added), and of no consequence to the validity of the fugitive’s arrest. In the same vein is Commonwealth ex rel. Osburn v. Haas, 439 Pa. 341, 268 A.2d 85 (1970), in which a West Virginia fugitive unsuccessfully sought habeas corpus relief from a Pennsylvania Governor’s extradition warrant, challenging the alleged failure of the West Virginia county in

. There is no need at this point to determine whether New York has a justiciable controversy with Florida prior to New York’s reimbursement of Monroe County.

. The majority’s alternative argument that Florida waived its sovereign immunity by invoking the Act cannot justify imposition of a wider scope of liability than the Act creates. Florida surely subjected itself to suit by New York, but, if the Act creates no cause of action in favor of Monroe County, Florida, having made no demand upon the County, should not be held to have waived its immunity against suit by the County. *1138which the fugitive was indicted to pay extradition costs. Rejecting the fugitive’s claim, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court observed, “If a dispute indeed exists over the payment of these costs, it is solely between the executive authorities of the States involved.... ” Id. at 345, 268 A.2d at 86-87 (emphasis added).

. In response to a suggestion during oral argument that New York should sue Florida to collect Monroe County’s expenses, counsel for New York expressed the view that this was a “good idea” and added that Monroe County, while it had sought reimbursement from New York, had never requested New York to sue Florida. The colloquy cannot fairly be taken as a well-considered expression of New York’s position, but it gives some indication that the unavailability of a federal court suit by Monroe County would not necessarily leave the County unreimbursed.

. We need not decide whether Congress would have the power to authorize suit for extradition expenses brought by political subdivisions of those states that prefer not to have such litigation brought. Compare Hunter v. City of Pittsburgh, 207 U.S. 161, 178-79, 28 S.Ct. 40, 46, 52 L.Ed. 151 (1907) (political subdivision of a state is a creature of the state and normally lacks any legal privilege or right assertable in conflict with the will of its state creator), and National League of Cities v. Usery, 426 U.S. 833, 96 S.Ct. 2465, 49 L.Ed.2d 245 (1976) (Congressional prescription of minimum wages for state and municipal employees under Federal Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219, violative of Tenth Amendment as an impermissible interference with a state’s intergovernmental functions), with City of Tacoma v. Taxpayers of Tacoma, 357 U.S. 320, 78 S.Ct. 1209, 2 L.Ed.2d 1345 (1958) (upholding Congressional power under the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. §§ 791a-828c, to authorize city to use FPC license to condemn' state land against state wishes). But we surely should construe § 3195 to avoid the issue absent the clearest indication that Congress wishes to permit suit by political subdivisions. Cf. Rogers v. Brockette, 588 F.2d 1057, 1070 (5th Cir.) (narrow construction of federal statute authorizing school breakfast program, 42 U.S.C. § 1773 (1976), avoids issue of Congress’ power to accord school districts local option contrary to state statute), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 827, 100 S.Ct. 52, 62 L.Ed.2d 35 (1979); Note, Taking Federalism Seriously, 90 Yale L.J. 1694, 1702-03 (1981) (emphasizing importance of state control over its internal governmental processes); Case Comment, 93 Harv.L.Rev. 586, 594-95 (1980) (same).