Court Opinion

ID: 9499624
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:53:00.490565+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:59:37.146162
License: Public Domain

BERZON, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I agree with the panel that the law of the case exceptions do not apply to the rule of the mandate. See United States v. Bad Marriage, 439 F.3d 534, 541-42 (9th Cir.2006) (Berzon, J., dissenting). I also agree, under compulsion of our precedent, that the rule of mandate is in some sense jurisdictional. See United States v. Kellington, 217 F.3d 1084, 1093 (9th Cir.2000) (stating that, in interpreting the mandate, “the ultimate task is to distinguish matters that have been decided on appeal, and are therefore beyond the jurisdiction of the lower court, from matters that have not” (emphasis added)); United States v. Pimentel, 34 F.3d 799, 800 (9th Cir.1994) (per curiam) (describing the mandate as limiting the district court’s “authority”).
Although this case does not raise the issue, there are in my view very limited circumstances, as suggested in Bad Marriage, 439 F.3d at 541-42 (Berzon, J., dissenting), in which the district court may not be required to follow the directions we have given in our mandate. This conclusion would not necessarily be inconsistent with the use of the term “jurisdiction.” See Kontrick v. Ryan, 540 U.S. 443, 454-55, 124 S.Ct. 906, 157 L.Ed.2d 867 (2004) (“ ‘Jurisdiction’ ... is a word of many, too many, meanings.”); see also Eberhart v. United States, 546 U.S. 12, 126 S.Ct. 403, 406, 163 L.Ed.2d 14 (per curiam); United States v. Sadler, 480 F.3d 932, 935 (9th Cir.2007).