Angel Lopez-Valenzuela v. County of Maricopa

Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Angel Lopez-Valenzuela v. County of Maricopa. Read the opinion of the Court — 770 F.3d 772
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided October 15, 2014·No. 11-16487·Published

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

ANGEL LOPEZ-VALENZUELA; ISAAC No. 11-16487 CASTRO-ARMENTA, Plaintiffs-Appellants, D.C. No. 2:08-cv-00660- v. SRB

JOSEPH M. ARPAIO, Maricopa County Sheriff, in his official OPINION capacity; COUNTY OF MARICOPA; WILLIAM GERARD MONTGOMERY, Maricopa County Attorney, in his official capacity, Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Susan R. Bolton, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted En Banc March 18, 2014—San Francisco, California

Filed October 15, 2014

Before: Alex Kozinski, Chief Judge, and Diarmuid O’Scannlain, Sidney R. Thomas, M. Margaret McKeown, Raymond C. Fisher, Marsha S. Berzon, Richard C. Tallman, Jay S. Bybee, Milan D. Smith, Jr., Jacqueline H. Nguyen, and Paul J. Watford, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Fisher; Concurrence by Judge Nguyen; Dissent by Judge Tallman; Dissent by Judge O’Scannlain

SUMMARY*

Civil Rights

The en banc court reversed the district court’s summary judgment in a class action challenging Proposition 100, a ballot measure passed by Arizona voters that amended the state constitution to preclude bail for certain serious felony offenses if the person charged has entered or remained in the United States illegally and if the proof is evident or the presumption great as to the charge.

The en banc court held that Proposition 100, and its implementing laws and rules, violate the substantive component of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Applying the heightened substantive due process scrutiny set forth in United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 746-48 (1987), the en banc court held that the Proposition 100 laws do not address an established “particularly acute problem,” are not limited to “a specific category of extremely serious offenses,” and do not afford the individualized determination of flight risk or dangerousness that Salerno deemed essential. Rather, the laws represent a scattershot attempt at addressing flight risk and are not

* This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. LOPEZ-VALENZUELA V. ARPAIO 3

narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest. In addition, the en banc court held that the challenged laws are excessive in relation to the state’s legitimate interest in assuring arrestees’ presence for trial.

Concurring, Judge Nguyen agreed with the majority that Proposition 100 violates substantive due process. She wrote separately to address the record of legislative intent, which she believed demonstrates that Proposition 100 was intentionally drafted to punish undocumented immigrants for their “illegal” status, even if they pose no flight risk or danger to the community.

Dissenting, Judge Tallman, joined by Judge O’Scannlain, stated that Proposition 100 is not excessive in relation to Arizona’s compelling regulatory interest in ensuring that illegal aliens who commit serious felony offenses stand trial.

Dissenting, Judge O’Scannlain stated that the question of whether denying bail to illegal immigrants based on flight risk is unconstitutionally excessive should have been analyzed under the Eighth Amendment’s Excessive Bail Clause. Judge O’Scannlain tentatively concluded that the Eighth Amendment does not restrict legislative discretion to declare certain crimes nonbailable.

COUNSEL

Andre I. Segura and Esha Bhandari, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Immigrants’ Rights Project, New York, New York; Cecillia D. Wang (argued) and Kenneth J. Sugarman, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Immigrants’ Rights Project, San Francisco, California; Daniel Pochoda, ACLU Foundation of Arizona, Phoenix, Arizona, for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Timothy J. Casey (argued), Schmitt Schneck Smyth Casey & Even, P.C., Phoenix, Arizona, for Defendants-Appellees Maricopa County and Joseph M. Arpaio.

Bruce P. White and Anne C. Longo, Deputy County Attorneys, Maricopa County Civil Services Division, Phoenix, Arizona, for Defendant-Appellee Maricopa County Attorney William Montgomery.

Anthony O’Rourke, Associate Professor, SUNY Buffalo Law School, for Amici Curiae Constitutional Criminal Law and Immigration Law Professors.

Kathleen E. Brody, Osborn Maledon, P.A., Phoenix, Arizona; Amy Kalman and Mikel Steinfeld, Office of the Maricopa County Public Defender, Phoenix, Arizona; David Euchner, Office of the Pima County Public Defender, Tucson, Arizona, for Amicus Curiae Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice. LOPEZ-VALENZUELA V. ARPAIO 5

OPINION

FISHER, Circuit Judge, with whom KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, and THOMAS, McKEOWN, BERZON, BYBEE, M. SMITH and NGUYEN, Circuit Judges, join in full, and with whom WATFORD, Circuit Judge, joins except as to section III.B.2:

Arizona law categorically forbids granting undocumented immigrants arrested for a wide range of felony offenses any form of bail or pretrial release, even if the particular arrestee is not a flight risk or dangerous. We must decide whether such an absolute denial comports with the substantive component of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. We hold that it does not.

I.

In 2006, Arizona voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to their state constitution known as Proposition 100.1 Proposition 100 mandates that Arizona state courts may not set bail “[f]or serious felony offenses as prescribed by the legislature if the person charged has entered or remained in the United States illegally and if the proof is evident or the presumption great as to the present charge.” Ariz. Const. art. 2, § 22(A)(4). In a separate enactment, the Arizona legislature defined “serious felony offenses” as any class 1, 2, 3 or 4 felony or aggravated driving-under-the- influence offense. See Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 13- 3961(A)(5)(b).

1 The Arizona legislature passed the legislation and referred it to the voters in May 2005. The voters approved Proposition 100 in November 2006.

The Proposition 100 bail determination is made at an initial appearance, which under Arizona law occurs within 24 hours of arrest. See Ariz. R. Crim. P. 4.1(a). At the initial appearance, the court must deny bail, irrespective of whether the arrestee poses a flight risk or a danger to the community, “if the court finds (1) that the proof is evident or the presumption great that the person committed a serious offense, and (2) probable cause that the person entered or remained in the United States illegally.” Ariz. R. Crim. P. 7.2(b). An arrestee deemed ineligible for bail at the initial appearance may move for reexamination, and a hearing on such motion “shall be held on the record as soon as practicable but not later than seven days after filing of the motion.” Ariz. R. Crim. P. 7.4(b). At the follow-up proceeding, known as a Simpson/Segura hearing, see Simpson v. Owens, 85 P.3d 478 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2004); Segura v. Cunanan, 196 P.3d 831 (Ariz. Ct. App. 2008), the arrestee can dispute whether there is probable cause that he or she entered or remained in the United States illegally, but may not refute Proposition 100’s irrebuttable presumption that he or she poses an unmanageable flight risk. Once the court determines that there is probable cause to believe an arrestee has entered or remained in the United States unlawfully, the court has no discretion to release the arrestee under any circumstances, even if the court would find – and the state would concede – that the particular arrestee does not pose a flight risk or danger to the community.

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