Newdow v. Roberts

603 F.3d 1002, 390 U.S. App. D.C. 273, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 9370
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit·Decided May 7, 2010·No. 09-5126·Published·Cited by 126 cases

Opinions

Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge BROWN.

Opinion concurring in the judgment filed by Circuit Judge KAVANAUGH.

BROWN, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs appeal the dismissal of their constitutional challenge to religious elements of the presidential inaugural ceremony. We affirm the dismissal because plaintiffs’ claims regarding the 2009 inaugural ceremony are moot and plaintiffs lack standing to challenge the 2013 and 2017 inaugurations.

I

Barack Obama was elected President of the United States on November 4, 2008. Prior to and following his election, organizations were formed to assist preparations for the January 20, 2009 ceremony that would mark his inauguration. The then President-elect created a private coordinating group, the Presidential Inaugural Committee (“PIC”), recognized by statute as “the committee appointed by the President-elect to be in charge of the Presidential inaugural ceremony and functions and activities connected with the ceremony.” 36 U.S.C. § 501(1). By concurrent resolution, Congress established the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (“JCCIC”) and authorized it to “utilize appropriate equipment and the services of appropriate personnel of departments and agencies of the Federal Government” to “make the necessary arrangements for the inauguration of the President-elect.” S. Con. Res. 67, 110th Cong. (2008). The U.S. military services, pursuant to 10 U.S.C. § 2553, jointly formed the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee (“AFIC”) to assist the JCCIC and the PIC in “[planning and carrying out” security and safety measures, ceremonial duties, and other appropriate activities for the inauguration, id. § 2553(b).

Through the PIC, President Obama invited two private ministers- — Revs. Rick Warren and Joseph Lowery — to lead invocation and benediction prayers, respectively, at the inaugural ceremony. President Obama also communicated his wish to John Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States,1 that the Chief Justice administer the presidential oath of office at the ceremony and append the phrase “So help me God” to conclude the oath. See Declaration of Jeffrey P. Minear, Counsel- or to the Chief Justice, Newdow v. Roberts, Civil Action No. 08-2248 (D.D.C. Jan. 8, 2009), App. for Appellants at 42.

While these preparations were ongoing, plaintiffs were also preparing themselves to attend or view President Obama’s inauguration. Plaintiffs — who individually describe themselves as atheist, see, e.g., App. for Appellants at 125, nonreligious and nontheistic, see, e.g., id. at 126, Secularist, see, e.g., id. at 128, or humanist, see, e.g., id. at 136 — were hoping President Obama would eschew the prayers and the “So help me God” phrase that have become traditional elements of the inaugural ceremony. However, upon learning these elements were scheduled to be part of the ceremony, plaintiffs sought declaratory and injunctive relief in the district court that would bar those elements for the 2009 as well as for [278]*278future inaugurations as violations of the First and Fifth Amendments, and in particular the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. See Complaint at 1, Newdow, Civil Action No. 08-02248 (D.D.C. Dec. 29, 2008). The complaint represented the third Establishment Clause lawsuit the lead plaintiff, Michael Newdow, has brought before federal courts against religious elements of presidential inaugural ceremonies.2 Plaintiffs also moved for a preliminary injunction six days after filing their initial complaint.

The district court, after a hearing, denied plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion and ordered them to show cause as to why their complaint should not be dismissed for lack of standing and on grounds of issue preclusion related to Newdow’s prior challenges, which had been dismissed on standing grounds. See Order, Newdow, Civil Action No. 08-02248 (D.D.C. Jan. 16, 2009). Plaintiffs did not appeal the denial and the inaugural ceremony took place as planned. See Reply Br. for Appellants at 8. The district court then issued a second show cause order directing plaintiffs to explain why their complaint should not be dismissed as moot. See Show Cause Order, Newdow, Civil Action No. 08-02248 (D.D.C. Feb. 10, 2009). Plaintiffs responded to those orders and also moved to amend their complaint to add more plaintiffs as well as unnamed defendants and allegations concerning the 2013 and 2017 inaugural ceremonies.

Upon consideration of all parties’ responses to the show cause orders, the district court dismissed the complaint. It found plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the 2009 inaugural ceremony and that Newdow was precluded from challenging the inaugural prayers. See Order at 3, Newdow, Civil Action No. 08-02248 (Mar. 12, 2009). While the district court did not consider plaintiffs’ amended complaint, it noted that the same standing issues afflicting the original complaint and the original plaintiffs would also afflict the new complaint and the new plaintiffs. See id. at 2 n, 1.

Plaintiffs appealed to this court under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and request that we reverse the district court’s rulings on issue preclusion and standing and remand for a proceeding on the merits. We review the district court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ suit de novo. See Young Am.’s Found, v. Gates, 573 F.3d 797, 799 (D.C.Cir.2009).

II

The parties present three issues on appeal. The first is whether the lead plaintiff, Newdow, is precluded by the findings of prior cases from challenging inaugural prayers. The second is whether plaintiffs’ challenge to the 2009 inaugural ceremony is moot. The third is whether plaintiffs have standing to bring their claims concerning the 2013 and 2017 inaugurations. We consider each issue in turn.

A

Plaintiffs argue that despite prior cases in which Newdow was found to have lacked standing to challenge inaugural [279]*279prayers, he is not precluded from challenging those prayers now because changes in circumstances and in the relevant law have cured or made obsolete the standing issues on which those prior challenges failed. Plaintiffs further argue that issue preclusion need not be considered because Newdow is not the only plaintiff in this ease and if any of the other plaintiffs has standing, then the status of Newdow’s standing is irrelevant. See Carey v. Population Servs. Int’l, 481 U.S. 678, 682, 97 S.Ct. 2010, 52 L.Ed.2d 675 (1977) (explaining that once one plaintiff has standing, there is “no occasion to decide the standing of the other [plaintiffs]”).

We agree with plaintiffs’ second argument, and therefore do not address the first. The question of preclusion with regard to Newdow is superfluous amidst other plaintiffs in the case whose standing has not been passed upon in prior cases. We put aside the issue of preclusion and move to the more relevant questions of mootness and standing.

B

The federal defendants and the PIC argue that plaintiffs’ challenge to the religious elements of the 2009 inaugural ceremony is moot.

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Newdow v. Roberts, 603 F.3d 1002, 390 U.S. App. D.C. 273, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 9370 (D.C. Cir. 2010).

603 F.3d 1002 (Newdow v. Roberts) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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