Obaydullah v. Barack Obama

688 F.3d 784, 402 U.S. App. D.C. 149, 2012 WL 3250940
Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit·Decided August 10, 2012·No. 11-5123·Published·Cited by 24 cases

Opinions

Opinion for the court filed PER CURIAM.

Dissenting opinion filed by Chief Judge SENTELLE.

PER CURIAM: *

Obaydullah, a detainee at the United States Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, appeals from the district court’s denial of his petition for a writ of habeas corpus.1 For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I

Obaydullah is an Afghan citizen who is approximately 29 years old. He grew up in the village of Milani in Afghanistan’s Khost province, where he was living at the time of his capture. On July 21, 2002, U.S. military forces conducted a raid at Obaydullah’s home based on certain intelligence reports. Obaydullah v. Obama, 774 F.Supp.2d 34, 35 (D.D.C.2011).2 During [787] the raid of the compound in which Obaydullah was living, U.S. forces discovered a notebook in Obaydullah’s pocket that contained diagrams of explosives, and also found 23 anti-tank mines buried nearby outside. Id. at 36; see Dep’t of Def. Criminal Investigation Task Force Report (CITF Report) (J.A. 713). According to a staff sergeant who was present during the raid and submitted a sworn declaration, Obaydullah initially said that the diagrams were of wiring for a generator and that he was keeping the mines for someone named “Karim.” Staff Sergeant Decl. ¶ 5 (J.A. 2495); see CITF Report (J.A. 713). The team also found a tarp-covered car on the property that contained Taliban propaganda and had dried blood on the back seat. CITF Report (J.A. 713); Staff Sergeant Decl. ¶ 5 (J.A. 2495).3 Obaydullah was taken into custody and eventually transferred to the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay.4

On July 7, 2008, Obaydullah filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. In November 2008, however, the government filed charges against Obaydullah for the purpose of initiating a prosecution before a military commission. As a result, the parties agreed to stay the habeas proceedings. Then, following President Obama’s suspension of military commissions proceedings in January 2009, Obaydullah moved to vacate the stay. The district court denied his motion, but this court reversed. See Obaydullah v. Obama, 609 F.3d 444 (D.C.Cir.2010).5 Thereafter, habeas proceedings resumed before the district court. On November 30, 2010, the court entered judgment denying Obaydullah’s habeas petition, concluding that the government had established “that it is more likely than not that [Obaydullah] was in fact a member of an al Qaeda bomb cell, and is therefore detainable.” Obaydullah, 774 F.Supp.2d at 36. Obaydullah filed a motion for reconsideration, which was also denied. He then filed his notice of appeal.

Obaydullah contends that he was captured in “a ease of mistaken identity,” Obaydullah Br. 1, and he presents alternative explanations for the notebook and the mines. In that connection, he argues that the district court erred in relying on government intelligence reports that linked him to al Qaeda and gave rise to the raid during which he was captured. Obaydullah also contends that the court erred in denying his requests for discovery. We examine Obaydullah’s merits contentions in Part III and his discovery contentions in Part IV. We begin, however, with a question about our jurisdiction.

II

The district court denied Obaydullah’s habeas petition on November 30, 2010. Twenty-two days later, Obaydullah requested a two-day extension to file a motion for reconsideration pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 59(e). Rule 59(e) provides that such motions must be filed within 28 days after entry of a final judgment, and Rule 6(b)(2) further states that this deadline cannot be extended. Fed.R.Civ.P. 59(e); id. 6(b)(2). Nonetheless, the government did not oppose the request, and the court granted it. Obaydullah filed his Rule 59(e) motion on December 30, 2010 (that is, 30 days after the judgment), and the court ultimately denied that motion on March 24, 2011. On May [788]*78817, 2011, Obaydullah filed his notice of appeal.

28 U.S.C. § 2107(b) states that an appellate court has jurisdiction of a case only if a notice of appeal is filed within 60 days of the entry of a judgment (where the government is a party to the case). But under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(4)(A), “[i]f a party timely files” certain subsequent motions in the district court, “the time to file an appeal runs for all parties from the entry of the order disposing of the last such remaining motion.” Fed. R.App. P. (FRAP) 4(a)(4)(A). A Rule 59 motion falls within this category, FRAP 4(a)(4)(A)(iv), and Obaydullah filed his notice of appeal within 60 days after the district court denied his Rule 59(e) motion.6 The potential problem is that, arguably, Obaydullah’s Rule 59(e) filing was not “timely” within the meaning of FRAP 4(a)(4)(A) because it came more than 28 days after entry of the court’s judgment. If his Rule 59(e) motion was not timely, then it failed to trigger FRAP 4(a)(4)(A)’s tolling provision. And without tolling, Obaydullah’s appeal would be too late (having been filed more than 60 days after the district court entered judgment on the denial of the habeas petition), and we would thus lack jurisdiction to hear his case.

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Obaydullah v. Barack Obama, 688 F.3d 784, 402 U.S. App. D.C. 149, 2012 WL 3250940 (D.C. Cir. 2012).

688 F.3d 784 (Obaydullah v. Barack Obama) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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