State of Texas v. USA

805 F.3d 653, 93 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 341, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 19522, 2015 WL 6876054
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided November 9, 2015·No. 15-40333·Published·Cited by 77 cases

Opinion

JENNIFER WALKER ELROD, Circuit Judge:

Three Jane Does appeal from the denial of their motion to intervene in State of Texas v. United States, No. 15-40238. Because the Jane Does satisfy the requirements for intervention by right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2), we REVERSE the district court’s order denying intervention to the Jane Does and REMAND the case to the district court.

I.

In Texas v. United States, No. 15-40238, twenty-six states seek injunctive relief against the United States and several officials of the Department of Homeland Security to prevent them from implementing a *656 program entitled “Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents” (DAPA). 1 The program is outlined in a memorandum issued in November 2014 by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson (DAPA Memorandum). 2 If DAPA is implemented, certain aliens would become eligible for grants of “deferred action,” which would “mean that, for a specified period of time, [those aliens would be] permitted to be lawfully present in the United States.” Texas v. United States, 787 F.3d 733, 744 (5th Cir.2015) (alterations, emphasis, and internal quotation marks omitted).

Three Jane Does sought to intervene as defendants in the Texas case. The Jane Does are aliens who have lived in the United States for more than ten years, currently live in the Rio Grande Valley, and have minor children who are United States citizens. Thus, all three Jane Does satisfy the first four criteria set forth in the DAPA Memorandum. In addition, all three Jane Does believe that they satisfy the final two DAPA criteria because they are not “enforcement priorities” and because they “present no other factors that, in the exercise of discretion, make[] the grant of deferred action inappropriate.” Accordingly, the Jane Does believe they are likely to receive grants of deferred action if DAPA goes into effect.

The States and the Government both opposed intervention in the district court. The district court denied the Jane Does’ motion to intervene, stating that the Jane Does’ “interests are adequately represented by the United States” and that “this matter [is] time sensitive and the addition of new parties will cause undue delay and prejudice.” Shortly thereafter, the district court preliminarily enjoined implementation of DAPA. The Jane Does timely appealed the denial of their motion to intervene. Although the Jane Does argued in the district court that they were entitled both to intervention by right and to permissive intervention, on appeal they argue only that they are entitled to intervention by right.

II.

“A ruling denying intervention of right is reviewed de novo.” Edwards v. City of Houston, 78 F.3d 983, 995 (5th Cir.1996) (en bane). “Although the mov-ant bears the burden of establishing its right to intervene, Rule 24 is to be liberally construed.” Brumfield v. Dodd, 749 F.3d 339, 341 (5th Cir.2014) (citing 6 James W. Moore, et al., Moore’s Federal Practice § 24.03[l][a] (3d ed.2008) *657 [Moore’s ]). “Federal courts should allow intervention where no one would be hurt and the greater justice could be attained.” Sierra Club v. Espy, 18 F.3d 1202, 1205 (5th Cir.1994) (internal quotation marks omitted). For the purposes of deciding the motion to intervene, we accept the Jane Does’ factual allegations as true. Mendenhall v. M/V Toyota Maru No. 11, 551 F.2d 55, 57 (5th Cir.1977).

III.

Intervention by right is governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a). To intervene by right, the prospective in-tervenor either must be “given an unconditional right to intervene by a federal statute,” Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(a)(1), or must meet each of the four requirements of Rule 24(a)(2):

(1) the application for intervention must be timely; (2) the applicant must have an interest relating to the property or transaction which is the subject of the action; (3) the applicant must be so situated that the disposition of the action may, as a practical matter, impair or impede his ability to protect that interest; (4) the applicant’s interest must be inadequately represented by the existing parties to the suit.

New Orleans Pub. Serv., Inc. v. United Gas Pipe Line Co., 732 F.2d 452, 463 (5th Cir.1984) [NOPSI] (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted). The Jane Does claim that they satisfy each of the four requirements of Rule 24(a)(2). The States and the Government concede the first and third requirements, but argue that the Jane Does do not satisfy the “interest” requirement or the “inadequate representation” requirement. We will address each of these two disputed requirements in turn.

A.

The Jane Does satisfy the “interest” requirement of Rule 24(a)(2), which requires that intervenors “claim[ ] an interest relating to the property or transaction that is the subject of the action.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(a)(2). The “property or transaction that is the subject of the action” in this case is DAPA, so the legal question is whether the Jane Does have an “interest” relating to DAPA. Although “[tjhere is not any clear definition of the nature of the interest ... that is required for intervention of right,” 7C Charles Alan Wright, et al., Federal Practice and Procedure § 1908.1 (3d ed. 2007) [Wright & Miller] (internal quotation marks omitted), we previously have interpreted Rule 24(a)(2) to require a “ ‘direct, substantial, legally protectable interest in the proceedings,’ ” Edwards, 78 F.3d at 1004 (quoting NOPSI, 732 F.2d at 468).

Although “this gloss on the rule” may not “provide any more guidance than does the bare term ‘interest’ used in Rule 24 itself,” Wright & Miller § 1908.1, our cases reveal that the inquiry turns on whether the intervenor has a stake in the matter that goes beyond a generalized preference that the case come out a certain way. So, an intervenor fails to show a sufficient interest when he seeks to intervene solely for ideological, economic, or precedential reasons; that would-be inter-venor merely prefers one outcome to the other. 3 For example, in NOPSI,

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State of Texas v. USA, 805 F.3d 653, 93 Fed. R. Serv. 3d 341, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 19522, 2015 WL 6876054 (5th Cir. 2015).

805 F.3d 653 (State of Texas v. USA) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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