United States v. Lujan

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedOctober 1, 2007
Docket02-30237
StatusPublished

This text of United States v. Lujan (United States v. Lujan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Lujan, (9th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  No. 02-30237 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. v.  CR-98-00480- LISA RENEE LUJAN, HA-02 Defendant-Appellant.  OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Oregon Ancer L. Haggerty, District Judge, Presiding

Submitted September 25, 2007* Portland, Oregon

Filed October 2, 2007

Before: Ferdinand F. Fernandez, Barry G. Silverman, and Susan P. Graber, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Silverman

*This panel unanimously finds this case suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).

13397 UNITED STATES v. LUJAN 13399

COUNSEL

Ruben L. Iñiquez, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Port- land, Oregon, for the defendant-appellant.

Jonathan L. Marcus, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for the plaintiff-appellee.

Charles L. Hobson, Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, Sacra- mento, California, for the amicus curiae.

OPINION

SILVERMAN, Circuit Judge:

Lisa Renee Lujan appeals from the district court’s order authorizing the probation office to demand the collection of a blood sample as a condition of her supervised release, as mandated by the DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act of 2000 (“DNA Act”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 14135-14135e. She alleges that the Act violates the Fourth Amendment and the Ex Post Facto Clause, that it is an unconstitutional bill of attainder, and that it contravenes separation of powers. We reject these constitutional challenges and affirm.

I. Background

On May 10, 1999, Lujan pleaded guilty to one count of aid- ing and abetting unarmed bank robbery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), and on May 22, 2000, the district court sen- tenced her to 18 months’ imprisonment and three years of 13400 UNITED STATES v. LUJAN supervised release. Three weeks later, on June 12, 2000, the district court granted the government’s motion for a reduction of sentence pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 35(b), and Lujan’s sentence was reduced to 12 months.

The terms of Lujan’s supervised release made no mention of any requirement that she submit to a DNA sample.

On December 19, 2000, the DNA Act became effective. Pub. L. No. 106-546, 114 Stat. 2726. On January 28, 2002, while Lujan was on supervised release, the United States Pro- bation Office notified her in writing that she had to provide a blood sample within 90 days. When Lujan failed to comply, the government filed a petition to revoke supervised release. The district court issued a summons for her appearance on April 10, 2002.

On April 17, 2002, Lujan filed a motion opposing the required collection as a new condition of her supervised release. In a July 9, 2002, order, the district court denied the motion and ordered her to comply with the directives of the probation office or risk a possible revocation hearing. On July 29, 2002, the court stayed its order pending appeal.

Lujan’s appeal was held in abeyance pending the disposi- tions in United States v. Kincade, 379 F.3d 813 (9th Cir. 2004) (en banc), and United States v. Reynard, 473 F.3d 1008 (9th Cir. 2007), petition for cert. filed, ___ U.S.L.W. ___ (U.S. July 5, 2007) (No. 07-5195).

II. Jurisdiction

The district court had subject matter jurisdiction over the criminal proceeding under 18 U.S.C. § 3231. We have juris- diction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291.

III. Standard of Review

Defendant challenges the constitutionality of a federal statute—a question of law that we review de novo. United UNITED STATES v. LUJAN 13401 States v. Zakharov, 468 F.3d 1171, 1176 (9th Cir. 2006), cert. denied, 127 S. Ct. 2150 (2007).

IV. Discussion

[1] The DNA Analysis Backlog Elimination Act authorizes the probation office to collect a DNA sample from any indi- vidual on supervised release. See 42 U.S.C. § 14135a(a)(2). Lujan challenges the Act under four different provisions of the Constitution.

A. Fourth Amendment and Ex Post Facto Clause

[2] Lujan argues that the DNA Act constitutes a suspicion- less search in violation of the Fourth Amendment and imposes a new condition on her supervised release in viola- tion of the Ex Post Facto Clause. Our decision in Kincade dis- poses of the Fourth Amendment challenge. See 379 F.3d at 832 (upholding compulsory DNA collection on a “totality of the circumstances” analysis); id. at 840 (Gould, J., concurring in the judgment) (upholding DNA collection based on “spe- cial needs” doctrine). Our decision in Reynard, 473 F.3d at 1021, rejected an identical ex post facto challenge to the DNA Act after holding that the statute did not have a punitive effect. 473 F.3d at 1021.

B. Bill of Attainder

Lujan next asserts that the DNA Act imposes punishment on a disfavored class without judicial involvement, and is thus an unconstitutional bill of attainder.

[3] A law is an unconstitutional bill of attainder if it “legis- latively determines guilt and inflicts punishment upon an identifiable individual without provision of the protections of a judicial trial.” Nixon v. Adm’r of Gen. Servs., 433 U.S. 425, 468 (1977). Three inquiries determine whether a statute “in- flicts punishment”: 13402 UNITED STATES v. LUJAN (1) whether the challenged statute falls within the historical meaning of legislative punishment; (2) whether the statute, “viewed in terms of the type and severity of burdens imposed, reasonably can be said to further nonpunitive legislative purposes”; and (3) whether the legislative record “evinces a congressio- nal intent to punish.”

Selective Serv. Sys. v. Minn. Pub. Interest Research Group, 468 U.S. 841, 852 (1984) (quoting Nixon, 433 U.S. at 473).

[4] Our analysis in Reynard forecloses Lujan’s challenge on this element. Cf. Butler v. Apfel, 144 F.3d 622, 626 (9th Cir. 1998) (per curiam) (noting that “the touch-stone for our analysis” under either clause is “whether [the statute] is a form of punishment”). First, we held that “neither blood nor DNA collection [has] been historically viewed as punish- ment.” Reynard, 473 F.3d at 1020. Second, we classified the disability imposed by the DNA Act as “minimal” and held that the statute was “a reasonable means by which Congress [could] achieve and regulate a non-punitive goal.” Id. at 1020- 21. Third, we reviewed the legislative history of the Act and determined that “it was not enacted for punitive reasons.” Id. at 1019; see also United States v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Nixon v. Administrator of General Services
433 U.S. 425 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Mistretta v. United States
488 U.S. 361 (Supreme Court, 1989)
United States v. David Keith Belgard
894 F.2d 1092 (Ninth Circuit, 1990)
United States v. Thomas Cameron Kincade
379 F.3d 813 (Ninth Circuit, 2004)
United States v. Paul G. Sczubelek
402 F.3d 175 (Third Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Anatoli Zakharov
468 F.3d 1171 (Ninth Circuit, 2006)
United States v. George C. Hook
471 F.3d 766 (Seventh Circuit, 2006)
United States v. John G. Reynard
473 F.3d 1008 (Ninth Circuit, 2007)
Marino v. New York
548 U.S. 908 (Supreme Court, 2006)
Butler v. Apfel
144 F.3d 622 (Ninth Circuit, 1998)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
United States v. Lujan, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lujan-ca9-2007.