Memorandum from Gibbs to Guinier
Working File
September 3, 1984

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Case Files, Bozeman & Wilder Working Files. Memorandum from Gibbs to Guinier, 1984. 92d90249-ef92-ee11-be37-6045bdeb8873. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/ac81b1a2-8302-4388-b78f-fe77455f8c55/memorandum-from-gibbs-to-guinier. Accessed April 06, 2025.
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MEMORANDUM To: Lani Guinier From: Joan Gibbs Date: August 4, 1984 Re: Ms. Bozemanrs and Ms. Wilderts Appeals Questions Presented la)What new issues can the appellant5-respondents raise on appeal? b) What new issues, if atry, can the warden, the "proper respondent" who was added to Ms. Bozemanrs and Ms. Wilderrs petitions by a nunc pro tunc amendment after sunmary judgment had been granted the petitioners raise on appeal? L/ 2. Shorlrld thb,rdistrict court have dismissed Ms. Bozemanrs and Ms. Wilderrs petitions for habeas corpus for lack of jurisdiction because the petitioners were not "in custody" as required by 28 U.S.C. SS22 1(c) (3) and 2254(a)? r. The appellants-respondents should be precluded from presenting any new 1egal issues or theories to the court of appeals. For a federal appellate court generally will not consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal. Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, L20 (1976) i Roofinq & Sheet Metal Services, Inc. v. La Quinta Motor Inns, Inc., 689 F.2d 982, 989 (IIth Cir. 1982). This principle applies to new issues raised on appeal in habeas corpus proceedings and to both respondents and petitioners in such proceedings. Hinsley v. Rose, 705 F.2d 863, 865 700 F.2d 391, 394 (7th Cir. (6th Cir. 1983); Holleman v. Duckworth, 1983); Lacy v. Lockhart, r03 s. ct. 1899 (1983); 697 F.2d, 271, Bass v. Este11e,273 (8th Cir.) cert. deniedjr @ussedthesetwoissuesseparate1y,Idecidedto discuss them jointly here because it seemed to me that appellants- respondents if they try to raise new issues on appeal will probably argue that they should be permitted to do so because the warden, the "proper respondentr " was not added to petition until after sunmary judgment was granted to the petitioners. 696 F.2d 1154, 1159 (5tn Cir. 1983); Ford v. Strickland, 696 F.2d 804, 819 (Ilth Cir. 1983); Washington v. Walkins, 655 F.2d L364, 1368, (5th ,Cir.) rehearing denied 662 E.2d 1116 (1981); Robinson v. Berman, 594 F.2d I (lst Cir. L979) i Tifford v. Wainwright, 592 F.2d 233, 234 (L979) . Although the defense of failure to join an ind,ispens5rble party under RuIe 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure can be raised sus sponte by a court of appeab or by .the appenrlantsr iLidd" .r. ,tO.n.U, 707 F.2d 1222, 1223-L234 (llth Cir. 1983); Kimball V. Florida Bar, 537 F. 2d 1305 (5th Cir. 1976) | the appellants-respondents in the instant case should be precluded from relyinging on Rule 19 either as a defense on appeal or as a ggound for raising new issues because the warden is not an indispensible party to the proceedings. Cervantes v. Walker, 589 F.2d 424 (9th Cir. L978)i West v. Louisana,478 F.2d l-026 (5th Cir. 7973) i Desousa v. Abram's.r 467 P. Supp. 511 (E.D.N.Y. L979); United States:ex r€1. Gatuhreaux:'.v. State of l11inois, 447 F.-l-Supp. 500 (lt.o. r11. 1978). The rule against consideration of new issues on appeal derives primarily from "the needs of judicial economy and the desirability of having all parties present their claims in the court of first instant." Empire Life fnsurahce Cor. of America v. Va1dak corp., 468 r'.2d 330, 334 (5th Cir. 1972). rt also reflects a concern for avoiding prejudice to the parties. As the Supreme Court explained in Hormel v. Helvering, 3L2 U.S. 552 (1941) IOJur procedural scheme contemplates that parties shaIl come to isse in the triat court forum vested with authority to determine questions of fact. Ihis j-s essential in order that parties may have the opportunity to offer all evidence they believe relevant to the issues which the trial tribunal is alone competent to decide; it is equally essential in order that litigants may not be surprised on appeal by final decision there of issues upon which they have had no opportunity to introduce evidence. Id. at 556. The decision whether to consider an argument first made on appeal, however, is "left primarily to the discretion of the court of appeals, to be exercised on the facts of individual cases." Singleton v. Wu1ff, 428 U.S. at L2L. Such discretion is necessary because [r]u1es of practice and procedure are devised to promote the ends of justice, not to defeat them. A rigid and undeviating judicially declared practice under whic$ courts of review would invariably and under all circumstances decline to consider all questions which had not previously been specifically urged would be out of harmony with this policy. Orderly rules of procedure do not require sacrifice of the rules of fundamental justice. Hormel v. Helvering, 312 U.S. at 557. Thus, the Supreme Court has indicated that it is appropriate for a federal appellate ,cour{to both consider and resolve an issue raised for the first tj-me on appeal when resolution of the issue i-s beyond dispute or where injustice might other:v,rise result. Singleton v. Wu1ff , 428 U.S. at 12I. Similarly, the Eleventh Circuit will consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal if "the ends of justice will best be served by doing So.rrEmpire Life Insurance Co. of America v. Valdak Corp. , 468 F.2d at 334.2 Or more specifically, the court will consider an issue not presentGd to the district court if it involves a pure question of 1aw and if refusal to consider it will result in a miscarriage of justice. Roofing & Sheet Metal Services Inc., 689 F.2d at 990. 2, The Eleventh of Prichard, 661 eircuit, in fhe en banc decision in Bonner v. cit F.2d. t2oa (rtrr ffi9-er) adopred aslffir ffiffiEffins of the former 5th Circuit decided prior to october 1, 1981. The 11th Cir. is also bound by all decisions of Unit B of the former 5th Cir., Stein v. Reyno1dsr 667 F.2d 33, 34 (I1th Cir. L982). A "miscarriage of justice" will probably be found to be lacking where the appellantts new argument is weak on the merits ,t ). or the appellantr;wiII have another opportunity to make the argument to the district court. Id. at 990 n. 11. Thtrs, the stage at which the appeal is taken will effect the courtts determination of whether or not the appellant should be heard on his new argument. As Judge Wisdom, of the 5th Circuit, sitting by designation on the l1th Circuit Court of Appeals, explained in RoofingT supr&.7 consideration of new issues in appeals from sunmary judgrments are appropriate because in such cases the policiies behind the rule against consideraLion of new issues on appeal are not impaired by doing so. Remand after reversal of summary judgment does not seriously impair judicial economy, because, unlike remand after triat, it does not involve the district court in redunant proceedings. The party prevailing on appeal must still present argunents with the necessary evidentiary support to the trial court if it is ultimately to prevail. And the burden on the party that initially won sunmary judgment is not comparable to that involved in remand after the time and expense involved in a fuIl trial. Roofing & Sheet Metal Services, Inc. v. La Quinta Motor Inns.r Inc; 689 F.2d at 990. With this in mind, the remainder of this memo will be devoted to a discussion of some of the Supreme Court, former Fifth Circuit, and Eleventh Circuit cases on this question. Particular emphasis will be placed on chses in which either the respondents or the petitioners in a federal habeas proceeding attempted to raise a new issue on appeal. Supreme Court Cases The Supreme Court has both refused to consider issues raised for the first time in that court and admonished courts of appeals for considering issues not presented to the district court. Steagald v. United States; Singleton v. Wulff, ggp5.. The Court, however, has alsor EIS previously stated, vacated and remanded cases because an issue, though raised on appeal, was not considered by lower courts. Turn" , 396 U.S. 350 (L962) i Hormel v. Helvering, supra. In Steagald, a criminal defendant challanged federal drug enforcement officials search of his home pursuant to an arrest warranb for another individual. During the course of the search drugs rn/ere found and the defendant was arrested on drug charges. In the district court and before the court of appeals, the government argued, inter a1ia, that the arrest warrant was sufficient to justify the search of the defendantrs home and that the defendant's connection with the house was sufficient to establish constructi-ve possession of the covaine found in a suit case in'hi,closet in the house. Steagald v. United States, 45L U.S. at 208-09. The government put forth the same argument in its brief in opposition to certiorari. Id. at 208. Subsequently, the government changed its argument and contended that regardless of the merits of the Court of Appeals'decisionrupholding the district courtrs refusal to suppress the evidence seized during the search, the defendant lacked an expectation of privacy in the house sufficient to prevail on his Fourth Amendment claim. Id. The Supreme Court refused to consider the governmentrs new theory essentially because the argument had been available to the government from the beginning. Justice Marsha11, writing for the majority in Steagald, explained the Courtfs refusal to aIlow the government to advance a totally new theory to the Court as follows: [T]he government was initially entitled to defend against petitionerr s charge of an unlawful search by asserting that petitioner lacked a reasonable expectation of privalcy in the searched homer or that he consented to the search t ot that exigent circumstances justified the entry.i. * [D] uring the course of these proceedings the Government has directly sought to connect the petitioner with the house has acquiesced in statements by the courts below characterLzing the search as one of petitionerrs residence, and has made similar concessions of its own. Nowri-.two years after the petitionerrs trial the government seeks to retfun tne case to the district court for a re-examination of this factual issue. The tactical advantages to the Governemnt of this disposition are obvious, for if the Government prevailed on this claim upon a remand, it would be relieved of the task of defending the judgment of the eourt of Appeals before this Court. Steagald v. United States, 45L U.S. at 210, 2LL At least one court of appeals, the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, has held the reasoning in Steagald inapplicable to appeals by respondents in federal habeas proceedings. United States ex re1. Cosey v. Wolff | 682 F.2d 691 (7th Cir. L9821. In Cosey, the district court granted a writ of habaas corpus to a state petitioner on the ground that the petitioner had been denied effective assistance of counsel at his trial. Id. at 693. Before the district courtT the respondent argued that the failure of the petitionerr s counsel to call witnesses was an exercise of trial strategy. After the petitioner was granted sunmary judgment the respondents switched their argument and in a motion for reconsideration claimed that there was no evidence that the petitionerts counsel had been unaware of the witnesses. Id. at 693. The district court refused to consider the respondents/ new lack of knowledge argument "apparently because it thought it was precluded from doing so because in the state court proceedings the State had not made the lack of knowledge argument. United States ex rel. Casey v. Wo1ff, 682 F.2d 693. The district court in reaching this conclusion cited Ulster County Court v. Al1en, 442 U.S. L40, L52-L54 (7979) and Steagald v. United States, g-gpra., for the proposition that a party cannot relitigate issues on a basis other than that consistently maintained in prior proceedings. Oh,rappeal, the Seventh Circuit reversed the district courtrs decision. The district court judge, the court of appeals stated, had misunderstood the Supreme Courtrs decisions in Allen and SteagaId. ...In AIIen, the Supreme Court decided it could review a constitutional claim even though that claim was raised for the first time in state proceedings only after the jury announced its verdict. The Supreme Court would not have considered a constituti-onal issue raised after the verdict if there adequate and independent state grounds for the state court decision. The Supreme Court concluded that there were not adequate and independent state grounds. The Steagald case deals with a party changing its position on appeal, and of course a habeas corpus proceeding is not an an appeal of a state court decision. United States ex reI Casey v. Wolff, 682 F.2d at 694 (citations omitted). The court then went on to reject the appeileers novel elaj-m that the Supreme Court's decision'in Rose v. Lundy, 455 U.S. 509 (1982), holding that habeas petitions which contained exhaus.bed and unexhausted claims must be dismissed in their entirety, also precluded respondents in habeas proceedings from raising claims not presented to state courts. This argument shows a misunderstanding of the nature of the Grda,t Writ. The purpose of the exhaustion requirement, based on principles of comity, is to minimize friction between state and federal judicial systems by reducing the instances in which federal courts upset a state court conviction. These principles are not applicable when the argument raised for the first time in federal courts asks that the state court action not be changed. United St.at€s ex reI. Casey v. Wolff | 682 F.2d at 694. As discussed infra, however, most courts have refused to allow respondents, absent a showing of exceptional circumstances to raise a new issue on appeal. In Singleton V. Wulff, supra., a group of Missouri doctors brought an action challenging the constitutionality of a state statute that provided Medicaid benefits only for medically indicated abortions. The district court granted the defendant's motion to dismiss on the ground that the plaintiff's lacked standing. On appeal, the 8th Circuit concluded that the doctors had standing and that the challenged statute was unconstitutional. The Supreme Court agreed with the 8th Circuitrs conclusion that the plaintiff's had standing to challenge the statute. The Court, however, reversed and remanded the case because the Court of Appeals had erred in proceeding to the merits of the case, since the petitioner had not filed an answer or other pleading addressing the merits and had not had the opportunity to present evidence or lega1 arguments in defense of the statute. Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. at I20- The court in singleton cited Iurner, supra., and Hormel as examples of cases involvinq "circumstances in which a federal appellate court is justified in resolving an issue not passed on below." Id. at l-2l-. In a footnote, however, the Court noted that "these examples are not intended to be exclusive." Turner was a 1983 class action challenging the refusal of a resturant located on property leased from the city of Memphis to provide nonsegregated services to Black people- The defendant's answer invoked state statutes authorizing a state agency to issue regulatJ-ons governing the safety and sanitation of resturants, and making violations of such regulations a misdemeanor, dS well as regulations requiring segregation of Black and white people in resturants. Tur:ner rhoved for summary judgrment, and the single judge convened a three-judge court, which ordered the suit held in abeyance pending a suit in state court for interpretation of the statutes. The Supreme Court, oD appeal, vacated the district courtrs order and remanded the case to that court with directions to enter a decree granting injunctive relief to the plaintiff. The supreme court did not remand the case because the proPer resolution was beyond any doubt. On the merits, no issue remains to be resolved. This is clear under prior decisions and the undisputed facts of the case. Accordingly no occasion is presented for absention, and the.litigation ihould be disposed of as expeditiously as is consistent with proPer judicial administration. Turner v. City o;[ llemphis, 369 U'S' at 354' Hormel concerned an attempt by the commissioner of Internal Revenue to switch the statutory basis of his argument for assessing a deficiency ggainst an individual taxpayer' The court of Appeals considered the commissioner's new argument and reversed the decision of the United States Board of Tax Appeals settinq aside the deficiency' (E- The Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' decision but remanded the case to the Board of Tax Appeals because Congress had vested it with exclusive authority to determine disputed facts in tax cases. Horme1 v. Helvering, 3L2 U.S. at 350. The Court gave two reasons for why the Court of Appeals' consideration of the Commissioner's new Iegal theory had been appropriate. First, while the ease \^ras pending before the court of appeals, the Supremb Court had handed down a decision inf€rprpting,the statutes at issue in Hormel, which if it had been "applied might have materially altered the resu1t. " Id. at 558-559. 'EFcisions not in accordance with lawr" the Court said, "should be modified, reversed and remanded ras justice may require.'" Id. Second, strict application of the principle that an appellate court should not consider a new argument on appeal in Hormel would have resulted in the "defeat rather than [the] promot[ion] [of1 the ends of justice." Id. at 560. This was because it would have allowed the petitioner to "wholIy escape payment of a tax which under the record before us he clearly owes." Id. J) Circuit Court Decisions There are a substantial number of cases in every circuit in which courts refused to a1low petitioners to raise new arguments on appeal. See e.g. Hensley V. Rgse, supra (claim that state habitual offender statute infringed right to testify not addressed by state or district court and therefore not addressed on appeal); Holleman v. Duckworth, supra (c1aim that confessi-on involuntary due to drug withdrawal not presented to district court and there- fore not addressed on appeal); Lacy v. Lockhard, supra (petitioner precluded from raising on appeal claim that attorney was incompetent because issue not addressed by district court). Not surprisingly, however, gJ-ven the 1ow success rate of petitioners in habeas corpus proceedingsr there are not a large number of cases in which respondents and not petitid.ners tried to raise a new issue on appeal. Washington v. Walkins, supra, Robinson v. Berman, .supm.. The reasoning that the courts have applied, however, in refusing to allow petitioners to raise new issues on appeal is equally applicable to respondents. Respondents have been barred from raising for the first time on appeal claims that petitioners failed to exhaust state remedies, failed to properly present their claims to state courts, or procedurally defaulted on a claim. fn Washington v. Walkins, supra, the defendant was convicted of capital murder and sought a petition for habeas corpus on the ground that the jury instruc- tions during the sentencj-ng phase were invalid. For the first time on appeal, the state argued that the defendant r had waived his claim because his trial counsel expressJ.:y declined to voice an objection. Washington v. Walkins, 655 F.2d at 1368. The court refused to consider this argument, stating Werfind two flaws in the Staters Sykes argument. First, the State did not contend in the district court that Washington's Lockett claim is barred by MississiPpi's contemporaneoliE-ffiction rule and Sykes. As such, the state itself is precluded from raising at this late any cliam that Washington should be barred under a state- 1aw theory of procedural default, for ' [a] s a general principle of appellate review this court will not consider a legal issue or theory that was not presented to [the federal district courtl I Noritake Champi-on , 627 F.2d 724, Washington v. Walkins, 655 f'.2d at 1368. See also Smith v. Estelle, t1r tr 602 F.2d, 708 n. 19 (5tfr Clr. l.gTg) (state waived its Sykes argument by failing to present it to the federal district court) afftd 101 S. Ct. 1866, 68 L.Ed 2d 359 (1981); LaRoche v. Wainwright, v. Wainwright, 599 F.2d 722, 724 (5th Cir. 1979) (same). In Tifford, supra, the former Fifth Circuit upheld the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus on the ground that the refusal to grant the petitioner's motion for severance at trial rendered his trial fundamentally unfair. The Florida Court of Appeals had previously resolved this issue in favor of the state. The state in Tifford in its original briefs before the district court and the court of appeals took the position that the Florida Court of Appeals' disposition had been limited soleIy to issues of state 1aw. In its petition for rehearing, however, the state changed its position and argued for the first time that the state court had resolved the federal constitutional ,.Ad; ddversely to the petitioner and that this determination was binding on the federal court. Tifford v. Wainwright | 592 F.2d at 233-234. In short, the state switched from arguing failure to exhaust state remedies to claiming that the federal district court had failed to accord the state courtrs decision proper deference. The Fifth Circuit declined to to consider the staters Hellancic new contention stating that Arguments not made to the district court will not be considered on appeal exceptrwhere the interests of substantial justice ;i::ili":5::"n:i" ::ii'riilirl$:i":xhs :ur i,., lhe new contentions are not based on any new developments in the law or any newly unearthed facts. Tiffird v. Wainwright t 592 F.2d at 234(citations omiiited). In Messelt v. State of A1abama, 595 F.2d 247 (5th Cir. L979) , a petitioner appealed the dihbricb courtr s de<iision denying his application for a writ of habeas corpus. In the district court, the state never challenged the petitioner's claim that hd; had exhausted aviblable state remedies and litigated the case as if the petitioner had exhausted his state remedies. When the state sought to raise the issue of failure to exhaust on appeal, the Court of Appeals declined to hear it, stating that " [t]his is too little too late." Messelt v. State of A1abamar 595 F.2d at 250. "As a general ruIe, contentions urged for the first time before this CourtrI the Court of Appeals continued, "are not properly before us on an appeal from the derilial of relief under 28 U.S.C. 52254, From a standpoint of orderly judicial procedure,our appellate function in such appeals is clearly limited to reviewing matter which have not been presented to the Distict Court. rr Id. at 25A=25L. (citations omitted). b. The fact thatl.Lthe wa.rden wa5 added to the petiti-oners! ' petition after sunmary judgrnent was granted to petitioners should not be suffj-cient ground for the court to deviate from the general practice of not considering new issues on appeal. The warden /1 is not an indispensible party to the proceedings. For as the court noted in West v. Lousiana, 47 8 F.2d 1026 (5th Cir. 1973) , ltlhe warden [has] nob interest in the proceeding independent of that of the State. By supplying the locus of his detention, together with other information required by the standard form for habeas petitions, West furnished sufficient information to enable the stater s attorney I s to represent the interests of the State and the warden, and to enable the court to frame a proper order. There is therefore no reason not to consider his petition as though he had named the proper respondent. Id. at 1030. Several courts sj-nce ECE! was decided have either explicitly held that the failure to name the proper respondent in a petition for habeas corpus did not constitute a violation of Rule 19 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure or have proceeded to treat the petitionerrs petition as if the proper respondent had been named. Cervantes v. Walker, 589 F.2d 424 (9th Cir. t978) i Desousa v. Abrams | 467 F. Supp. 511 (E.D.N.Y. 19791 i Unj-ted States ex relGatuhreaux v. State of Illinois, 447 F. Supp. 600 (N.D. I11. 1978); Thibobeau v. Commonwealth of Mass., 428 F. Supp. 542 (O. Mass. 1977). But see, Mackey v. Gonzalez , 662 F.2d 7L2 (lIth Cir. 1981); Spence v. Cundiff, 4I3 F. Supp. l-246 (W.D. Va. L976) . In Thibobeau, E-W,., a state petitioner brought a petition plead both as petition for habeas corpus and a civil rights action under 42 U.S.C. 51983. The respondents moved to dismiss the the petitioner's petition on the ground, inter alia, that the petition failed to join an indispensible party as required by Rule 19. The court, though denying relief to the peti-tioner, rejected this argument. an amendment to the petition, sr:bstituting the superintendent of the institution where he is confined as respondent. Desousa v. Abrams, 467 E. Supp. at 513. The appellants-respondents may try to distinguish some of the above cases on the ground that the proper respondent was added the petitionersr petitions i.n some of':the cases before the respondents answered was filed (.e.9. Desousa) and not after sunmary j udgment had been granted to the petitioners. Th6re areir trrso responses that can be made to this argument based upon the above and other cases. First, the warden was added to the petition after sunmary judgment by a nunc pro tunc amendment which has the effect of reaching back to the time the petition was filed. See e.![. Kirtland v.. J. Ray McDermott & Co., 568 F. 2d 1L66, 1169 n..5 .: (5trr Cir. 1978). Second, even if the warden had not been added to the petitionerrs petition, the court should still not vacate the district courtrs decision and remand the case or permit the respondents to raise new issues on appeal because the wardenf is not an indisepensible party. For the isardertr has no interest ,. indep.endenb of the previously named respondents, all the defenses that could have been asserted by the warden were available to the respondents below and the parties are all represented by l members of the same state attorneyrs office. l4bir Bozemants and Ms. Wilderrs case is also distinguishable from those cases in which petitioners failure to name the proper respondent constituted grounds for dismissal. Forrunlike the petitioner in Spence v. Cundiff, E-8, Ms. Bozeman and Ms. Wilder did not name the sentencing judge who had "neither the power or arithority to order the petitioner released under a federal writ of habeas corpus." Spence y. Cundiff, 4L3 F. Supp. at L247. Rather, the petitioners I named the Board of Pardon and Paroles who does after the power to grant the relief requested by the petitioners. One new issue that the warden may try to raise on appeal is that Ms. Wilderts and Ms. Bozemanrs petiti,ions for habeas corpus should have been dismissed by the district court for lack of jurisdiction because the petitioners were not"in custody" as required by the federal habeas corpus statutes. See e.g. Duvalliorl v. Florida, 691 F.2d 483 (lIth Cir. 1982). For at the time the district court granted sunmary judgment to the petitioners their parole terms had expired. This argument if raised by the appellants should not be difficult to refute. First, it should he pointeilloutihhat the Supreme Court has consistently held that petitioners on parole were "in custody[ for the purpose of the federal habeas corpus statute. See,r€.9. Justices of Boston lluntcipal Court v. Lyndon, U. S. , 52 U.S.L.W. 4460 (Apri1 L7, 1984); JpneE_ v: Cunningham, 37L U.S. 236 (1963). Second, it should be argued that the custody requirement j-s satisfied if at the time the petitioner applies for the writ he is in custody and that the petitionerrs sr:bsequent release does not defeat jurisdiction. Carafas v. LaVallee, 391 u.S. 234 (1968). Mh. Bozdrtrin and Ms. Wilder, unlike the petitioners the Duvallion v. Etg4darsupra. and Westberry v. Keitht 434 T.2d 623 (5th Cir. 1970), were not merely subjected to a "fine;'"