Salmon Spawning & Recovery Alliance v. US Customs & Border

Dec 18: In the U.S. Court of Appeals, Federal Circuit, Case No. 07-1444. This case concerns the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and the scope of the jurisdiction of the United States Court of International Trade. Plaintiffs-Appellants Salmon Spawning and Recovery Alliance, et al (collectively Salmon Spawning) appeal a final judgment of the Court of International Trade dismissing their complaint against various Federal agencies and officials for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

On July 15, 2008, the Federal Circuit issued a decision [See WIMS 7/18/08] in which it concluded that the Court of International Trade erred in dismissing the case for lack of standing and remanded to the court to determine in the first instance whether plaintiffs’ claim under section 7(a)(2) of the ESA falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of International Trade. Salmon Spawning & Recovery Alliance v. United States, 532 F.3d 1338 (Fed. Cir. 2008). On August 29, 2008, defendants filed a petition for rehearing for the limited purpose of reconsidering statements made in this court’s original opinion regarding whether the Court of International Trade may exercise “supplemental” jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1367(a).

In response Salmon Spawning elected to take no position on the issue presented by the petition. All parties agreed that the relief requested by the petition would not alter the outcome of the appeal. The Appeals Court granted the petition solely to issue a revised opinion. The previous opinion was withdrawn. In its revised opinion the Appeals Court ruled, "the Court of International Trade’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ section 9 claim is affirmed. The court’s dismissal of the section 7 claim for lack of standing is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Court of International Trade to determine whether the surviving claim falls within its exclusive jurisdiction."

Access the complete opinion (click here).