Donovan v. Vance

70 F.4th 1167

David G. DONOVAN, Hanford Security Police Officer; Cody Almquist;Kora Bales; Douglas Anderson; Jess Bean; Jeff Ahlers; Cyrus Anderson;Daniel Beam; Tain Ballantyne; Christopher J. Hall, Hanford Security Police Officer;Jared Betker; Daynna Coffey Ardamica;Thomas R. Ardamica, Safety Bases Compliance Officer;Kevin Arena; Stephen C. Persons, United States Department of Energy employee;Miguel Arredondo; Don Baker; William Bingham; Luis Blanco;Erik Bombard; James Booth; Stephanie Boschert;Bryan Brophy; Luke Bultena; I. C.; George Case; Rene Catlow;Benjamin Chavez; Nick Chacon; Mary Catherine Christianson;Justin Clancy; Todd Jacob Clark; Margaret Clark; Becky Colborn; David Cole;Mary Cole; Dodd Coutts; James Cuevas;Dawnleigh Curtis; Kelly Custer; D. N.; Jeffrey Daniels; Jamie Davies;Scott Dawson; Briana Deline; Darryn Deline; Drew Diedrich; John Doell;Jake Domit; Steve Donaldson; Kathryn Draper;Mike Eddy; Alexandria Edwards; Mary Ruth Edwards; Luke Ellis; Jesse Elvik; Zachery Eslick;Eric Espinoza; Cheryl Evosevich; Adam Faries; Marcus Faries;Robyn Faris; Thomas Farris; Jennifer Fish; Randy Fox; Michael Frazier;Sharon Freeland; Dorothy Frenzel; Paul Frenzel; Daniel Gabbard;Jennifer Gardner, aka Jennifer Gardiner; James Gagnon; Efren Garcia; Eric Garcia; Jaime Garcia;John Garfield; Matthew Garlick; Chris George;Ben Giese; Don Giese; Brandon Gimlin; Crystal Girardot;Levi Glatt; Heather Goldie; Michael Gomez; Enrique Gonzales; Christopher Goodsel;Michelle Gradin; Delmer Graham; Matthew Gray; Jerry Gridley;Jose Gutierrez; Joseph Hade; Levi Hamby; Eric Hanson, aka Eric Hansen;Cameron Hardy; Douglas Hart; Marguerite Hart; Nicole Hart; Tim Hart;Victor Hart; Chamise Hartman; Pamela Hartsock;Joshua K. Hatch; Ron Havens; Kory Hebdon;Larry Herbert; Katie Hendersonpl; Joshua Hedrick,aka Joshua Herrick; Lee Holmes; Joy Houchin; Marvin Huck; Adam Huckleberry;Robin Hudson; James Ireland; Daniel Irish; J. I.; Eric Ison; Rodger Iverson;Miguel Iztas; Bryce Jackson; Joel Jackson; Raymond Jeffers;Gardiner Jeffrey; Johnathan Johns; Kami Johns; Timothy Johns;Bonnie Johnson; Christopher Johnson; James Jones; Faith Kaanapu;Mark Kamberg; Frank Kearny; Brian Keelean;Keith Keller; Mahlon Kerwick; Ronald Knight; Mark Knight;Karl Kohne; Kerry Kost; Patrick Krzan; Dustin Lamm;Ryan Lansing; Gil Leal; Sharon Leinen; Brianna Leitz;Justin Lettau; Carl Lindstrom; Bradley Loosveldt; Corey Low;Oscar Lucatero; Phillip Love; Gale Lyon; Ismael Magallanes;Matthew Malin; Jairo Martin; David Martinez; Byron Massie;James Matte; Trent Maxwell; Sam McCarley;Joe Meier; Norma Mendoza; Cory Meyer; Kyle Meyer;Kevin Milford; Darren Miller; Benjamin Minter; Jeremy Miranda;Derik Moe; Trent Mooney; Ryan Moore, Attorney; Joelle Moss;Ryleigh Morrison; Daniel Morrow; Allen Morris;Jennifer Mullen-Morris; Patrick Murphy; Paul Naef; Celeste Nelson;Johnny Neer; Tobin Neyens; Marco Nicacio;Matt Nichol; Jeffery Nielson; Ivan Nunez; Juan Nunez; Kelly O'Brien;Angel Ojeda; Luis Ojeda; William Olson; Mark Oslin; William Owen;Patrick Paeschke; Stuart Palmer; Nicholas Parker, Trial Attorney;Jeffery David Parrish; Kevin Patterson; Brandon Patton; Zachary Pike;Brian Pisca; Jesse Potter; Kelly Poynor; Bryan Raeder; Agapito Ramos;Kevin Reberger; Howard Reed; Matthew Reed; Robert Reynolds;Ryan Richardson; Ryder Richardson;Greg Richter; Ryan Rickenbach; Ramon Riojas; Martin Rios Magana;Michael Riplinger; Ernesto Rivas; June Robinson; Staci Rockey; Gregory Rodenburg;Manuel Rodriguez; Jaime Rodriguez; Lori Rogers; Ryan Rosenthal;Leisha Rowe; Mischelle Russell;Jamison Saddler; Kyle Saltz; William Samson; Oscar Sanchez;Matthew Sanders; Joel Savage; Rick Schieffer;Jacob Schmid; Jessica Schuette; John Schuette; Devin Shelby;Jeff Short; Steve Short; Thomas Sichler; Gidget Silvers; Stephen H. Simmons;Andrea Sims; Daniel Sims; Edward Sinclair; John Sisemore; Cathy Slape;Gabe Slape; Derek Small; Gregory Smith; Shad Smith; Stephen Smith;William Smoot; Todd Sommerville; Krisheena Stajduhar; Damon Stanley;Kirsten Stanley; David Storaci; Joseph Stowman;William Sullivan; Carl Sutherland; April Swofford;Roger W. Szelmeczka; Linda Thomas; James Thorne; Andrew Tucker;Daniel Turlington; Amanda L. Tyler, Professor; Aric Tyler; Eva Upchurch;Brandt Urwin; Jeff Vanderpol; Angela Villareal;Aaron Webber; Ryan Weideman; Shawn D. Welker; Hans Wellenbrock;Trent Wellner; Tobin Wells; Kristina Whalen; Daniel Wharton;Nathaniel Wick; Wendy Wilde; Keaton Williams; Logan Williams;Brian Williamson; Nathaniel Wilson; Robert Wood;Paul Wulff; Tim York; Robert Zane; D. N.; William Weisberg, Esquire;Terri Adams; Jaryd Joseph Anderson; Leslie Blank; Shanna Brittain;Nathaniel Brook; Jeff Brooks; Jacob Clark; James T. Clark; Lane Dahl;Mary E. Day; James Dewey; Gregg Dillingham; Todd Dirks; Eric Dysland;John Flanagan; Alejandro Fragozo; Erika Jordan; Thomas S. Krasner;Douglas Patnode; Adriana Elizabeth Prescott;Christopher Yaroch, Plaintiffs-Appellants,andAlicia Urwin; Shari Weisberg; Kenneth Jarman, Plaintiffs, v. Brian VANCE,in his official capacity as Manager of the United States Department of Energy Hanford Site;Joseph R. Biden,in his official capacity as President of the United States of America;Jennifer Granholm, in her official capacity as Secretary ofthe United States Department of Energy, Defendants-Appellees,andValerie McCain, in her official capacity as Vit Plant Project Director, Bechtel;Scott Sax, in his official capacity as President and Project Manager ofCentral Plateau Cleanup Company; Robert Wilkinson, in his official capacity as Presidentand Program Manager of Hanford Mission Integrated Solutions LLC;Don Hardy, in his official capacity as Manager of Hanford LaboratoriesManagement and Integration 222-S Laboratory Manager; Hiram Seth Whitmer,in his official capacity as President and Program Manager, HPM Corporation;Steven Ashby, in his official capacity as Laboratory Director,Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Defendants.

No. 22-35474

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit

Submitted June 7, 2023^* Seattle, Washington

Filed June 13, 2023

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington, Thomas O. Rice, District Judge, Presiding, D.C. No. 4:21-cv-05148-TOR

Nathan J. Arnold, Arnold & Jacobowitz PLLC, Redmond, Washington; Simon P. Serrano, Silent Majority Foundation, Pasco, Washington; for Plaintiffs-Appellants.

Anna O. Mohan, Mark B. Stern, and David L. Peters, Appellate Staff Attorneys; Brian M. Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division; United States Department of Justice; Washington, D.C.; John Drake and Molly Smith, Assistant United States Attorneys; Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney, Eastern District of Washington; Office of the United States Attorney; Spokane, Washington; for Defendants-Appellees.

Before: William A. Fletcher, Richard R. Clifton, and Sandra S. Ikuta, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

CLIFTON, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiffs-Appellants, a group of Federal contractor employees and Federal employees working for the Department of Energy, challenged two Executive Orders, Executive Orders 14,042 and 14,043 (EOs), issued in September 2021.¹ Those EOs mandated COVID-19 vaccination for Federal contractor employees and Federal employees, respectively. They also provided for legally required medical or religious exemptions. Plaintiffs challenged the EOs as ultra vires exercises of presidential power in violation of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act (Procurement Act), the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (Procurement Policy Act), the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act (RFRA), the major questions doctrine, and general constitutional federalism constraints.² Plaintiffs sought injunctive and declaratory relief to address their allegedly "imminent and wrongful termination[s]" for failure to comply with the vaccination requirements.

The district court held that plaintiffs who had submitted religious and medical exemptions, but who had not yet completed the exemption request process, did not have claims ripe for adjudication. The district court then dismissed the operative Second Amended Complaint with prejudice for failure to state a claim and without leave to amend. Donovan v. Biden, 603 F. Supp. 3d 975, 985 (E.D. Wash. 2022). It did so after denying Plaintiffs' motion for a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction, and declaratory relief. Donovan v. Vance, 576 F. Supp. 3d 816, 827 (E.D. Wash. 2021). It also did so after providing three opportunities for Plaintiffs to properly plead their allegations. Plaintiffs appealed both the interlocutory and final orders.

While this appeal was pending before us, the challenged EOs were revoked by Executive Order 14,099 (Revocation EO), effective May 12, 2023.³ We ordered supplemental briefs from the parties addressing whether that revocation caused this case to become moot. In that briefing, the government argued that because President Biden has revoked the challenged EOs, the appeal is moot. For their part, Plaintiffs argued that the case is not moot, and that they are entitled to damages under RFRA.

We conclude that the case is moot as to all non-RFRA claims. We further conclude that Plaintiffs' RFRA claims are precluded by sovereign immunity. We therefore affirm the district court's dismissal of Plaintiffs' RFRA claims, dismiss the remainder of the appeal, and remand with instructions to vacate the portion of the orders on appeal addressing all non-RFRA claims.

1. Mootness

"A case is moot on appeal if no live controversy remains at the time the court of appeals hears the case," such that no "appellate court can give the appellant any effective relief in the event that it decides the matter on the merits in his favor." NASD Disp. Resol., Inc. v. Jud. Council of State of Cal., 488 F.3d 1065, 1068 (9th Cir. 2007) (internal citation and quotation omitted). If so, "[t]he court . . . lacks jurisdiction and must dismiss the...