Stuart v. Huff

706 F.3d 345

Gretchen S. STUART, MD, on behalf of herself and her patients seeking abortions; James R. Dingfelder, MD, on behalf of himself and his patients seeking abortions; David A. Grimes, MD, on behalf of himself and his patients seeking abortions; Amy Bryant, MD, on behalf of herself and her patients seeking abortions; Serina Floyd, MD, on behalf of herself and her patients seeking abortions; Decker & Watson, Inc., d/b/a Piedmont Carolina Medical Clinic; Planned Parenthood Of Central North Carolina; A Woman's Choice of Raleigh, Inc.; Planned Parenthood Health Systems, Inc.; Takey Crist, M.D., on behalf of himself and his patients seeking abortions; Takey Crist, M.D., P.A., d/b/a Crist Clinic for Women, Plaintiffs–Appellees,

v. Janice E. HUFF, MD, in her official capacity as President of the North Carolina Medical Board and her employees, agents and successors; Roy Cooper, in his official capacity as Attorney General of North Carolina and his employees, agents and successors; Lanier M. Cansler, in his official capacity as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and his employees, agents and successors; Jim Woodall, in his official capacity as District Attorney (“DA”) for Prosecutorial District (“PD”) 15B and his employees, agents and successors; Tracey E. Cline, in her official capacity as DA for PD 14 and her employees, agents and successors; Doug Henderson, in his official capacity as DA for PD 18 and his employees, agents and successors; Billy West, in his official capacity as DA for PD 12 and his employees, agents and successors; C. Colon Willoughby, Jr., in his official capacity as DA for PD 10 and his employees, agents and successors; Benjamin R. David, in his official capacity as DA for PD 5 and his employees, agents and successors; Jim O'Neill, in his official capacity as DA for PD 21 and his employees, agents and successors; Ernie Lee, in his official capacity as DA for PD 4 and his employees, agents and successors, Defendants,andJohn M. Thorp, Jr., MD; Gregory J. Brannon, MD; Martin J. McCaffrey, MD; Chimere Collins; Dallene Hallenbeck; Tracie Johnson; Lanita Wilks; Asheville Pregnancy Support Services; Pregnancy Resource Center of Charlotte, Appellants.

No. 12–1052.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued: Dec. 4, 2012.

Decided: Jan. 24, 2013.

ARGUED:Samuel Brown Casey, III, Jubilee Campaign–Law of Life Project, Washington, D.C., for Appellants. Anton Metlitsky, O'Melveny & Myers, LLP, New York, New York, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:Steven H. Aden, Alliance Defending Freedom, Washington, D.C.; W. Eric Medlin, Robertson, Medlin & Bloss, PLLC, Greensboro, North Carolina, for Appellants. Katherine Lewis Parker, American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina Legal Foundation, Raleigh, North Carolina; Andrew D. Beck, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New York, New York; Walter Dellinger, Laura Conn, O'Melveny & Myers, LLP, Washington, D.C.; Bebe J. Anderson, Center for Reproductive Rights, New York, New York; Helene T. Krasnoff, Planned Parenthood Fed. of America, Washington, D.C., for Appellees.

Before TRAXLER, Chief Judge, and WILKINSON and DUNCAN, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by published opinion. Judge WILKINSON wrote the opinion, in which Chief Judge TRAXLER and Judge DUNCAN joined.

OPINION

WILKINSON, Circuit Judge:

In late 2011, plaintiffs challenged the constitutionality of the North Carolina “Woman's Right to Know Act,” (“the Act”), a statute that requires certain informed consent procedures prior to the performance of an abortion, N.C. Gen.Stat. §§ 90–21.80 to –21.92. Although the North Carolina Attorney General actively sought to defend the statute, appellants—a group of pro-life medical professionals, women who have previously undergone abortions, and pregnancy counseling centers—filed a motion to intervene as defendants in the suit. The district court denied their motion. Because the court did not abuse its discretion in doing so, we affirm.

I.

The North Carolina General Assembly enacted the Woman's Right to Know Act in July 2011. The Act requires that a “physician who is to perform [an] abortion, or [a] qualified technician” must provide the pregnant woman with a real-time ultrasound display of the fetus and a “simultaneous explanation of what the display is depicting.” N.C. Gen.Stat. § 90–21.85(a). In addition to these real-time display and explanation requirements, the Act contains certain other informed consent provisions and authorizes civil remedies against persons who violate the law. Id. §§ 90–21.82, –21.88, –21.90.

Plaintiffs are a group of physicians and medical centers that provide abortion services. On September 29, 2011, they filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina seeking a declaration that the Act violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of physicians and their patients, along with an injunction preventing enforcement of the Act. Plaintiffs also filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. The merits of plaintiffs' claims are not at issue in this appeal, but the procedural history of the lawsuit is relevant to our evaluation of the district court's denial of appellants' motion to intervene.

On October 12, the defendants in the underlying suit—a number of state officials represented by the North Carolina Attorney General—filed their opposition to the motion for a preliminary injunction. The district court held a hearing on the motion five days later, which lasted nearly three hours. During that hearing, the Attorney General (through a special deputy) pressed numerous arguments for upholding the Act under Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 505 U.S. 833, 112 S.Ct. 2791, 120 L.Ed.2d 674 (1992), which upheld an abortion informed consent statute against a similar challenge. In particular, the Attorney General argued that the Act should be upheld because Casey recognizes the state's “profound interest in potential life”; its “permissible purpose” of informing women considering an abortion of the procedure's “potential consequences” for their “future psychological and emotional health”; and its ability to require the communication of “truthful and non-misleading” information to patients. The Attorney General did not introduce factual evidence in support of the Act, choosing instead to rely on the above legal arguments from Casey.

The district court ruled on the motion on October 25, issuing a preliminary injunction against the Act's real-time display and explanation requirements, but denying the motion with respect to the remainder of the Act. Stuart v. Huff, 834 F.Supp.2d 424, 437 (M.D.N.C.2011). Those unaffected portions of the Act went into effect the next day. Deciding to litigate the case to final judgment rather than appeal the preliminary injunction, the Attorney General filed an answer and moved to dismiss the complaint two weeks later.

Appellants in this matter are a group of pro-life doctors, former abortion patients, and pregnancy counseling centers. On November 8, they filed a motion to intervene as defendants in the case, the subject of this appeal. Appellants sought to intervene as a matter of right pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a), and, alternatively, as a permissive matter pursuant to Rule 24(b).

The district court denied the motion on both grounds. With regard to intervention as of right, the court focused on the requirement under Rule 24(a)(2) that “the proposed intervenors must demonstrate that their interests are not being adequately represented by the existing [d]efendants.”J.A. 605. The court noted two presumptions that cut against the appellants on this point. First, the court explained that “ ‘[w]hen the party seeking intervention has the same ultimate objective as a party to the suit, a presumption arises that its interests are adequately represented,’ ” which can only be rebutted by a showing of “ ‘adversity of interest, collusion, or nonfeasance.’ ” Id. at 606 (quoting Virginia v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 542 F.2d 214, 216 (4th Cir.1976)). The presumption applied in this case, the court held, because the appellants and the existing defendants share “precisely the same goal: to uphold the Act as constitutionally permissible.” Id.

The court also explained that because the existing defendant in this case is a government agency, a “very strong showing of inadequacy” is needed to warrant intervention. J.A. 606. This is so, the court reasoned, because “acting in a type of representative capacity is a basic governmental function, and the business of the government could hardly be conducted if, in matters of litigation, individual citizens could usually or always intervene and assert individual points of view.” Id.

After identifying the applicable legal standard, the district court considered the appellants' chief contention: that their interests were not being adequately represented because the Attorney General did not introduce evidence in opposition to the preliminary injunction motion. The court rejected this argument, pointing out that the Attorney General had filed a “thorough and substantial brief” and had “argued zealously in opposition to the motion for injunctive relief.” J.A. 607. The court explained, moreover, that while the “proposed intervenors may have disagreed with the [d]efendants' tactical decisions,” such a disagreement does not amount to the necessary showing of adversity of interest, collusion, or nonfeasance that would “rebut the presumption of adequacy.” Id. The court accordingly denied the motion for intervention as of right.

The district court then addressed the appellants' request for permissive intervention. Citing Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(b)(3), which requires courts to “consider whether the intervention will unduly delay” the litigation, the court denied permissive intervention on the ground that adding the...