United States v. United States District Court

Opinion by Judge MILAN D. SMITH, Jr.; Concurrence by Judge WALLACE.

OPINION

The United States has filed a petition for a writ of mandamus challenging a district judge’s policy restricting the pro hac viee admission of government attorneys. After the petition was filed, the district judge reversed his previous order denying an attorney in this case pro hac vice admission. The United States contends that the district judge’s reversal of his previous order did not render this controversy moot, and requests that we exercise our supervisory and advisory mandamus power to issue guidance to the district court. We agree that the controversy remains live, conclude that the district court erred, and find that guidance to the district court is appropriate. We decline to issue a formal writ of mandamus because it would not be an effective remedy in this case, and accordingly deny the petition without prejudice.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This is one of at least two cases in which-the United States has filed petitions for writs of mandamus to the district court challenging District Judge Robert C. Jones’s policy of denying the applications for pro hac vice admission of attorneys for…

concurring in the judgment:

I concur only in the judgment to deny the writ of mandamus. Judge Jones’s reversal of his prior order denying admission to government attorneys renders unnecessary the government’s petition for a writ of mandamus. This is where our analysis should end. See In re Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Emps., AFL-CIO, 837 F.2d 503, 507 (D.C.Cir.1988) (denying petition for writ of mandamus and observing that “[w]here there’s no remedy, there’s no need to decide if there was a wrong”). In my view, our statutory writ authority is an improper vehicle for providing hopeful but non-binding assurances that Judge Jones will discontinue his practice of routinely denying admission to the government’s out-of-state attorneys, and then reversing course when such denials become subject to appellate review. The proper, and frankly more effective, place from which the government may obtain such assurances is the Judicial Council of the Circuit (Circuit Council).

I.

In 1939, Congress passed legislation instituting a comprehensive plan of decentralized judicial administration. The Administrative Office Act of 1939(Act) created the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, and…