Jeffrey CAMPBELL, on behalf of himself and others similarly situated, Plaintiff—Appellee, v. Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, in and for the City of Minneapolis, a public body corporate and politic, Defendant—Appellant, Cora McCorvey, in her official capacity as Executive Director of the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority, Defendant.
Nos. 98-1075, 98-1076
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
Decided Feb. 10, 1999.
Submitted Oct. 21, 1998.
168 F.3d 1069
Louis N. Smith, Minneapolis, Minnesota, argued (Matthew E. Johnson, Minneapolis, Minnesota, John D. Cann, St. Paul, Minnesota, on the brief), for appellee.
Before BOWMAN, Chief Judge, BRIGHT, and RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Circuit Judges.
BOWMAN, Chief Judge.
After he was denied eligibility for public housing, Jeffrey Campbell filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA). Campbell‘s suit alleged that the MPHA had violated federal, state, and local anti-discrimination provisions by requiring all applicants to disclose private information about a protected disability, past drug addiction, and by discriminating against applicants on the basis of the information disclosed. The District Court, deciding the case by ruling on cross-motions for summary judgment, enjoined the
I.
The MPHA is a public entity that owns and manages almost 6600 units of publicly assisted housing in Minneapolis. The MPHA receives federal funding from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and must comply with HUD regulations and federal law to receive this funding.
Applicants seeking public-housing assistance from the MPHA must qualify under federal and state guidelines. To determine whether an applicant qualifies, the MPHA requires that all applicants complete an application, which includes a questionnaire and release forms that give the MPHA access to the applicant‘s criminal history and certain chemical-dependency treatment records. Applicants must also provide a thirty-six-month rental history or three letters of reference.
The MPHA public-housing application contains two items that Campbell challenges in this litigation. First, question 7 on the MPHA questionnaire asks applicants, “Have you or any member of your family intending to live with you in public housing EVER been in a detoxification center or a chemical dependency treatment program? ... If yes, where?” Appellants’ App. at 48. Second, all MPHA public-housing applicants must sign a release form that allows the MPHA to obtain “[t]reatment summaries, program involvements, case plans and detox admissions” from the Hennepin County Community Services Chemical Health Division. See id. at 52.
In May 1996, Jeffrey Campbell, a thirty-three-year-old man who had been homeless for approximately four years, applied for MPHA public housing. As part of his application, Campbell answered question 7 affirmatively, indicating he had been in a chemical-dependency or detoxification treatment program. The MPHA interviewer requested, and Campbell later provided, proof that Campbell had completed a chemical-dependency treatment program in 1993. Campbell also executed the required releases permitting the MPHA to review his chemical-dependency treatment and criminal-history records. Finally, because he had been homeless and could not supply a thirty-six-month rental history, Campbell supplied three reference letters. One of these reference letters, written by a social worker at the Hennepin County Medical Center, mentioned Campbell‘s past drug use: “Mr. Campbell has a history of drug use, and I will leave it to him to give you the details on that.” Id. at 55.
The MPHA accessed Campbell‘s chemical-dependency treatment and criminal-history records and reviewed Campbell‘s application, including the affirmative answer he had given to question 7 and the reference letter mentioning his past drug use. Campbell‘s chemical-dependency treatment records indicated that Campbell had used cocaine in March 1995, and possibly as late as August 1995. See id. at 37 (Declaration of Jeffrey Campbell) (admitting the use of illegal drugs in March 1995); id. at 33 (Defendants’ Answer) (indicating Campbell‘s chemical-dependency treatment records revealed that in March 1995 Campbell admitted he “currently and regularly” used illegal drugs, and that on August 1, 1995, he “continued to use cocaine on a weekly basis“). Campbell‘s criminal record, meanwhile, showed that in 1990 or 1992 he had been arrested or convicted for disorderly conduct, profanity in public, theft, and theft by check. See id. at 37 (Declaration of Jeffrey Campbell); id. at 56 (Letter from the MPHA to Campbell, Aug. 28, 1996).
The MPHA denied Campbell‘s public-housing application on August 28, 1996. In a
- You have a criminal history which includes arrests and/or convictions for: disorderly conduct, profanity in public, theft, and theft by check ($20-$500).
- According to an assessment done by the Hennepin County Community Services Chemical Health Division you have recently used illicit drugs and have a problem with alcohol. You have a history of paranoid behavior when using.
Id. at 56.
Campbell appealed the MPHA‘s decision, and received a review hearing before a three-person MPHA hearing panel on October 17, 1996. The hearing panel, made up of one MPHA employee and two MPHA residents, heard Campbell‘s appeal and denied his application. The hearing panel again cited Campbell‘s drug and alcohol use as the reasons for its denial:
1) Although Mr. Campbell has received treatment for drug/alcohol use he admits he is still using. Mr. Campbell exhibits paranoid behaviors when using, according to [Hennepin County Community Services].
2) Committee felt Mr. Campbell needs to resolve chemical use issues—including alcohol.
Id. at 60.
Campbell then filed this lawsuit in the District Court. He alleged that the MPHA had required him and other applicants to disclose a protected disability, past drug addiction, and had discriminated against them on the basis of this disability, in violation of the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988,
The MPHA suspended the challenged practices after Campbell‘s suit commenced, but in court it defended its inquiry and its release requirement as being authorized by the Housing Opportunity Program Extension Act of 1996 (Extension Act), 110 Stat. 834, 837-38 (1996) (codified at
The parties did not dispute the material facts, so the District Court decided the case on cross-motions for summary judgment. Finding that nothing in the Extension Act repealed the pre-existing anti-discrimination provisions, the District Court enjoined the defendants from using question 7 and requiring all applicants to execute a release of their chemical-dependency treatment records. See Campbell, 175 F.R.D. at 535, 538. However, the court determined that Campbell‘s application, excluding his response to question 7 and the chemical-dependency treatment records he released, would have justified the MPHA‘s inquiry into his chemical-dependency treatment history, so it denied Campbell the other relief he sought, including injunctive relief that would place him on the waiting list for MPHA public housing. See id. at 537-38. In addition, finding that Campbell had failed to demonstrate common questions of law or fact and had failed to demonstrate sufficient numerosity of class members, the court denied class certification. See id. at 538. Both parties appeal.
II.
The MPHA asserts that Campbell does not have standing to bring this appeal. According to the MPHA, and findings by the District Court, information obtained by the MPHA in an unchallenged manner provided ample grounds for the MPHA to inquire into Campbell‘s chemical-dependency treatment history and to require him to execute a release of his chemical-dependency treatment records. See id. at 537-38 (stating that the reference letter, when coupled with Campbell‘s criminal history and lack of residential history, justified an inquiry into Campbell‘s chemical-dependency treatment history, so he had suffered no harm from the challenged inquiry and release requirement). The MPHA argues that, because Campbell would have been found ineligible even if the challenged conduct had not occurred, he cannot show any injury that he could ask this Court to redress.
Standing is a threshold matter that, if absent, prevents this Court from exercising jurisdiction over Campbell‘s appeal. See Arkansas Right to Life State Political Action Comm. v. Butler, 146 F.3d 558, 560 (8th Cir. 1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1145, 119 S.Ct. 1041, 143 L.Ed.2d 48 (1999). Therefore, we must find that Campbell has standing to bring this suit before we can reach the merits of his appeal. See Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env‘t, 523 U.S. 83, 118 S.Ct. 1003, 1012-13, 140 L.Ed.2d 210 (1998) (holding that federal courts may not consider other issues before resolving standing, an Article III jurisdictional matter).
The Constitution requires a party to satisfy three elements before it has standing to bring suit in federal court: injury in fact, causation, and redressability. See id. at 1016-17. Campbell, as the party invoking federal jurisdiction, has the burden of establishing these three elements. See Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). At the summary judgment stage, he must set forth by affidavit and other evidence specific facts that, when accepted as true, support his position that he has standing to pursue his claims. See id. Our inquiry into standing is not a review of the merits of Campbell‘s claims. See Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 500, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975) (distinguishing standing from a review of the merits: “standing in no way depends on the merits of the plaintiff‘s contention that particular conduct is illegal“).
Reviewing the pleadings, the affidavits, and other evidence included in the record, we find two bases under which Campbell has standing to bring this lawsuit. First, if Campbell is correct that the MPHA violated federal and state anti-discrimination provisions when it asked question 7 and required the release of chemical-dependency treatment records in its application, then Campbell may have suffered injury when the MPHA improperly asked him to disclose in-
Second, Campbell alleges that, because he was not a current drug user and had not been convicted of the illegal manufacture or distribution of a controlled substance, the MPHA improperly determined his past drug use made him ineligible for public housing. The record contains an affidavit in which Campbell states that he no longer uses illegal drugs and that he stays away from people who use illegal drugs. See Appellants’ App. at 37-38 (Declaration of Jeffrey Campbell). Furthermore, the affidavit states Campbell remains homeless because of the MPHA‘s determination, and that his homeless condition has aggravated his health problems and caused other economic and emotional damages. See id. at 38-39. If Campbell is correct that the MPHA could deny him eligibility only for current illegal drug use, and not on the basis of past drug use or past association with drug users, then the MPHA improperly determined that Campbell was ineligible, and this determination may have caused the physical, economic, and emotional injuries Campbell alleges. The relief Campbell seeks would redress many of these injuries.
We believe that under either of these two bases, Campbell has satisfied the three elements of injury-in-fact, causation, and redressability, and has standing to bring this lawsuit. We repeat the fundamental principle that the ultimate merits of the case have no bearing on the threshold question of standing.
III.
The MPHA argues that the District Court erred in finding that question 7 and the required release of chemical-dependency treatment records violate federal statutes and regulations, state statutes, and municipal ordinances. The MPHA claims that the Extension Act requires the MPHA to probe an applicant‘s history of chemical-dependency treatment, and that the Act allows the MPHA to use question 7 and the required release of chemical-dependency treatment records.
This Court holds that the Extension Act supersedes the federal, state, and local statutes and regulations upon which Campbell relies and permits the MPHA to include question 7 and require the release of chemical-dependency treatment records as part of its public-housing application. Section 9 of the Extension Act in part reads:
(e) Ineligibility of illegal drug users and alcohol abusers
(1) In general
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a public housing agency shall establish standards for occupancy in public housing dwelling units and assistance under section 1437f of this title—
(A) that prohibit occupancy in any public housing dwelling unit by, and assistance under section 1437f of this title for, any person—
(i) who the public housing agency determines is illegally using a controlled substance; or
(ii) if the public housing agency determines that it has reasonable cause to believe that such person‘s illegal use (or pattern of illegal use) of a con-
trolled substance, or abuse (or pattern of abuse) of alcohol, may interfere with the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other residents of the project; ....
The plain language of the Extension Act is clear: public-housing authorities must prevent individuals using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol from living in public-housing accommodations or receiving public-housing funds. See
In reaching this conclusion, we have not been asked to consider, and do not consider, whether federal law would permit the MPHA to deny eligibility to all applicants who answer question 7 affirmatively, even those applicants who received chemical-dependency or detoxification treatment many years before they applied for public housing. We note only that Congress seems to have addressed this concern: the Extension Act and subsequent legislation provide guidance for public-housing agencies in evaluating an applicant‘s drug rehabilitation efforts. See
IV.
Campbell seeks individual relief, including damages and injunctive relief placing him on the waiting list for MPHA public housing, claiming that the MPHA improperly determined he was ineligible for public housing. Consistent with University of Tenn. v. Elliott, 478 U.S. 788, 799, 106 S.Ct. 3220, 92 L.Ed.2d 635 (1986), this Court gives the MPHA‘s determinations the same deference they would have in a Minnesota state court. According to Minnesota law, this Court should uphold the MPHA‘s findings unless “they are unconstitutional, outside the agency‘s jurisdiction, procedurally defective, based on an erroneous legal theory, unsupported by substantial evidence, or arbitrary and capricious.” Carter v. Olmsted County Hous. & Redev. Auth., 574 N.W.2d 725, 729 (Minn. Ct. App. 1998) (reviewing a public-housing authority‘s rent-voucher eligibility determination).
Reviewing the record under the foregoing standard of review, we are unable to determine whether the decision reached by the MPHA was proper. The MPHA is obligated to exclude Campbell from public housing if “it has reasonable cause to believe” that, at the time of his application, he was using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol in a manner that “may interfere with the health, safety, or right to peaceful enjoyment of the premises by other residents of the project.”
V.
Finally, Campbell appeals the District Court‘s denial of class certification. Because we have determined that the MPHA‘s inquiry and release requirement are lawful, the question whether the District Court properly denied class certification is moot, and we do not reach it.
VI.
We vacate the injunction entered by the District Court and hold that the MPHA may use question 7 and the required release of chemical-dependency treatment records as part of its public-housing application, subject to any modifications required when the QHWRA, Pub.L. No. 105-276, 1998 U.S.C.C.A.N. (112 Stat.) 2518, becomes effective. We remand the case to the District Court with instructions that it enter summary judgment for the defendants on those claims.
We vacate the District Court‘s denial of individual relief for Campbell, and remand the case with instructions that the District Court remand to the MPHA for a redetermination of Campbell‘s public-housing eligibility.
UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Stephen A. BOYD, Appellant.
No. 98-3214WM
United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit
Decided Feb. 18, 1999.
Submitted Feb. 9, 1999.
168 F.3d 1077
Lance D. Sandage, Independence, MO, argued, for appellant.
Before FAGG and HANSEN, Circuit Judges, and ROSENBAUM,* District Judge.
PER CURIAM.
Stephen A. Boyd and two other men robbed a credit union in Independence, Missouri. A jury convicted Boyd of conspiracy to commit bank robbery, armed bank robbery, and using a firearm in a crime of violence. The district court sentenced Boyd to 117 months in prison. Boyd appeals, and we affirm.
Initially, Boyd contends the district court improperly permitted the Government to use a peremptory challenge to strike an African-American juror on the basis of race. See Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79, 96-98, 106 S.Ct. 1712, 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). We disagree. The Government struck the juror because he had relatives who had served or were serving jail sentences and because the juror was restless, impatient, and appeared unwilling “to participate in the [trial] in a fair way.” These are valid, race-neutral reasons