535 U.S. 635 | SCOTUS | 2002
Lead Opinion
delivered the opinion of the Court.
These cases present the question whether federal district courts have jurisdiction over a telecommunication carrier’s claim that the order of a state utility commission requiring reciprocal compensation for telephone calls to Internet Service Providers violates federal law.
I
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996 Act or Act), Pub. L. 104-104, 110 Stat. 56, created a new telecommunications regime designed to foster competition in local telephone markets. Toward that end, the Act imposed various obligations on incumbent local-exchange carriers (LECs), including a duty to share their networks with competitors. See 47 U. S. C. § 251(c) (1994 ed., Supp. V). When a new entrant seeks access to a market, the incumbent LEC must “provide . . . interconnection with” the incumbent’s existing network, § 251(c)(2), and the carriers must then establish “reciprocal compensation arrangements” for transporting and terminating the calls placed by each others’ customers, § 251(b)(5). As we have previously described, see AT&T Corp. v. Iowa Utilities Bd., 525 U. S. 366, 371-373 (1999), an incumbent LEC “may negotiate and enter into a binding agreement” with the new entrant “to fulfill the duties” imposed by §§ 251(b) and (c), but “without regard to the standards set forth” in those provisions. §§ 252(a)(1),
As required by .the Act, the incumbent LEG in Maryland, petitioner Verizon Maryland Inc., formerly known as Bell Atlantic Maryland, Inc., negotiated an interconnection agreement with competitors, including MFS Intelenet of Maryland, later acquired by respondent MCI WorldCom, Inc. The Maryland Public Service Commission (Commission) approved the agreement. Six months later, Verizon informed WorldCom that it would no longer pay reciprocal compensation for telephone calls made by Verizon’s customers to the local access numbers of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), claiming that ISP traffic was not “local traffic”
Verizon filed an action in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, citing 47 U. S. C. § 252(e)(6) and 28 U. S. C. § 1331 as the basis for jurisdiction, and naming as defendants the Commission, its individual members in their official capacities, WorldCom, and other competing LECs. In its complaint, Verizon sought declaratory and injunctive relief from the Commission’s order, alleging that the determination that Verizon must pay reciprocal compensation to WorldCom for ISP traffic violated the 1996 Act and the FCC ruling.
The District Court dismissed the action, and a divided panel of the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed. 240 F. 3d 279 (2001). The Fourth Circuit held that the Commission had not waived its immunity from suit by voluntarily participating in the regulatory scheme set up under the 1996 Act, and that the doctrine of Ex parte Young, 209 U. S. 123 (1908), does not permit suit against the individual commissioners in their official capacities. It then held that neither 47 U. S. C. § 252(e)(6) nor 28 U. S. C. § 1331 provides a basis for jurisdiction over Verizon’s claims against the private defendants. Both Verizon and the United
II
WorldCom, Verizon, and the United States contend that 47 U.S.C. §252(e)(6) and 28 U.S.C. §1331 independently grant federal courts subject-matter jurisdiction to determine whether the Commission’s order requiring that Verizon pay WorldCom reciprocal compensation for ISP-bound calls violates the 1996 Act. Section 252 sets forth procedures relating to formation and commission approval of interconnection agreements, and commission approval and continuing review of interconnection terms and conditions (called “[statements of generally available terms,” § 252(f)) filed by LECs. Section 252(e)(6) provides, in relevant part: “In any case in which a State commission makes a determination under this section, any party aggrieved by such determination may bring an action in an appropriate Federal district court to determine whether the agreement or statement meets the requirements of section 251 of this title and this section.” The determination at issue here is neither the approval or disapproval of a negotiated agreement nor the approval or disapproval of a statement of generally available terms. WorldCom, Verizon, and the United States argue, however, that a state commission’s authority under § 252 implicitly encompasses the authority to interpret and enforce an interconnection agreement that the commission has ap
Verizon alleged in its complaint that the Commission violated the Act and the FCC ruling when it ordered payment of reciprocal compensation for ISP-bound calls. Verizon sought a declaratory judgment that the Commission’s order was unlawful, and an injunction prohibiting its enforcement. We have no doubt that federal courts have jurisdiction under § 1331 to entertain such a suit. Verizon seeks relief from the Commission’s order “on the ground that such regulation is pre-empted by a federal statute which, by virtue of the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, must prevail,” and its claim “thus presents a federal question which the federal courts have jurisdiction under 28 U. S. C. § 1331 to resolve.” Shaw v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 463 U. S. 85, 96, n. 14 (1983).
The Commission contends that since the Act does not create a private cause of action to challenge the Commission’s order, there is no jurisdiction to entertain such a suit. We need express no opinion on the premise of this argument. “It is firmly established in our cases that the absence of a
Verizon’s claim thus falls within 28 U. S. C. § 1331’s general grant of jurisdiction, and contrary to the Fourth Circuit’s conclusion, nothing in 47 U. S. C. § 252(e)(6) purports to strip this jurisdiction. Section 252(e)(6) provides for federal review of an agreement when a state commission “makes a determination under [§ 252].” If this does not include (as WorldCom, Verizon, and the United States claim it does) the interpretation or enforcement of an interconnection agreement, then § 252(e)(6) merely makes some other actions by state commissions reviewable in federal court. This is not enough to eliminate jurisdiction under § 1331. Although the situation is not precisely parallel (in that here the elimination of federal district-court review would not amount to the elimination of all review), we think what we said in Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, 387 U. S. 136, 141 (1967), is nonetheless apt: “The mere fact that some acts are made reviewable should not suffice to support an implication of exclusion as to others.” (Internal quotation marks and citation omitted.) And here there is nothing more than that
And finally, none of the other provisions of the Act evince any intent to preclude federal review of a commission determination. If anything, they reinforce the conclusion that § 252(e)(6)’s silence on the subject leaves the jurisdictional grant of § 1331 untouched. For where otherwise applicable jurisdiction was meant to be excluded, it was excluded expressly. Section 252(e)(4) provides: “No State court shall have jurisdiction to review the action of a State commission in approving or rejecting an agreement under this section.” In sum, nothing in the Act displays any intent to withdraw federal jurisdiction under § 1331; we will not presume that the statute means what it neither says nor fairly implies.
The Commission nonetheless contends that the Eleventh Amendment bars Verizon’s claim against it and its individual commissioners. WorldCom, Verizon, and the United States counter that the Commission is subject to suit because it voluntarily participated in the regulatory regime established by the Act. Whether the Commission waived its immunity is another question we need not decide, because — as the same parties also argue — even absent waiver, Verizon may proceed against the individual commissioners in their official capacities, pursuant to the doctrine of Ex parte Young, 209 U. S. 123 (1908).
In determining whether the doctrine of Ex parte Young avoids an Eleventh Amendment bar to suit, a court need only conduct a “straightforward inquiry into whether [the] complaint alleges an ongoing violation of federal law and seeks relief properly characterized as prospective.” Idaho v. Coeur d’Alene Tribe of Idaho, 521 U. S. 261, 296 (1997) (O’Connor, J., joined by Scalia and Thomas, JJ., concurring in part and concurring in judgment); see also id., at 298-299 (Souter, J., joined by Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., dissenting). Here Verizon sought injunctive and declaratory relief, alleging that the Commission’s order requiring payment of reciprocal compensation was preempted by the 1996 Act and an FCC ruling. The prayer for injunctive relief — that state officials be restrained from enforcing an order in contravention of controlling federal law — clearly satisfies our “straightforward inquiry.” We have approved injunction suits against state regulatory commissioners in like contexts. See, e. g., Prentis v. Atlantic Coast Line Co., 211 U. S. 210, 230 (1908) (“[W]hen the rate is fixed a bill against the commission to restrain the members from enforcing it will not be bad ... as a suit against a State, and will be the proper form of remedy”); Alabama Pub. Serv. Comm’n v. Southern R. Co., 341 U. S. 341, 344, n. 4
The Fourth Circuit suggested that Verizon’s claim could not be brought under Ex parte Young, because the Commission’s order was probably not inconsistent with federal law after all. 240 F. 3d, at 295-297. The court noted that the FCC ruling relied upon by Verizon does not seem to require compensation for ISP traffic; that the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has vacated the ruling; and that the Commission interpreted the interconnection agreement under state contract-law principles. It may (or may not) be true that the FCC’s since-vacated ruling does not support Verizon’s claim; it may (or may not) also be true that state contract law, and not federal law as Verizon contends, applies to disputes regarding the interpretation of Verizon’s agreement. But the inquiry into whether suit lies under Ex parte Young does not include an analysis of the merits of the claim. See Coeur d'Alene, supra, at 281 ("An allegation of an ongoing violation of federal law ... is ordinarily sufficient” (emphasis added)).
* * *
We conclude that 28 U. S. C. § 1331 provides a basis for jurisdiction over Verizon’s claim that the Commission’s order requiring reciprocal compensation for ISP-bound calls is pre-empted by federal law. We also conclude that the doctrine of Ex parte Young permits Verizon’s suit to go forward against the state commissioners in their official capacities. We vacate the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand these cases for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
Section 1.61 of the interconnection agreement provides: ‘“Reciprocal Compensation’ is As Described in the Act, and refers to the payment arrangements that recover costs incurred for the transport and termination of Local Traffic originating on one Party’s network and terminating on the other Party’s network.” In turn, §1.44 defines “‘Local Traffic’” as “traffic that is originated by a Customer of one Party on that Party’s network and terminates to a Customer of the other Party on that other Party’s network, .within a given local calling area, or expanded area service (‘EAS’) area, as defined in [Bell Atlantic’s] effective Customer tariffs. Local Traffic does not include traffic originated or terminated by a commercial mobile radio service carrier.”
The Fourth Circuit suggested that both Maryland law and the Federal Communications Act of 1934 grant the Commission authority to interpret and enforce interconnection agreements that it approves under §252. 240 F. 3d 279, 304 (2001) (citing 47 U. S. C. § 152(b), and Md. Pub. Util. Cos. Code Ann. §2-113 (1998)). The parties dispute whether it is in fact federal or state law that confers this authority, but no party contends that the Commission lacked jurisdiction to interpret and enforce the agreement.
The Commission also suggests that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine precludes a federal district court from exercising jurisdiction over Verizon’s claim. See District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U. S. 462 (1983); Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U. S. 413 (1923). The Rooker-Feldman doctrine merely recognizes that 28 U. S. C. § 1331 is a grant of original jurisdiction, and does not authorize district courts to exercise appellate jurisdiction over state-court judgments, which Congress has reserved to this Court, see § 1257(a). The doctrine has no application to judicial review of executive action, including determinations made by a state administrative agency.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
For the reasons well stated by the Court, I agree Verizon Maryland Inc. may proceed against the state commissioners in their official capacity under the doctrine of Ex parte Young, 209 U. S. 123 (1908). When the plaintiff seeks to enjoin a state utility commissioner from enforcing an order alleged to violate federal law, the Eleventh Amendment poses no bar. See Idaho v. Coeur d’Alene Tribe of Idaho, 521 U. S. 261, 271 (1997) (principal opinion of Kennedy, J., joined by Rehnquist, C. J.).
This is unlike the case in Idaho v. Coeur d’Alene Tribe of Idaho, supra, where the plaintiffs tried to use Ex parte Young to divest a State of sovereignty over territory within its boundaries. In such a case, a “ ‘straightforward inquiry,’ ” which the Court endorses here, ante, at 645, proves more complex. In Coeur d’Alene seven Members of this Court described Ex parte Young as requiring nothing more than an allegation of an ongoing violation of federal law and a
In my view, our Ex parte Young jurisprudence requires careful consideration of the sovereign interests of the State as well as the obligations of state officials to respect the supremacy of federal law. See Coeur d’Alene, supra, at 267-280 (principal opinion of Kennedy, J., joined by Rehnquist, C. J.). I believe this approach, whether stated in express terms or not, is the path followed in Coeur d’Alene as well as in the many cases preceding it. I also believe it necessary. Were it otherwise, the Eleventh Amendment, and not Ex parte Young, would become the legal fiction.
The complaint in this litigation, however, parallels the very suit permitted by Ex parte Young itself. With this brief explanation, I join the opinion of the Court.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
I join the Court’s opinion, Part III of which rests on a ground all of us can agree upon:
One answer might be that even naming the state commission as a defendant in a suit for declaratory and injunc-tive relief in federal court is an unconstitutional indignity. But I do not see how this could be right. At least where the suit does not seek to bar a state authority from applying and enforcing state law, a request for declaratory or in-junctive relief is simply a formality for obtaining a process of review. Cf. 4 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise 206 (2d ed. 1983) (“[T]he suit for injunction and declaratory judgment in a district court under 28 U. S. C. § 1331 ... is now always available to reach reviewable [federal] administrative action in absence of a specific statute making some other remedy exclusive”). And as for the nominal position of a State as defendant,'“[i]t must be regarded as a settled doctrine of this court . . . ‘that the question whether a suit is within the prohibition of the 11th Amendment is not always determined by reference to the nominal parties on the record.’ ” In re Ayers, 123 U. S. 443, 487 (1887) (alteration in original) (quoting Poindexter v. Greenhow, 114 U. S. 270, 287 (1885)). If the applicability of the Eleventh Amendment pivots on the formalism that a State is found on the wrong side of the “v.” in the case name of a regulatory appeal, constitutional immunity becomes nothing more than an accident of captioning practice in utility cases reviewed by courts. For that matter, the formal and nominal position of a governmental body in these circumstances is not even
The only credible response, which Maryland to its credit advances, is that the State has a strong interest in any case where its adjudication of a federal question is challenged.
In so doing, I set aside for the moment my continuing conviction that the interpretation of the Eleventh Amendment that a majority of this Court has embraced is fundamentally mistaken. See Alden v. Maine, 527 U. S. 706, 760 (1999) (dissenting opinion); Seminole Tribe of Fla. v. Florida, 517 U. S. 44, 100 (1996) (dissenting opinion).
“The Judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.” U. S. Const., Amdt. 11.
Cf. e. g., Board of Trustees of Univ. of Ala. v. Garrett, 531 U. S. 356, 360 (2001) (money damages from the State as employer under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990); Kimel v. Florida Bd. of Regents, 528 U. S. 62, 66 (2000) (money damages from the State as employer under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967); Alden v. Maine, supra, at 712 (money damages from the State as employer under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 in state court); Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Ed. Expense Bd. v. College Savings Bank, 527 U. S. 627, 633 (1999) (money damages and injunctive and declaratory relief against a State for patent infringement); College Savings Bank v. Florida Prepaid Postsecondary Ed. Expense Bd., 527 U. S. 666, 671 (1999) (same for trademark violations); Seminole Tribe, supra, at 47 (suit to compel State to negotiate in good faith); Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U. S. 1 (1890) (money damages for failure to honor state securities). In Seminole Tribe, a majority of this Court observed “that the relief sought by a plaintiff suing a State is irrelevant to the question whether the suit is barred by the Eleventh Amendment,” 517 U. S., at 58, but this was said in the context of a suit for injunctive relief (to enforce a duty to negotiate) as opposed to money damages. . My point is that conventional relief of both sorts (and declaratory relief) is different in kind from the judicial review of agency action sought in these cases.
Whether the interpretation of a reciprocal-compensation provision in a privately negotiated interconnection agreement presents a federal issue is a different question which neither the Court nor I address at the present.
Judicial review of Federal Communications Commission determinations under the Act is committed directly to the Courts of Appeal. 28 U. S. C. §2342(1); 47 U. S. C. § 402(a) (1994 ed.).
See 5 U. S. C. §§702-703; Fed. Rule App. Proc. 15(a)(2)(B).
See, e. g., In re Hawaiian Elec. Co., 81 Haw. 459, 918 P. 2d 561 (1996); In re Petition of Interstate Power Co., 416 N. W. 2d 800 (Minn. Ct. App. 1987); Appeal of Campaign for Ratepayers Rights, 145 N. H. 671, 766 A. 2d 702 (2001); In re Petition for Declaratory Ruling of Northwestern Public Serv. Co., 560 N. W. 2d 925 (S. D. 1997); In re Citizens Util. Co., 171 Vt. 447, 769 A. 2d 19 (2000).
The Fourth Circuit obliquely questioned the strength of the State’s interest, noting that “under Maryland law, it is not necessary for the State commission, much less the individual commissioners, to be a party to an appeal for State-court review of its determinations.” Bell Atlantic Md., Inc. v. MCI WorldCom, Inc., 240 F. 3d 279, 295 (2001). But while the Maryland statute which the Fourth Circuit cited, Md. Pub. Util. Cos. Code Ann. §3-204(d) (1998), does provide that “[t]he Commission may,” not must, “be a party to an appeal,” the Maryland courts have specified that the Public Service Commission is one of certain agencies “ ‘the functions of which are so identified with the execution of some definite public policy as the representative of the State, that their participation in litigation affecting their decisions is regarded by the Legislature as essential to the adequate protection of the State’s interests.’ ” Calvert County Planning Comm’n v. Howlin Realty Management, Inc., 364 Md. 301, 315, 772 A. 2d 1209, 1216-1217 (2001) (quoting Zoning Appeals Board v. McKinney, 174 Md. 551, 561, 199 A. 540, 545 (1938)).
A possible ground for distinction is that the Supreme Court reviews state-court decisions while a federal district court initially reviews state-commission decisions under the Act. The argument would be that the Constitution requires any controversy in which a State’s dignitary interests are implicated to be decided by this Court, and no other federal court, as a sign of respect for the State’s sovereignty. See Farquhar v. Georgia (C. C. D. Ga. 1791) (Iredell, J.), reprinted in 5 Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800, pp. 148-154 (M. Marcus ed. 1994) (“It may also fairly be presumed that the several States thought it important to stipulate that so awful [and] important a Trial [to which a State is party] should not be cognizable by any Court but the Supreme”). But this position has long been rejected and is inconsistent with the doctrine of congressional abrogation, which presumes that States may be sued in federal district court in the first instance when Congress properly so provides, see Seminole Tribe, 517 U. S., at 55.
