Alligator Alcatraz Can Remain Open After Court Lifts Injunction

Alligator Alcatraz Can Remain Open After Court Lifts Injunction

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the Trump administration and Florida a stay on a preliminary injunction that would have forced the closure of the state’s Alligator Alcatraz.

That means the detention facility can stay open as the lawsuit moves through the system.

Judge Barbara Lagoa, who authored the opinion, and Judge Elizabeth Branch ruled yes, and Judge Adalberto Jordan dissented.

The plaintiffs claimed the government needed to prepare an environmental impact statement.

In August, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams granted the plaintiffs a preliminary injunction, ordering authorities to halt all new construction and remove most of the site within 60 days.

However, the appeals court panel believes the government will succeed because the site isn’t subject to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

A “major federal action” triggers the requirement for an EIS. Well, the state operates the facility and has not received any federal funding yet (omitted citations):

Here, no federal dollars have been expended on the construction or use of the Facility. DHS has “announced” that it would commit $600 million to a “Detention Support Grant Program,” which would help fund state efforts to house illegal aliens in “short-term holding facilities.” But that planned program has not been “finalized” yet, and DHS has not received, processed, or approved any applications for funding, let alone any regarding the Facility. Even so, the district court concluded that construction of the Facility was “fully funded by the federal government.” In reaching that conclusion, the district court largely relied on public statements by DHS Secretary Noem and Governor DeSantis, as well as a court filing by the Department of Justice in another case, representing that the Facility would be funded by the federal government.

“To the extent the district court took these statements to mean that Florida may one day be reimbursed for its expenditures on the Facility, such an expectancy is insufficient as a matter of law to ‘federalize’ the action,” added Lagoa.

Yeah, um, you cannot use possible future actions on this decision. A possible future action does not necessarily mean it will be federalized.

Goodness.

Again, the state operates Alligator Alcatraz. The federal government has not allocated any funds to Florida for the facility.

“Major federal action” does not include (emphasis mine):

(B)Exclusion

The term “major Federal action” does not include—

(i)a non-Federal action—

(I)with no or minimal Federal funding; or
(II)with no or minimal Federal involvement where a Federal agency cannot control the outcome of the project;

(ii)funding assistance solely in the form of general revenue sharing funds which do not provide Federal agency compliance or enforcement responsibility over the subsequent use of such funds;

(iii)loans, loan guarantees, or other forms of financial assistance where a Federal agency does not exercise sufficient control and responsibility over the subsequent use of such financial assistance or the effect of the action;

(iv)business loan guarantees provided by the Small Business Administration pursuant to section 7(a) or (b) and [1] of the Small Business Act ( U.S.C. 636(a)),[2] or title V of the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 (15 U.S.C. 695 et seq.);

(v)bringing judicial or administrative civil or criminal enforcement actions;

(vi)extraterritorial activities or decisions, which means agency activities or decisions with effects located entirely outside of the jurisdiction of the United States; or

(vii)activities or decisions that are non-discretionary and made in accordance with the agency’s statutory authority.

I’m so tired of judges not reading the law. This isn’t hard to interpret.

Then again, we have too many gun laws that violate the Second Amendment, so I’m not surprised.

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