Case 2:17-cv-00178-JLR Document 143 Filed 05/18/18 Page 1 of 6 1 THE HONORABLE JAMES L. ROBART 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7 8 9 JOHN DOES, et al., Plaintiffs, 10 11 12 CASE NO. C17-0178JLR v. DONALD TRUMP, et al., Defendants. 13 (RELATING TO BOTH CASES) 14 15 JEWISH FAMILY SERVICES, et al., 16 17 18 19 PLAINTIFFS’ REPLY IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO REINSTATE THEIR CROSS-MOTION FOR LIMITED EXPEDITED DISCOVERY ON COMPLIANCE WITH PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION CASE NO. C17-1707JLR Plaintiffs, v. DONALD TRUMP, et al., Defendants. 20 21 In responding to Plaintiffs’ Motion to Reinstate (“Reinstatement Motion”) (Dkt. No. 22 131), Defendants “do not object to reinstatement” of Plaintiffs’ Cross-Motion for Limited 23 Expedited Discovery on Compliance with the Preliminary Injunction (the “Discovery Motion”) 24 (Dkt. No. 121), and instead argue that Plaintiffs’ effort to bring new facts regarding compliance 25 to the Court’s attention in the motion was improper and that there should be no discovery, see 26 JFS PLAINTIFFS’ REPLY IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO REINSTATE (Nos. 17-cv-1707-JLR, 17-cv-00178-JLR) – 1 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 Case 2:17-cv-00178-JLR Document 143 Filed 05/18/18 Page 2 of 6 1 Defendants’ Response to Reinstatement Motion (“Response”) (Dkt. No. 142) at 2. Defendants 2 are incorrect on both counts. 3 First, Defendants fail to point to any relevant authority in support of their position that the 4 Reinstatement Motion is improper because it presented new facts.1 Contrary to Defendants’ 5 contentions, bringing to the Court’s attention evidence that has come to light since the 6 underlying Discovery Motion was filed was both proper and necessary for Plaintiffs to explain 7 why reinstating the Discovery Motion is warranted without awaiting Defendants’ anticipated 8 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss on mootness grounds and despite the Court’s removal of the 9 Discovery Motion from the docket. The Joint Status Report, approved by this Court through the 10 Joint Stipulation (Dkt. 130 at 2), contemplated that Plaintiffs would file a motion “addressing the 11 continued need for this discovery” (Dkt. 129 at 1-2), and Defendants were given the opportunity 12 to respond to Plaintiffs’ contentions. Defendants’ request that the Court strike the Reinstatement 13 Motion should therefore be denied. See Liberty Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v. City of Seattle, No. C15- 14 1039-JCC, 2016 WL 5792691, at *2 n.2 (W.D. Wash. Oct. 4, 2016) (denying plaintiff’s request 15 to strike argument on grounds there was no prejudice to plaintiff); see generally Harper v. 16 Collection Bureau of Walla Walla, Inc., No. C06-1605-JCC, 2007 WL 4287293, at *3 (W.D. 17 Wash. Dec. 4, 2007) (noting that “motions to strike are disfavored”). 18 Second, Defendants’ filings in response do not come close to assuaging the compliance 19 concerns highlighted in Plaintiffs’ briefing (and earlier Discovery Motion) and only underscore 20 the need for discovery. Defendants unconvincingly attempt to explain away two separate emails 21 sent by the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (“PRM”) to 22 congressional offices by saying that the emails were authored by a Congressional Liaison whose 23 responsibility it is to respond to congressional requests regarding refugee applications, and the 24 Liaison “was simply mistaken” regarding the status of refugee processing prior to January 22, 25 26 1 Because the Motion to Reinstate is not a Notice of Supplemental Authority, Local Civil Rule 7(n) does not apply. JFS PLAINTIFFS’ REPLY IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO REINSTATE (Nos. 17-cv-1707-JLR, 17-cv-00178-JLR) – 2 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 Case 2:17-cv-00178-JLR Document 143 Filed 05/18/18 Page 3 of 6 1 2018. See Response (Dkt. No. 142) at 5. According to Defendants, the Liaison’s “duty” is to 2 look up information regarding applicant case files in response to congressional inquiries, see 3 Decl. of Kelly A. Gauger (Dkt. No. 142-1) ¶ 2, but the Liaison informed two separate individuals 4 that the SAO suspension was in place well after this Court’s injunction, see Decl. of John Doe 1, 5 Ex. A (Dkt. No. 132-1) at 2; Decl. of Hamdi Mohamed, Ex. A (Dkt. No. 139-1) at 2. 6 Defendants’ explanation only raises factual questions regarding whether they complied with the 7 injunction. Indeed, Defendants’ request for the Court to apply a presumption of regularity, see 8 Response (Dkt. No. 142) at 2, contrasts sharply with their further request that the Court ignore 9 these statements as well as the other indicia of non-compliance Plaintiffs have submitted. See 10 Discovery Motion (Dkt. No. 121); Reinstatement Motion (Dkt. No. 131). 11 The evidence submitted by Plaintiffs is more than sufficient to overcome any 12 presumption that the government has complied with this Court’s injunction. See, e.g., United 13 States v. Nunez-Garcia, 262 F. Supp. 2d 1073, 1084 (C.D. Cal. 2003) (finding evidence of 14 discrepancies in INS officer’s interview documentation method sufficient to rebut presumption 15 of regularity, creating issue of fact). Further, Defendants’ assertion that Plaintiffs are attempting 16 to obtain discovery on issues they have not challenged is belied by the narrow focus of Plaintiffs’ 17 anticipated discovery as laid out in the Discovery Motion. 18 19 Plaintiffs respectfully request that the Court reinstate and grant the Discovery Motion. (Dkt. No. 121.) 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 JFS PLAINTIFFS’ REPLY IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO REINSTATE (Nos. 17-cv-1707-JLR, 17-cv-00178-JLR) – 3 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 Case 2:17-cv-00178-JLR Document 143 Filed 05/18/18 Page 4 of 6 1 Respectfully submitted, 2 /s/ Lauren Watts Staniar David Burman, WSBA No. 10611 Lauren Watts Staniar, WSBA No. 48741 Tyler Roberts, WSBA No. 52688 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Telephone: 206.359.8000 Facsimile: 206.359.9000 dburman@perkinscoie.com lstaniar@perkinscoie.com troberts@perkinscoie.com 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Deepa Alagesan, Pro Hac Vice Mariko Hirose, Pro Hac Vice Linda Evarts, Pro Hac Vice Kathryn C. Meyer, Pro Hac Vice International Refugee Assistance Project 40 Rector Street, 9th Floor New York, NY 10006 Tel: (646) 459-3044 mhirose@refugeerights.org dalagesan@refugeerights.org levarts@refugeerights.org kmeyer@refugeerights.org Elizabeth Sweet, Pro Hac Vice Mark Hetfield, Pro Hac Vice HIAS, Inc. 1300 Spring Street, Suite 500 Silver Spring, MD 20910 Tel: 301-844-7300 liz.sweet@hias.org mark.hetfield@hias.org DATED: May 18, 2018 Justin B. Cox, Pro Hac Vice National Immigration Law Center PO Box 170208 Atlanta, GA 30317 Tel: (678) 279-5441 Fax: (213) 639-3911 cox@nilc.org Karen C. Tumlin, Pro Hac Vice Melissa S. Keaney, Pro Hac Vice Esther H. Sung, Pro Hac Vice National Immigration Law Center 3450 Wilshire Blvd, #108-62 Los Angeles, CA 90010 Tel: (213) 639-3900 Fax: (213) 639-3911 tumlin@nilc.org keaney@nilc.org sung@nilc.org Lauren E. Aguiar, Pro Hac Vice Mollie M. Kornreich, Pro Hac Vice Abigail E. Davis, Pro Hac Vice Four Times Square New York, NY 10036 Tel: (212) 735-3000 Fax: (212) 735-2000 lauren.aguiar@probonolaw.com mollie.kornreich@probonolaw.com abigail.sheehan@probonolaw.com 20 Counsel for Plaintiffs Jewish Family Service, et al. 21 22 23 24 25 26 JFS PLAINTIFFS’ REPLY IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO REINSTATE (Nos. 17-cv-1707-JLR, 17-cv-00178-JLR) – 4 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 Case 2:17-cv-00178-JLR Document 143 Filed 05/18/18 Page 5 of 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION OF WASHINGTON FOUNDATION By: /s/ Emily Chiang /s/ Lisa Nowlin Emily Chiang, WSBA # 50517 Lisa Nowlin, WSBA # 51512 901 Fifth Avenue, Suite 630 Seattle, WA 98164 Telephone: (206) 624-2184 Email: echiang@aclu-wa.org lnowlin@aclu-wa.org Counsel for Plaintiffs Doe, et al. 10 11 12 13 KELLER ROHRBACK L.L.P. By: /s/ Lynn Lincoln Sarko By: /s/ Tana Lin By: /s/ Amy Williams-Derry By: /s/ Derek W. Loeser By: /s/ Alison S. Gaffney Lynn Lincoln Sarko, WSBA # 16569 Tana Lin, WSBA # 35271 Amy Williams-Derry, WSBA # 28711 Derek W. Loeser, WSBA # 24274 Alison S. Gaffney, WSBA # 45565 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 3200 Seattle, WA 98101 Telephone: (206) 623-1900 Facsimile: (206) 623-3384 Email: lsarko@kellerrohrback.com tlin@kellerrohrback.com awilliams-derry@kellerrohrback.com dloeser@kellerrohrback.com agaffney@kellerrohrback.com By: /s/ Laurie B. Ashton Laurie B. Ashton (admitted pro hac vice) 3101 North Central Avenue, Suite 1400 Phoenix, AZ 85012-2600 Telephone: (602) 248-0088 Facsimile: (602) 248-2822 Email: lashton@kellerrohrback.com 14 15 16 17 18 By: /s/ Alison Chase Alison Chase (admitted pro hac vice) 1129 State Street, Suite 8 Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Telephone: (805) 456-1496 Facsimile: (805) 456-1497 Email: achase@kellerrohrback.com 19 20 21 22 23 Attorneys for Plaintiff/Cooperating Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington Foundation 24 25 26 JFS PLAINTIFFS’ REPLY IN SUPPORT OF MOTION TO REINSTATE (Nos. 17-cv-1707-JLR, 17-cv-00178-JLR) – 5 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000 Case 2:17-cv-00178-JLR Document 143 Filed 05/18/18 Page 6 of 6 1 2 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I hereby certify that on May 18, 2018, I electronically filed the foregoing document with 3 the Clerk of the Court using the CM/ECF system which will send notification of such filing to all 4 of the registered CM/ECF users for this case. 5 6 I hereby declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the State of Washington that the foregoing is true and correct. 7 8 DATED this 18th day of May, 2018. 9 /s/ Lauren Watts Staniar Lauren Watts Staniar 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE (Nos. 17-cv-1707-JLR, 17-cv-00178-JLR) – 1 Perkins Coie LLP 1201 Third Avenue, Suite 4900 Seattle, WA 98101-3099 Phone: 206.359.8000 Fax: 206.359.9000