Morris Davis v. James Billington, et al

Filing 21

MOTION filed [1328866] by Louis Fisher and Morton Rosenberg to participate as amicus curiae. [Disclosure Listing: Not Applicable to this Party] [Service Date: 09/09/2011 ] [11-5092] [Entered: 09/12/2011 01:55 PM]

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No. 11-5092

RECElVED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
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MORRIS D. DAVIS,

Plaintiff-Appellee,

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v.

JAMES H. BILLINGTON, Librarian of Congress
in his official capacity,

Defendant,
DANIEL P. MULHOLLAN in his individual capacity,

Defendant-Appellant.

ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
No. 1:10-cv-00036-RBW
(Reggie B. Walton, J.)

Motion of Dr. Louis Fisher and Mr. Morton Rosenberg
For Leave to File Amici Curiae Brief in Support of PlaintiffAppellee
Louis Fisher
520 Ridgewell Way
Silver Spring, MD 20902
[phone]
Submitted pro se.
September 9,2011

Morton Rosenberg
33 Eton Overlook
Rockville, MD 20850
[phone]

CERTIFICATE AS TO PARTIES, RULINGS, AND RELATED CASES
(A) Parties.
Col. Morris D. Davis is the Plaintiff-Appellee in this matter. The
Defendant-Appellant is Daniel P. Mulhollan. Dr. James H. Billington is a
Defendant in the case before the district court; he was sued in his official capacity,
and he is not a party to this appeal.

(B) Ruling Under Review.
The ruling under review is an Order denying Defendant-Appellant
Mulhollan's motion to dismiss based on qualified immunity, which was issued by
District Judge Reggie B. Walton on March 30, 2011 and entered as Docket
Number 34. A Memorandum Opinion explaining the Order was issued the same
day and entered as Docket Number 35. It is available at No. 1:10-cv-00036-RBW,
2011 WL 1237919 (D.D.C. Mar. 30, 2011).

(C) Related Cases
This case has not previously been before this Court or any other court. I am
not aware of any related cases.

Louis Fisher
Morton Rosenberg

Dr. Louis Fisher and Mr. Morton Rosenberg respectfully request leave,
pursuant to Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure 27 and 29(b) and D.C. Circuit
Rule 27, to file an Amici Brief in Support of Plaintiff-Appellee. A copy of the
proposed Amici Brief is attached. Plaintiff-Appellee has consented to the filing of
this amici brief. Defendant-Appellant has stated that he does not take a position on
our request to file this brief.
Dr. Fisher worked for Congressional Research Service from September 1970
to March 2006, serving as Senior Specialist in Separation of powers. He then
served as Specialist in Constitutional Law with the Law Library of Congress from
March 2006 to August 2010. Dr. Fisher has published twenty books and over 400
articles in law reviews, political science journals, encyclopedias, and other
publications. He has testified before congressional committees 50 times on a range
of constitutional issues. Many of his articles, books, and congressional testimony
are available on his personal webpage, http://www.loufisher.org. He has received
a number of book awards and scholarly honors.
Mr. Rosenberg worked for Congressional Research Service from December
1972 to August 2008 and served as Specialist in American Public Law. Mr.
Rosenberg has published widely in law reviews and testifies frequently before
congressional committees on legal and constitutional matters. His monograph,
When Congress Comes Calling: A Primer on the Principles, Practices, and

Pragmatics ofLegislative Inquiry, was published by The Constitution Project in
2009. In 2005, he received the Mary C. Lawton Award for Outstanding Public
Service by the American Bar Association Section of Administrative Law and
Regulatory Practice.
As grounds for this motion, we state the following:
1. As former longtime senior CRS analysts, we are interested in this case.
For that reason, we submitted separate declarations in the Morris D. Davis case in
district court in 2010. Because the actions taken against Col. Davis by CRS
Director Daniel P. Mulhollan may potentially damage the integrity and competence
of the agency and weaken the institutional strength of Congress, we believe that
this brief will provide an important context and background on CRS practices and
policies.
2. Throughout our careers at the Library of Congress, we regularly
expressed views on public policy questions in CRS memos and outside
publications, often taking positions on controversial areas of public policy while
contributing professional assistance to lawmakers and congressional staff.
For the foregoing reasons, the motion should be granted.

Dated: September 9, 2011
Louis Fisher
Morton Rosenberg

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
We hereby certify that on September 9, 2011, we filed and served via firstclass U.S. mail our Motion for Leave to file an Amici Brief in Support of PlaintiffAppellee, to be served upon the following counsel of record:

Sharon Swingle
Civil Division, Room 7250
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530-001

Aden J. Fine
American Civil Liberties Union Foundation
125 Broad Street, 18th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10004

Louis Fisher
Morton Rosenberg