Sibley v. Watches

Filing 115

DECISION AND ORDER denying 106 Motion for TRO. SO ORDERED. Signed by Hon. Frank P. Geraci, Jr. on 11/21/2022. (MFM)This was mailed to: Plaintiff.

Case 6:19-cv-06517-FPG Document 115 Filed 11/21/22 Page 1 of 4

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
MONTGOMERY BLAIR SIBLEY,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case # 19-CV-6517-FPG
DECISION AND ORDER

CHAUNCEY J. WATCHES, et al.,
Defendants.
Pro se Plaintiff Montgomery Blair Sibley has filed a motion for a temporary restraining
order under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65, requesting that the Court temporarily enjoin
Defendants Kathleen Hochul, Letitia James, and Steven Nigrelli from enforcing the Concealed
Carry Improvement Act (“CCIA”). ECF No. 106; see also 2022 N.Y. Sess. Laws Ch. 371 (S.
51001). Defendants oppose the motion, ECF No. 111, and Plaintiff has filed his reply. ECF No.
113. For the reasons that follow, Plaintiff’s motion is DENIED.
“In the Second Circuit, the standard for issuance of a temporary restraining order is the
same as the standard for a preliminary injunction.” Antonyuk v. Hochul, No. 22-CV-986, 2022
WL 5239895, at *3 (N.D.N.Y. Oct. 6, 2022). “A party seeking a preliminary injunction must
ordinarily establish (1) irreparable harm; (2) either (a) a likelihood of success on the merits, or (b)
sufficiently serious questions going to the merits of its claims to make them fair ground for
litigation, plus a balance of the hardships tipping decidedly in favor of the moving party; and (3)
that a preliminary injunction is in the public interest.” De Jesus Moreno v. Nielsen, 460 F. Supp.
3d 291, 297 (E.D.N.Y. 2020) (internal quotation marks omitted). Because Plaintiff’s grounds for
relief lack merit, the Court need only address the second prong.

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Plaintiff argues that the CCIA is unenforceable because (1) the certificate of necessity that
Governor Hochul issued with respect to the CCIA was insufficient to comply with Article III, § 14
of the New York Constitution; (2) the New York Senate failed to approve of the certificate of
necessity, as required by Senate Rule 9, § 1; (3) the New York Assembly Rules Committee failed
to vote on the certificate of necessity, as required by Assembly Rule IV, § 10; and (4) enactment
of the CCIA in violation of state law constituted a violation of the “Guarantee Clause” of the
United States Constitution. 1 ECF No. 106 at 2, 4-7.
The Eleventh Amendment bars Plaintiff from obtaining injunctive relief on his first,
second, and third arguments, because those arguments are premised on alleged violations of state
law. Plaintiff is seeking relief against Hochul, James, and Nigrelli solely in their official capacities.
See ECF No. 100 at 4; ECF No. 101 at 1. A suit against state officials in their official capacities
is treated as “a suit against the State itself.” Will v. Mich. Dep’t of State Police, 491 U.S. 58, 71
(1989). “The Eleventh Amendment provides that ‘[t]he 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.’”
Long Island Pure Water Ltd. v. Cuomo, 375 F. Supp. 3d 209, 215 (E.D.N.Y. 2019) (quoting U.S.
Const. amend. XI). Notwithstanding the plain language of the amendment, the Supreme Court has
“long held” that the Eleventh Amendment even bars suits “against a state by one of its own
citizens,” as is the case here. Id.; see also ECF No. 113 at 1 (affirming that Plaintiff is a citizen of
New York).
In his reply brief, Plaintiff states in passing that the CCIA has deprived him of his Second Amendment rights. See
ECF No. 113 at 1-2. Plaintiff did not raise a Second Amendment claim in connection with his original motion for a
temporary restraining order. See ECF No. 106. The Court declines to consider this argument, which is both
undeveloped in the present briefing, see United States v. Zannino, 895 F.2d 1, 17 (1st Cir. 1990), and raised for the
first time in the reply brief. See N.Y.S. Vegetable Growers Ass’n, Inc. v. Cuomo, 474 F. Supp. 3d 572, 583 (W.D.N.Y.
2020). Plaintiff is free to further develop his Second Amendment claims in connection with his pending motion for a
preliminary injunction. See ECF No. 96.

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The Supreme Court has identified several exceptions to a state’s immunity to suit under
the Eleventh Amendment. See Long Island, 375 F. Supp. 3d at 215. Plaintiff relies on the
exception set forth in Ex parte Young, 209 U.S. 123 (1908), which permits “prospective injunctive
relief against individuals being sued in their official capacities in order to correct an ongoing
violation of federal law.” Id. at 216 (internal quotation marks and ellipsis omitted); see also ECF
No. 113 at 2.
Ex parte Young does not provide a vehicle for Plaintiff’s first three arguments, since they
arise from alleged violations of state law, not federal law. It is well-established that Ex parte
Young is “inapplicable in a suit against state officials on the basis of state law.” Pennhurst State
Sch. & Hosp. v. Halderman, 465 U.S. 89, 106 (1984); see also Gingras v. Think Finance, Inc., 922
F.3d 112, 122 (2d Cir. 2019) (“[I]n Pennhurst, the Supreme Court declined to extend the Ex parte
Young rationale to suits seeking to hold state officials accountable for violations of that state’s
laws.”). Therefore, to the extent Plaintiff seeks prospective injunctive relief against Defendants in
their official capacities for violations of the New York Constitution, Senate Rule 9, § 1, or
Assembly Rule IV, § 10, “those claims are [] barred by the Eleventh Amendment under the
Pennhurst doctrine.” Vega v. Semple, 963 F.3d 259, 284 (2d Cir. 2020).
That leaves only Plaintiff’s claim under the Federal Constitution’s “Guarantee Clause.”
Article IV, Section 4 of the United States Constitution provides that “[t]he United States shall
guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government.” Plaintiff asserts that
the predicate violations of state law in the enactment of the CCIA amount to a violation of the
Guarantee Clause. See ECF No. 106 at 6 (“The Guarantee Clause empowers this Court to ensure
that New York’s internal governance meets the minimum standard of republicanism.”). The Court
is not in a position to resolve this issue.

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“The U.S. Supreme Court and other courts have typically found that ‘guarantee clause’
challenges to state action involve non-justiciable political questions.” Lewis v. Cuomo, 575 F.
Supp. 3d 386, 397 (W.D.N.Y. 2021); see also, e.g., Rucho v. Common Cause, 139 S. Ct. 2484,
2506 (2019) (“This Court has several times concluded . . . that the Guarantee Clause does not
provide the basis for a justiciable claim.”). Whether the governor and state legislature discharged
their respective responsibilities for bypassing the three-day waiting period—as required under state
law—are matters for the governor and legislature, not the courts. Cf. Maybee v. State, 4 N.Y.3d
415, 420 (2005). Such issues do not present a “real threat[] to a republican form of government”
that might implicate the Guarantee Clause. Largess v. Supreme Judicial Ct. for the State of
Massachusetts, 373 F.3d 219, 227 (1st Cir. 2004); see also id. at 229 (suggesting that the Guarantee
Clause would only apply “in unusual and extreme cases, such as the establishment of a monarchy
by a state in place of a republican form of government”); accord Lewis, 575 F. Supp. 3d at 398
(dismissing Guarantee Clause claims related to New York’s COVID-19 “lockdown” because they
raised “a non-justiciable political question, namely, whether the New York State Legislature had
the authority to delegate emergency powers to [the governor]”).
Because Plaintiff’s present arguments lack merit, the Court declines to order a temporary
restraining order, and Plaintiff’s motion (ECF No. 106) is DENIED.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
Dated: November 21, 2022
Rochester, New York

______________________________________
HON. FRANK P. GERACI, JR.
United States District Judge
Western District of New York

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