Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy v. Stewart (09-529)
argument 09-529Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy v. Stewart
Supreme Court of the United States
1h 0m
6 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 6 days ago
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is VOPA and why does it seek to enforce federal records‑access rights?
We'll hear argument next in case 09529, the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy against Stewart. Mr. Galanter.
Mr. Chief Justice, and may it please the Court, the Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy, known as VOPA, seeks to enforce its federal statutory right to inspect and copy records that are in the possession of state officials who run state-operated hospitals. Respondents acknowledged below that a petitioner were a private entity Ex parte young would permit this suit. VOPA's status as a State entity does not change the ex parte young analysis because it imposed neither a greater burden on the Treasury nor the dignity of the State. The only issue to be resolved by the Federal Court is who has the correct reading of Federal law about the records access issue. So
if this were a private suit, let's say Ford Motor Company has two subsidiaries, Ford East and Ford West. They get into a dispute. Ford West sues Ford East. No federal court would entertain that action, would it?
Well, if I could clarify, first of all, there would have to be a question of federal law.
Yeah, they think Ford West thinks Ford East is discriminating on the basis of race.
They don't
like that. That adversely affects their reputation, too, so they sue them.
I think that inquiry goes to the question of adversity and standing, the Article III question. And this case doesn't involve that because VOPA is independent of the entities. I don't know.
It's independent, right? It's independent from what?
It's independent from the executive branch. It's independent from the respondents it's trying to sue. Yeah, but is it independent from the State? Is that what the statute says? The statute requires independence. The Federal statute requires that VOPA be independent. But it's independent here because its Commission, only a third of it is appointed by the Governor and none of the members of the Commission that run VOPA can be removed except for cause.
MR. You say on page 27 of your brief, the blue brief, that there's no big deal here with respect to State sovereignty because, ultimately, The sovereign retains the authority to dissolve the State agency plaintiff if the State believes the litigation is too onerous.
That's correct. That is, the sovereign, the Commonwealth, could repeal the law that enacted VOPA, just as in this Court's cases, ICC v. United States. Congress could have eliminated the ICC.
That's a good site for your proposition. Arguably, in those cases, the ICC is really not the real party in interest. The real party in interest is the beneficiary of the ICC ruling.
MR. Well, I believe this Court has continually held that independent agencies and other Federal agencies can litigate cases involving the Federal Labor Relations Board. And this Court has allowed, for example, suits about licenses for federal dams, where one agency wants to build a federal dam and another —
JUSTICE BREYER- To get back to my question, you — no Court would entertain Ford West against Ford
East. MR. If that's right. And I think it is if they're part of the same — if they're subsidiaries of one corporation and aren't
separate — JUSTICE BREYER- Well, why — why is that true? If they're separate corporate entities, what legal rule would stop a separate corporate entity from suing another?
MR.
Is there a legal — if they're part of the same company, I think that's a different issue. If they are the same company, that's a different issue and just a different branch or a different office.
I had understood that to be the Chief Justice's hypothetical. They were divisions of a single legal entity. Not
divisions, separate corporate entities that happen to be wholly owned by the same parent.
I do believe, then, that there could be litigation between them, but ultimately there wouldn't be.
Well, I would have thought that would become an advisory opinion. Ford has an internal dispute, basically, and in that hypothetical, one of the entities would be asking the Federal Court to resolve it. Ford can decide at the end of the day how it wants to resolve it.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is VOPA and why does it seek to enforce federal records‑access rights?
0:00–6:36
2
How does the hypothetical Ford West vs. Ford East case illustrate standing and Article III issues?
6:36–15:50
3
Why is VOPA’s independence from the Governor and Attorney General crucial to the case?
15:50–22:09
4
How do the 11th Amendment and sovereign‑immunity arguments affect VOPA’s ability to sue?
22:09–27:18
5
What role does the Spending Clause play in conditioning state agency structure on federal funds?
27:18–34:33
6
Can a state agency like VOPA sue another state official in federal court under Ex Parte Young?
34:33–42:49
7
What precedents (e.g., ICC, Nixon, CERSA) inform the Court’s view on state‑agency litigation?
42:49–51:52
8
What is the Court’s likely ruling on extending Ex Parte Young to state agencies and its implications for federalism?
51:52–1:00:48