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Janet L. Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury, et al. v. Patrick J. Collins, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 17-20364 · judgment September 6, 2019

Decided · June 23, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 70% cert probability (95% interval 58%–79%)

Before the decision, about 16.8× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, a petition filed soon after the judgment below, and a Fifth Circuit decision below.

Questions presented

Consolidated with 19-422. During the national housing crisis of 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) exercised its authority under a federal statute to appoint itself as conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. FHFA, as conservator, negotiated agreements with the Department of the Treasury under which Treasury committed to investing billions of dollars in the enterprises in return for compensation consisting, in part, of fixed dividends. In 2012, after numerous quarters in which the enterprises' dividend obligations exceeded their total earnings - forcing the enterprises to draw more money from Treasury just to pay the dividends - FHFA and Treasury negotiated the Third Amendment to their agreements. The Third Amendment replaced the fixed dividend with a variable quarterly dividend equal to the enterprises' net worth minus a specified capital reserve. The questions presented are:

  1. Whether the statute's anti-injunction clause, which precludes courts from taking any action that would "restrain or affect the exercise of powers or functions of the Agency as a conservator," 12 U.S.C. 4617(f), precludes a federal court from setting aside the Third Amendment.

  2. Whether the statute's succession clause - under which FHFA, as conservator, inherits the shareholders' rights to bring derivative actions on behalf of the enterprises - precludes the shareholders from challenging the Third Amendment.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General

For respondent
Charles Justin Cooper
Cooper & Kirk, PLLC

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 3 conferences

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Related
Vide, 19-422

Argument & decision

Argued December 9, 2020 — Hashim M. Mooppan · Aaron L. Nielson · David H. Thompson. Audio and transcript

Decided June 23, 2021. Opinion by Alito.

Proceedings

  1. Jul 26 2021
    JUDGMENT ISSUED.
  2. Jun 23 2021
    Adjudged to be AFFIRMED IN PART, REVERSED IN PART, VACATED IN PART, and case REMANDED. Alito, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Thomas, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, JJ., joined in full; in which Kagan and Breyer, JJ., joined as to all but Part III–B; in which Gorsuch, J., joined as to all but Part III–C; and in which Sotomayor, J., joined as to Parts I, II, and III–C. Thomas, J., filed a concurring opinion. Gorsuch, J., filed an opinion concurring in part. Kagan, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment, in which Breyer and Sotomayor, JJ., joined as to Part II. Sotomayor, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, in which Breyer, J., joined. VIDED.
  3. Dec 09 2020
    Argued. For federal parties: Hashim M. Mooppan, Counselor to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For Court-appointed amicus curiae: Aaron L. Nielson, Provo, Utah. For petitioners in 19-422 & respondents in 19-563: David H. Thompson, Washington, D. C. VIDED.
  4. Oct 27 2020
    CIRCULATED
  5. Oct 14 2020
    Record received from the U.S.C.A. 5th Circuit is electronic and located on PACER.
  6. Oct 08 2020
    Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 5th Circuit.
  7. Sep 16 2020
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, December 9, 2020. VIDED.
  8. Aug 18 2020
    Mnuchin, et al., shall file an opening brief on the questions presented by the petition in No. 19-563, limited to 13,000 words, by Monday, August 17, 2020. Collins, et al., shall file a consolidated response in No. 19-563 and opening brief in No. 19-422, limited to 20,000 words, by Wednesday, September 16, 2020. That brief shall bear a light red cover. The Court-appointed amicus curiae shall file a brief, limited to 13,000 words, by Friday, October 16, 2020. That brief shall bear a dark green cover. Mnuchin, et al., shall file a consolidated reply and response brief, limited to 13,000 words, by Friday, October 23, 2020. Collins, et al., shall file a consolidated reply and response brief to brief of Court-appointed amicus curiae, limited to 6,000 words, by Monday, November 23, 2020. That brief shall bear a tan cover. The brief of any amicus curiae in support of Collins, et al., or in support of neither set of parties, shall be filed by Wednesday, September 23, 2020. Those briefs shall bear a light green cover. The brief of any amicus curiae in support of Mnuchin, et al., or in support of Court-appointed amicus curiae, shall be filed by Friday, October 30, 2020. Those briefs shall bear a dark green cover. VIDED.
  9. Aug 17 2020
    Aaron Nielson, Esquire, of Provo, Utah, is invited to brief and argue, as amicus curiae, in support of the position that the structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency does not violate the separation of powers. VIDED.
  10. Jul 09 2020
    Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 19-422 is granted. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. VIDED.
  11. Jul 09 2020
    Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 19-422. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 19-422. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the filing is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
  12. Jul 08 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 7/8/2020.
  13. Jun 29 2020
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 7/1/2020.
  14. Dec 11 2019
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/10/2020.
  15. Dec 11 2019
    Reply of petitioners Steven T. Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury, et al. filed. (Distributed)
  16. Nov 27 2019
    Brief of respondents Patrick J. Collins, et al. in opposition filed.
  17. Nov 27 2019
    Brief amici curiae of Bryndon Fisher, Bruce Reid, & Erick Shipmon in support of neither party filed.
  18. Oct 25 2019
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due November 29, 2019)