Petition For Writ of Mandamus (Ninth Circuit)

No.
17-____
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
In re UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al.,

Petitioners.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA; DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States; U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY; and ELAINE DUKE, Acting Secretary of
Homeland Security,
Petitioners-Defendants,
v.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF
CALIFORNIA,
Respondent,
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA; JANET NAPOLITANO, President of
the University of California; STATE OF CALIFORNIA; STATE OF MAINE; STATE OF
MARYLAND; STATE OF MINNESOTA; CITY OF SAN JOSE; DULCE GARCIA; MIRIAM
GONZALEZ AVILA; SAUL JIMENEZ SUAREZ; VIRIDIANA CHABOLLA MENDOZA;
NORMA RAMIREZ; and JIRAYUT LATTHIVONGSKORN,
Real Parties in Interest-Plaintiffs.
PETITION FOR A WRIT OF MANDAMUS

TO THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
AND EMERGENCY MOTION FOR STAY
PENDING CONSIDERATION OF THIS PETITION
CHAD A. READLER
Acting Assistant Attorney General
BRIAN STRETCH
United States Attorney
HASHIM M. MOOPPAN
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
MARK B. STERN
ABBY C. WRIGHT
THOMAS PULHAM
Attorneys, Appellate Staff
Civil Division
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530
(202) 514-2000
CIRCUIT RULE 27-3 CERTIFICATE
Counsel for Defendants:
Mark B. Stern (Mark.Stern@usdoj.gov)

Abby C. Wright (Abby.Wright@usdoj.gov)
Thomas Pulham (Thomas.Pulham@usdoj.gov)
950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20530
Telephone: (202) 514-2000
Fax: (202) 514-8151
Counsel for Plaintiffs:
Regents of the University of California et al.: Mark H. Lynch (mlynch@cov.com);

Jeffrey M. Davidson (jdavidson@cov.com); Alexander A. Berengaut
(aberengaut@cov.com); Megan A. Crowley (mcrowley@cov.com)
States of California, Maine, Maryland, and Minnesota: James Zahradka

(james.zahradka@doj.ca.gov); Ronald Lee (ronald.lee@doj.ca.gov)
City of San Jose: nfineman@cpmlegal.com; bdanitz@cpmlegal.com;

tprevost@cpmlegal.com; pluc@cpmlegal.com.
Dulce Garcia, Miriam Gonzalez Avila, Saul Jimenez Suarez, Viridiana Chabolla
Mendoza, Norma Ramirez, and Jirayut Latthivongskorn: Ethan Dettmer
(edettmer@gibsondunn.com); Jesse Gabriel (jgabriel@gibsondunn.com); Katie
Marquart (kmarquart@gibsondunn.com); Kelsey Helland
(khelland@gibsondunn.com); Mark Rosenbaum
(mrosenbaum@publiccounsel.org)
County of Santa Clara and Service Employees International Union Local 521: Eric
Prince Brown (ebrown@altber.com, smendez@altber.com); Greta Suzanne
Hansen (greata.hansen@cco.sccgov.org); James Robyzad Williams
(james.williams@cco.sscgov.org); Jonathan David Weissglass
(jweissglass@altshulerberzon.com, smendez@altschulerberzon.com); Laura
Susan Trice (Laura.Trice@cco.sscgov.org; Alicia.casteneda@cco.sscgov.org);
Marcelo Quinones (marcelo.quinones@cco.sscgov.org;
leesa.rivera@cco.sscgov.org); Stacey M. Leyton (sleyton@altshulerberzon.com,
mpelrine@altshulerberzon.com)
Defendants request urgent relief on this matter because the district court has ordered
the government to file an amended administrative record and disclose privileged
documents on October 27, 2017, and the government remains subject to burdensome
discovery, including the depositions of high-ranking officials.
Counsel for plaintiffs were notified of this motion on October 20, 2017, and all
oppose the motion. Service will be accomplished via the district courts CM/ECF
system. The district court will be served a copy of the petition at
sarah badr@cand.uscourts.gov.
2
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
Pursuant to the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. 1651, and Rule 21 of the Federal Rules
of Appellate Procedure, the federal government respectfully asks this Court to issue a
writ of mandamus to stay the district courts order to expand the administrative record
to include sensitive privileged materialsincluding documents from the White
Houseand to stay ongoing discovery, including the depositions of high-ranking
government officials. Earlier today, October 20, the Court of Appeals for the Second
Circuit issued an emergency stay of discovery and record supplementation in parallel
cases in New York. Order, In re Duke, No. 17-3345 (Oct. 20, 2017) (Cabranes, J.).
In these cases challenging the decision of the Department of Homeland Security
(DHS) to wind down of the policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
(DACA), the government seeks mandamus because the district court, before briefing
on the governments threshold arguments that the challenged action is non-reviewable,
has permitted the plaintiffs to embark on an improper hunt for the subjective
motivations behind an administrative action, including through vast and erroneous
supplementation of the administrative record; ordered the government to file publicly
documents protected by a variety of privileges including executive privilege, the
deliberative process privilege, and the attorney-client privilege; directed not only
agencies but also the White House to search for and assert privilege over an ill-defined
universe of documents; and permitted excessively burdensome discovery to proceed,
including the unnecessary depositions of numerous high-ranking government officials.

The district courts conduct in this case departs from settled principles of judicial
review of agency action in several crucial respects, any of which would warrant the
exercise of this Courts immediate review. Taken together, the courts errors reflect an
extraordinary disregard of longstanding doctrine and basic tenets of inter-branch
comity. If accepted as precedent for challenges to agency action, this approach will
threaten the separation of powers and make standard a manner of litigation that is both
unduly intrusive and practically impossible for the government. Because the effect of
the district courts errors is immediate and irreparable, we also ask that the Court issue
an administrative stay pending its consideration of this petition.
1. Plaintiffs in these related cases under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)
challenge the decision of the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security to wind down
DACA. Under that policy, DHS had previously determined, as an exercise of
prosecutorial discretion, to forbear from seeking removal of a certain category of
undocumented aliens. To the extent that the Acting Secretarys decision to exercise
prosecutorial discretion in a different manner is reviewable at all, [t]he task of the
reviewing court is to apply the appropriate APA standard of review to the agency
decision based on the record the agency presents to the reviewing court. Animal Defense
Council v. Hodel, 840 F.2d 1432, 1436 (9th Cir. 1988) (quoting Florida Power & Light Co.
v. Lorion, 470 U.S. 729, 743-44 (1985)).
The district court has not undertaken that analysis. Instead, it has deferred
briefing of the legal issues raised by plaintiffs challenges, as well as the threshold issues
2
to be raised by the government, and has proceeded on the assumption that submission
of a complete administrative record requires disclosure of privileged communications
and depositions of decisionmakers. These determinations turn on the mistaken premise
that the courts role is to review not what the Acting Secretary said in her decision, but
what she and her subordinates thought or said during deliberations. But, as the Supreme
Court has long made clear, it is not the function of the court to probe the mental
processes of the agency. United States v. Morgan, 304 U.S. 1, 18 (1938).
The district court has also required the government to supplement the
administrative record with all DACA-related materials considered by anyone
anywhere in the government who provided the Acting Secretary with written or
verbal input on the policy decision. Add. 26-27. The court further directed that the
record be supplemented by materials considered by the former Secretary of DHS. Id. at
13. Requiring the government to expand the scope of the administrative record beyond
the materials considered by the decisionmaker is clear legal error. See Thompson v. U.S.
Department of Labor, 885 F.2d 551, 556 (9th Cir. 1989) (asking whether documents were
before the Secretary at the time of the decision).
2. Before even considering such intrusions into governmental function and
privilege, it was incumbent on the district court to address threshold legal issues that
might obviate the need to consider the administrative record at all. Among other
grounds, it will be necessary to determine (after briefing) whether this suit is barred by
8 U.S.C. 1252(g), which prohibits actions challenging deferred action decisions and
3
similar discretionary decisions . . . outside the streamlined process that Congress has
designed. See Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm., 525 U.S. 471, 485 & n.9
(1999) (AADC). Although the district court briefly expressed its views that the
jurisdictional bar did not apply, Add. 30, it did so without briefing from the parties,
without acknowledging that this case (unlike Kwai Fun Wong v. United States, 373 F.3d
952, 964 (9th Cir. 2004)) involves deferred action, and without addressing AADC.
Assuming jurisdiction is found to exist, the district court will also need to determine
whether the decision to rescind DACA is an unreviewable exercise of prosecutorial
discretion. See, e.g., Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821 (1985).
3. The courts error is magnified by the extent of the intrusion into the Executive
Branch it has sanctioned. The courts requirement that the government search for and
supplement the record with all DACA-related materials considered by persons
(anywhere in government) who thereafter provided Acting Secretary Duke with written
[or verbal] advice, sweeps so broadly as to extend to the White House and the highest
levels of other agencies. Add. 26-27. The courts order requires all these entities to
search not only for communications with the Acting Secretary but to search as well for
any DACA-related materials that they ever considered. Id. The Supreme Court has
made clear that in these circumstances, a court of appeals properly exercises its
mandamus authority. Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 542 U.S. 367, 390 (2004).
The district court has similarly disregarded the governments assertions of
Executive privilege, requiring the government to publicly disclose a group of

4
documents that include a White House memorandum. And the district court provided
no basis for its conclusion that the privilege did not apply or should be overcome
despite it being fundamental to the operation of Government and inextricably rooted
in the separation of powers under the Constitution. United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S.
683, 708 (1974)
The district court has likewise expressed its approval of plaintiffs attempt to
depose not only the Acting Secretarys closest advisors but also the Acting Secretary
herself in clear disregard of the rule that [i]nquiry into the deliberative processes of
administrators is generally disfavored, William Jefferson & Co. v. Board of Assessment and
Appeals, 482 Fed Appx 273, 274 (9th Cir. 2012) (citing Morgan and upholding a
determination that it would be improper to permit the plaintiff to depose members of
the Board of Assessment on their deliberative process), and the equally well established
principle that [h]eads of government agencies are not normally subject to deposition.
Kyle Engineering Co. v. Kleppe, 600 F.2d 226, 231-32 (9th Cir. 1979). Although the district
court later suggested that the issue of the Acting Secretarys deposition has not yet been
formally raised, Add. 30, the courts statement that the desire to know what verbal
input the Acting Secretary received would justify the deposition, Tr. 10/16/2017,
2017, at 32, demonstrates the intrusive trajectory of discovery it has sanctioned.
4. Finally, this Court has already recognized that one of the issues presented
herethe requirement to compile a privilege log in an APA actionpresents a serious
question for mandamus review. See Order, In re Thomas E. Price, No. 17-71121 (July 27,
5
2017) (noting that the petition raises issue that warrant an answer). In that case
which was relied on by the district court here, Add. 25the district court held that
deliberative materials should be included in the administrative record and should be
recorded in a privilege log. See Institute for Fisheries Resources v. Price, No. 16-cv-1574, 2017
WL 89003 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 10, 2017). The district court in Price recognized, however,
that a stay was appropriate pending review of the governments mandamus petition.
Compare Order Granting Motion To Stay, Institute for Fisheries Resources v. Price, No. 16-
cv-1574 (N.D. Cal. May 3, 2017), Dkt. 108, with Add. 29 (denying stay).
The government therefore asks that this Court grant a stay herejust as the
Second Circuit did for the parallel New York proceedings, see Order, In re Duke, No.
17-3345 (Oct. 20, 2017) (Cabranes, J.)so that the Court can exercise its mandamus
jurisdiction to correct the multiple serious errors that underlie the district courts order.
STATEMENT
A. Overview of Deferred Action and the DACA Policy
1. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) charges the Secretary of
Homeland Security with the administration and enforcement of the INA and all
other laws relating to the immigration and naturalization of aliens. 8 U.S.C.
1103(a)(1). Individuals are subject to removal if, inter alia, they were inadmissible at
the time of entry, have been convicted of certain crimes, or meet other criteria set by
federal law. Arizona v. United States, 567 U.S. 387, 396 (2012); see 8 U.S.C. 1182(a),
1227(a).
6
As a practical matter, the federal government cannot remove every removable
alien, and a principal feature of the removal system is the broad discretion exercised
by immigration officials. Arizona, 567 U.S. at 396. DHS officials must first decide
whether it makes sense to pursue removal at all. Id. Once removal proceedings begin,
officials may decide to grant certain forms of discretionary relief expressly authorized
by statute, such as asylum, parole, or cancellation of removal. 8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(1)(A),
1182(d)(5)(A), 1229b. And [a]t each stage of the process, the Executive has
discretion to abandon the endeavor. Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm.,
525 U.S. 471, 483 (1999) (AADC). Like other agencies exercising enforcement
discretion, DHS must engage in a complicated balancing of a number of factors which
are peculiarly within its expertise. Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 831 (1985).
Deferred action is a practice in which the Acting Secretary exercises discretion
for humanitarian reasons or simply for [her] own convenience, to notify an alien of a
non-binding decision to forbear from seeking his removal for a designated period. See
AADC, 525 U.S. at 483-84; 8 C.F.R. 274a.12(c)(14) (describing deferred action as
an act of administrative convenience to the government which gives some cases lower
priority). Although originally developed without express statutory authority,
individualized deferred action has been accepted by Congress, see e.g., 8 U.S.C.
1154(a)(1)(D)(i)(II), (IV), and recognized by the Supreme Court as a permissible
exercise of administrative discretion, AADC, 525 U.S. at 484. In addition to temporary
relief from removal, other consequences may flow from a grant of deferred action under
7
DHS regulations not challenged here, including the ability to apply for work
authorization in certain circumstances. See, e.g., 8 C.F.R. 247a.12(c)(14).
A grant of deferred action does not, however, confer lawful immigration status
or provide any defense to removal. Cf. Chaudhry v. Holder, 705 F.3d 289, 292 (7th Cir.
2013) (discussing the difference between unlawful presence and unlawful status).
Thus, DHS has the discretion to revoke deferred action unilaterally and an individual
with deferred action remains removable at any time. See AADC, 525 U.S. at 484-85.
2. On June 15, 2012, DHS announced the policy that has since become known
as DACA. See Memorandum from Janet Napolitano, Secretary, DHS to David Aguilar,
Acting Commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Prot., Exercising Prosecutorial Discretion
with Respect to Individuals Who Came to the United States as Children (June 15, 2012) (DACA
Memo), https://go.usa.gov/xnqY4. DACA makes deferred action available to certain
young people who were brought to this country as children. Id. at 1. Following
completion of a background check, successful applicants would receive deferred action
for a period of two years, subject to renewal. Id. at 2-3. The DACA Memo made clear
that it confer[red] no substantive right, immigration status or pathway to citizenship.
Only the Congress, acting through its legislative authority, can confer these rights. Id.
at 3. DHS later expanded DACA and created a new, similar policy known as Deferred
Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents (DAPA).
DAPA and the expansion of DACA were challenged in court. The District Court
for the Southern District of Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction based on
8
a likelihood of success on the claim that the policy violated the notice-and-comment
requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Texas v. United States, 86 F.
Supp. 3d 591 (S.D. Tex. 2015). The Fifth Circuit affirmed, holding that the policy
violated the APA and the INA. Texas v. United States, 809 F.3d 134 (5th Cir. 2015). The
Supreme Court affirmed the judgment by an equally divided Court, United States v. Texas,
136 S. Ct. 2271 (2016), leaving the nationwide injunction in place. In June 2017, Texas
threatened to amend its complaint to challenge the original DACA policy.
3. On September 5, 2017, DHS decided to wind down the remaining DACA
policy in an orderly fashion. See Memorandum from Elaine C. Duke, Acting Secretary
of Homeland Security, to Citizenship & Immigration Servs. Immigration & Customs
Enft, and Customs & Border Prot., Rescission of Deferred Action for Child Arrivals (Sept. 5,
2017) (Duke Memo), https://go.usa.gov/xnqYQ. The memorandum provides that
DHS will adjudicateon an individual, case by case basisproperly filed pending
DACA renewal requests and associated applications for Employment Authorization
Documents . . . from current beneficiaries whose benefits will expire between the date
of this memorandum and March 5, 2018 that have been accepted by the Department
as of October 5, 2017. Id. The memorandum further provides that the government
[w]ill not terminate the grants of previously issued deferred action or revoke
Employment Authorization Documents solely based on the directives in this
memorandum for the remaining periods of deferred action, which may be as late as
2019. Id.
9
B. Factual and Procedural Background
1. A number of lawsuits were filed following the September 5 decision to wind
down DACA. As relevant here, five groups of plaintiffs brought suit in the Northern
District of California. Challenges to the rescission have also been brought in district
courts in New York, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.
The plaintiffs here allege that the termination of DACA is unlawful because it
violates the APAs requirement for notice and comment rulemaking; is arbitrary and
capricious; violates the Regulatory Flexibility Act; denies the plaintiffs due process;
violates the Equal Protection Clause; and permits the government to use information
obtained from the DACA program in a manner inconsistent with equitable estoppel.
2. The district court entered a scheduling order on September 22, 2017, which
required the government to produce an administrative record by October 6, permitted
discovery over the governments objections, and cut discovery response times to half
their usual length. Dkt. 49; see also Tr. 09/21/2017, at 22-23. It also referred all discovery
disputes to a magistrate judge. The order set November 1 as the due date for motions
to dismiss, or for summary judgment or provisional relief, and it set a hearing on
motions for December 20, 2017. A bench trial is scheduled for February 5, 2018.
The government filed the administrative record on October 6, Dkt. 64,
consisting of the non-privileged materials considered by the Acting Secretary in
reaching her decision to rescind the DACA policy. See Dkt. 65-3, at 1-2. The
government explained in a letter to opposing counsel that because the administrative

10
record will not include any privileged documents, the government will not be providing
a privilege log on October 6. Id. at 2.
3. Plaintiffs moved to complete the administrative record, and, on October 10,
the district court entered an order directing the government to file a privilege log by
October 12 and to appear at a hearing on October 16 with hard copies of all emails,
internal memoranda, and communications with the Justice Department on the subject
of rescinding DACA. Add. 1. The government filed a privilege log accounting for the
privileged documents actually considered by the Acting Secretary in making her
decision to rescind DACA, and brought copies of documents identified in the log to
the October 16 hearing.
On October 17, the district court granted the plaintiffs motion to complete the
record in substantial part. The court held that plaintiffs had rebutted the presumption
of regularity that attaches to agency actions by pointing to public statements illustrating
both DOJ and the White Houses direct involvement in the decision to rescind DACA.
Add. 22. Turning to the governments privilege log, the court first held that the
government had waived attorney-client privilege over any materials that bore on
whether or not DACA was an unlawful exercise of executive power because the Acting
Secretary had pointed to concerns over DACAs legality as part of her justification to
rescind the program. Second, the court declaredwithout elaboration or individualized
discussion of any documentsthat the governments claim of deliberative process
privilege over 35 documents was overridden by an unspecified need for materials and
11
for accurate fact-finding and that they must be added to the administrative record
Four of these documents were also subject to a claim of executive privilege.
Based on these premises the court ordered that the governments
administrative record must be supplemented with all materials actually seen or
considered, however briefly, by Acting Secretary Duke in connection with the
challenged decision (except for those documents on the privilege log that the judge had
not ordered released); all DACA-related materials considered by persons (anywhere in
government) who thereafter provided Acting Secretary Duke with written advice or
verbal input regarding the actual or potential rescission of DACA; all comments and
questions propounded by Acting Secretary Duke to advisors or subordinates or other
regarding the actual or potential rescission of DACA and their responses; and all
materials directly or indirectly considered by former Secretary of DHS John Kelly
leading to his February 2017 memorandum not to rescind DACA. Id. at 12-13. The
district court instructed the government to submit a privilege log for any additional
documents withheld from the expanded administrative record, and clarified that this
order is not intended to limit the scope of discovery sought by plaintiffs. Id. at 13.
Five depositions of government officials have taken place so far and six others
have been scheduled or noticed, including that of the Acting Secretary. Thus far,
pending discovery requestsfor DHS alonehas required the collection of more than
1.2 million documents from more than 100 custodians. See Add. 6, 9, 12.
12
4. On October 18, the government moved for a stay of discovery and
supplementation of the administrative record. The district court denied the
governments stay request on October 19. Add. 29.
ARGUMENT
I. The Court Should Exercise Its Mandamus Authority To Correct an

Order That Disregards Established Principles of Separation of
Powers and Judicial Review of Agency Decisions.
A. Mandamus Review Is Appropriate.
This Court has described five considerations for the grant of mandamus. Bauman
v. U.S. Dist. Ct., 557 F.2d 650 (9th Cir. 1977). First, the party seeking the writ has no
other adequate means, such as direct appeal, to attain the relief; second, the petitioner
will be damaged or prejudiced in a way not correctible on appeal; third, the district
court is clearly erroneous as a matter of law; fourth, the district courts order is an
oft-repeated error, or manifests a persistent disregard of the federal rules; and fifth,
the order raises new and important problems. Id. at 654-55. These factors serve as
guidelines, a point of departure for [the] analysis of the propriety of mandamus relief.
Hernandez v. Tanninen, 604 F.3d 1095, 1099 (9th Cir. 2010). Thus, [n]ot every factor
need be present at once or even point in the same direction. Id.
These considerations uniformly demonstrate that mandamus review is
warranted. The district courts order at issue here will not be reviewable on appeal. Nor
can the harms resulting from the order and ongoing discovery be remedied on a later
appeal. Privileges will have been breached; the White House and agencies will have been
13
required to conduct searches and assert privileges (which may then be overridden); and
high-ranking government officials will have been deposed. Correcting the district
courts drastic departure from basic principles of judicial review of agency action is
necessary to preserve the appropriate relationship between the judiciary and the
Executive Branch in this case and in agency litigation generally.
The conduct of this litigation departs from established principles of
administrative law and inter-branch comity as discussed below. It also raises new and
important problems not directly addressed by this Court. Inclusion of deliberative
materials in the administrative record has been a recurring issue in district courts in this
Circuit with significant implications for administrative litigation. As the district court
noted, several rulings in the Northern District of California have involved submission
of a privilege log. See Add. 24. Courts in the Eastern District of California have taken a
different view. See San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Auth. v. Jewell, 2016 WL 3543203
(E.D. Cal. June 23, 2016) (noting the difference in jurisprudence on this question).
Indeed, this Court has already recognized that mandamus review is appropriate in one
of the cases relied on by the district court here. See Order, In re Thomas E. Price, No. 17-
71121 (July 27, 2017) (noting that the petition raises issue that warrant an answer).
B. The Court Should Vacate the October 17 Order, Which

Constitutes Clear and Significant Error, and Direct the
District Court To Stay Discovery.
1. The conduct of this litigation upends fundamental principles of judicial review
of agency action. In agency review cases, [t]he APA specifically contemplates judicial
14
review on the basis of the agency record, which is compiled by the agency itself. Florida
Power & Light Co. v. Lorion, 470 U.S. 729, 744 (1985). A court typically reviews the
administrative record in considering a dispositive motion to determine whether the
decision is adequately supported. In so doing, [t]he focal point for judicial review
should be the administrative record already in existence, not some new record made
initially in the reviewing court. Animal Defense Council v. Hodel, 840 F.2d 1432, 1436 (9th
Cir. 1988) (quoting Florida Power, 470 U.S. at 743-44). Rather than permit wide-ranging
discovery, the task of the reviewing court is to apply the appropriate APA standard of
review to the agency decision based on the record the agency presents to the reviewing
court. Id. (same). If the agencys action is not sustainable on the administrative record
made, then the administrative decision must be vacated and the matter remanded to
[the agency] for further consideration. Camp v. Pitts, 411 U.S. 138, 143 (1973). And, of
course, before considering the merits of an agency decision or the adequacy of the
record, a court must first resolve threshold issues such as justiciability.
The district courts order contravenes each of these principles. As the
government informed the court, it will be moving to dismiss on threshold grounds that,
if accepted, obviate any need to consider the adequacy of the administrative record.
Thus, before even considering expansion of the record or allowing discovery to
proceed, basic principles of comity required the court to determine whether doing so is
permissible or necessary to the resolution of the case. First, the district court must
determine whether its exercise of jurisdiction over this suit is altogether barred by 8
15
U.S.C. 1252(g), which provides that no court shall have jurisdiction to hear any cause
or claim by or on behalf of any alien arising from the decision or action by the Attorney
General to commence proceedings, adjudicate cases, or execute removal orders against
any alien under this chapter. The Supreme Court held in Reno v. American-Arab Anti-
Discrimination Comm., 525 U.S. 471 (1999) (AADC), that this provision specifically
applies to decisions concerning the denial of deferred action. Id. at 485 & n.9.1 If the
district court were somehow to find the specific jurisdictional bar inapplicable, it would
need to determine whether the decision to rescind DACA is an unreviewable exercise
of prosecutorial discretion. See, e.g., Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821 (1985); see also AADC,
525 U.S. at 489-490 ([T]he decision to prosecute is particularly ill-suited to judicial
review[.] (quoting Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598, 607-08 (1985)). Only if the
district court were to reject all threshold grounds for dismissal would it be appropriate
to consider the adequacy of the administrative record. And, if it then appeared that
supplementation was necessary, the proper course would be to remand to the agency.
Instead, the court has permitted burdensome discovery and expanded the
administrative record to include all DACA-related materials considered by persons
(anywhere in government) who thereafter provided Acting Secretary Duke with written
advice or verbal input regarding the actual or potential rescission of DACA. Add.
1
Citing this Courts decision in Kwai Fun Wong v. United States, 373 F.3d 952,
964 (9th Cir. 2004), the district court declared that 1252(g) was plainly inapplicable
to this action. Add. 30. Kwai Fun Wong did not involve denial of deferred action.
AADC therefore provides more relevant guidance.
16
26-27. This sweeping expansion includes the highest offices in the Executive Branch,
including the White House. The redefined administrative record could potentially
include, for example, a communication between the White House and the Attorney
Generals office if any recipient provided the Acting Secretary with verbal input. This
record is at several removes from the axiom that [t]he focal point for judicial review
should be the administrative record already in existence, not some new record made
initially in the reviewing court. Camp v. Pitts, 411 U.S. 138, 142 (1973).
In this case, DHS submitted a proper administrative record consisting of
materials that were before the Acting Secretary at the time she made the decision to
rescind DACA. Because the district court will be reviewing the Secretarys decision,
the submission of this record permits judicial review based on the full administrative
record before the agency when it made its decision. Thompson v. U.S. Dept of Labor, 885
F.2d 551, 555 (9th Cir. 1989) (emphasis in original).
It is also consistent with the scheme created by the APA. In formal administrative
proceedings, the APA provides that the exclusive record for decision consists of
[t]he transcript of testimony and exhibits, together with all papers and requests filed in
the proceeding. 5 U.S.C. 556(e). The administrative record is composed of the
materials that are admitted by the agency in the course of the proceedingand
exclusive[ly] those materials. Materials that are not filed in the proceeding pursuant
to the agencys procedures, such as internal agency documents memorializing the
agencys own deliberations, are categorically outside the scope of the administrative
17
record under section 556(e). Although the APA does not contain a parallel provision
prescribing the scope of the administrative record for informal agency actions (such as
the statement of agency policy here), there is no reason why materials should be treated
any differently than when they are created in a formal proceeding. If anything, the
informal character of the proceeding gives the agency more, rather than less, latitude in
deciding what belongs in the record. See Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural
Res. Defense Council, 435 U.S. 519, 549 (1978) (court may not stray beyond the judicial
province . . . to impose upon the agency its own notion of which procedures are best)
This Courts decision in Thompson does not, as the district court believed, require
inclusion in the administrative record of all documents reviewed by the Acting
Secretarys subordinates. The Court explained that the critical inquiry was whether
the documents the petitioner sought to add to the record were before the Secretary at
the time of her decision. 885 F.2d at 555-56. The Court held that the documents at
issue in the case were considered by the Secretary, either directly or indirectly, during
[a] motion for reconsideration because they had been submitted . . . to the Secretary
in [that] motion. Id. Thus, when the court referred to a record consisting of all
documents and materials directly or indirectly considered by agency decision-makers, it
did not have in mind documents reviewed only by subordinates. 885 F.2d at 555.
The district courts expansion of the record is particularly anomalous because of
the nature of the decision at issue, a policy determination by the Acting Secretary to
wind down, in an orderly fashion, a previous policy of prosecutorial discretion that itself
18
created no substantive rights. That decision, as the government will explain in its
forthcoming dispositive motion, is an unreviewable exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
But even assuming that the decision is reviewable, it is a policy determination that does
not require any particular evidentiary basis or detailed administrative record. There is
no basis for the district courts belief that it is appropriate to require a search for
documents throughout the Executive Branch to make sure that the agency is not
withholding evidence unfavorable to its position. Add. 17 (quoting Walter O. Boswell
Meml Hosp. v. Heckler, 749 F.2d 788, 792 (D.C. Cir. 1984)).
2. The order contravenes settled principles even more flagrantly by requiring the
inclusion in the publicly filed record of privileged, deliberative documents and the
creation of a privilege log accounting for many more. It is a fundamental that it is not
the function of the court to probe the mental processes of the agency. United States v.
Morgan, 304 U.S. 1, 18 (1938). Just as a judge cannot be subjected to such a scrutiny . . .
so the integrity of the administrative process must be equally respected. United States v.
Morgan, 313 U.S. 409, 422 (1941) (Morgan II). Thus, in Morgan II, the Supreme Court
emphasized that the trial court had erred in permitting the deposition of the Secretary
of Agriculture regarding the process by which he reached the conclusions of his order,
including the manner and extent of his study of the record and his consultation with
subordinates. Id. The Court concluded: [T]he short of the business is that the
Secretary should never have been subjected to this examination. Id.
19
Here, the only apparent purpose of the record expansion is to examine the mental
processes of the decisionmakerto investigate what the Acting Secretary thought
rather than what she decided. But agency officials should be judged by what they
decided, not for matters they considered before making up their minds. National Sec.
Archive v. CIA, 752 F.3d 460, 462 (D.C. Cir. 2014). Indeed, as the en banc D.C. Circuit
has explained, deliberative materials are not merely protected from disclosurethey do
not form part of the administrative record at all. See San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, 789
F.2d 26 (D.C. Cir. 1986) (en banc). Applying the principles disregarded by the district
court here, the D.C. Circuit denied a motion to supplement the administrative record
with transcripts of a closed-door agency meeting regarding the license application at
issue. The court explained that [j]udicial examination of these transcripts would
represent an extraordinary intrusion into the realm of the agency, and that the
petitioners must make a strong showing of bad faith or improper behavior before
the court would be warranted in examining the deliberative proceedings of the
agency. 789 F.2d at 44 (quoting Overton Park, 401 U.S. at 420). The court analogized
an agencys deliberations to the deliberative processes of a court and stated that,
[w]ithout the assurance of secrecy, the court could not fully perform its functions. Id.
at 45; see also Town of Norfolk v. U.S. Army Corps of Engrs, 968 F.2d 1438, 1455-58 (1st
Cir. 1992) (upholding omission of documents from administrative record on attorney-
client and deliberative-process privilege grounds); Comprehensive Cmty. Dev. Corp. v.
Sebelius, 890 F. Supp. 2d 305, 312-13 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) ([C]ourts have consistently
20
recognized that, for the purpose of judicial review of agency action, deliberative
materials antecedent to the agencys decision fall outside the administrative record.).2
That the district court believes that it may permissibly question the mental
processes of the decisionmaker (and her advisors) is evident from its statements that
deposing the Acting Secretary would be proper because it would be good to know
what the verbal input was that was given to her before she made her decision. That
alone would justify the deposition. Tr. 10/16/2017, at 32. But it is established that
deposing high-ranking officialsa category that in this case includes, at a minimum,
Acting Cabinet Secretariesis to be avoided absent a finding of extraordinary
circumstances or a special need. In re United States, 624 F.3d 1368, 1372 (11th Cir.
2010) (issuing a writ of mandamus to preclude required testimony of EPA
Administrator) (quoting In re United States, 985 F.2d 510, 512-13 (11th Cir. 1993) (issuing
writ of mandamus to preclude 30 minute telephone deposition of FDA
2
Although this Court has not squarely addressed the issue, it has strongly
suggested that deliberative materials are not properly part of the record for APA
review. Portland Audubon Society v. Endangered Species Committee, 984 F.2d 1534 (9th Cir.
1993), involved a request for discovery regarding alleged ex parte contacts with the
agency charged with granting exemptions from Endangered Species Act requirements.
The Court distinguished the purely internal deliberations at issue in the D.C. Circuits
Mothers for Peace case (and at issue here) from allegedly improper ex parte contacts
between decisionmakers and outside parties. 984 F.2d at 1549. In so doing, the
Court approvingly cited Mothers for Peace in suggesting that the administrative record
includes neither the internal deliberative processes of the agency nor the mental
processes of individual agency members. Id. at 1549.
21
Commissioner)). As this Court has explained, [h]eads of government agencies are not
normally subject to deposition. Kyle Engineering Co, 600 F.2d at 231-32.3
3. The district court further exacerbated its error by ordering the public
disclosure of documents over which the government had asserted privilege. The court
received no briefing regarding the specific documents identified on the privilege log.
Nevertheless, it ordered disclosure of approximately 30 documents protected by the
deliberative process privilege with no explanation other than the statement that [t]he
undersigned judge has balanced the deliberative-process privilege factors and
determined in camera that documents must be disclosed. Add. 27. Examination of a
few of the documents ordered disclosed underscores the impropriety of the district
courts disclosure order. As explained on the privilege log, Document Tab #81
(RLIT1888) consists of the Acting Secretarys notes taken during deliberations
3
Other circuits have likewise exercised their mandamus authority to preclude
such testimony. See, e.g., In re McCarthy, 636 Fed Appx 142, 144 (4th Cir. 2015)
(issuing writ of mandamus to preclude deposition of EPA Administrator); In re United
States, 542 Fed Appx 944 (Fed. Cir. 2013) (issuing writ of mandamus to preclude
deposition of the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board); In re Cheney, 544 F.3d 311,
314 (D.C. Cir. 2008) (issuing writ of mandamus to preclude deposition of the Vice
Presidents chief of staff); In re United States, 197 F.3d 310, 314 (8th Cir. 1999) (issuing
writ of mandamus to preclude testimony of Attorney General and Deputy Attorney
General); In re FDIC, 58 F.3d 1055, 1060 (5th Cir. 1995) (issuing writ of mandamus to
preclude testimony of three members of the Board of the FDIC); Bacon v. Department
of Housing and Urban Development, 757 F.2d 265, 269 (Fed. Cir. 1985) (precluding
deposition of the Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development);
United States Board of Parole v. Merhige, 487 F.2d 25, 29 (4th Cir. 1973) (issuing writ of
mandamus to preclude deposition of members of the Board of Parole).
22
regarding the rescission of DACA and the seeking of legal advice regarding that policy
decision. Such a document is plainly deliberative and protected by privilege. Document
Tab #74 (RLIT1879) similarly consists of notes written by the Acting Secretary
concerning the implementation of a decision to wind down the DACA policy. The
district court offered no explanation of how plaintiffs have met their burden of
overcoming the privilege.
The court likewise plainly erred in declaring that [d]efendants have waived
attorney-client privilege over any materials that bore on whether or not DACA was an
unlawful exercise of executive power and therefore should be rescinded. Add. 24.4 The
court based its extraordinary ruling on the fact that the Acting Secretarys decision
followed consideration of litigation risk and the legality of the DACA policy. Agencies
regularly announce their views of what the law requires in the Federal Register, but
nobody claims that doing so jeopardizes attorney-client privilege. Nor does
consideration of a Justice Department opinion, a salutary agency practice. Even
assuming that the correctness of that opinion were ever found to be relevant to
disposition of these cases, assessing its correctness would not depend on the legal
research used to reach that conclusion. Add. 23. There is no basis at all for the district
courts belief that assessing the reasonableness of the Secretarys legal rationale would
turn, in part, on how consistent the analysis has been in the runup to the rescission.
4
The government also claimed work product privilege over many documents
but the district court did not address this privilege.
23
Id. And even setting aside the fundamental problems with the district courts analysis, a
blanket waiver of attorney client privilege was wholly inappropriate. Hernandez v.
Tanninen, 604 F.3d 1095, 1101 (9th Cir. 2010).
The district court also cursorily ordered disclosure of documents covered by
executive privilege, declaring in a footnote that none of these documents fall within
the executive privilege. Add. 25 n.7. This unelaborated statement is plainly wrong:
Document Tab #19 (RLIT69), for example, is a White House memorandum. The
district court provides no basis for its disregard of the presidential communications
privilege, a presumptive privilege attached to presidential communications that is
fundamental to the operation of Government and inextricably rooted in the separation
of powers under the Constitution. United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 708 (1974); In
re United States, 678 Fed. Appx 981 (Fed. Cir. 2017).
4. The limitations on intruding into the decisionmaking process also apply
outside the context of the APA and have particular force where, as here, a suit raises
claims of discriminatory motive. In United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456, 463-64
(1996), the Supreme Court considered whether criminal defendants could obtain
discovery to support a selective prosecution claim. The Court recognized that such
claims ask[] a court to exercise judicial power over a special province of the
Executive, specifically the constitutional responsibility to take Care that the Laws be
faithfully executed. Id. at 464 (quoting first Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821, 832 (1985),
and U.S. Const. art. II, 3). The Court explained that a presumption of regularity
24
supports prosecutorial decisions and, in the absence of clear evidence to the contrary,
courts presume that they have properly discharged their official duties. 517 U.S. at 464
(quoting United States v. Chemical Foundation, Inc., 272 U.S. 1, 14-15 (1926)). Therefore,
before discovery could be permitted, the proponent of a selective prosecution claim
would have to put forth clear evidence of discriminatory intent. Id. at 464-65.
In AADC, the Supreme Court held that an even more restrictive rule was
required when the claim of selective enforcement related to immigration laws because
the concerns raised by such claims are greatly magnified in the deportation context.
AADC, 525 U.S. at 489. The Court also recognized that heightened separation of
powers concerns arise in this context because discovery may intrude into the conduct
of foreign affairs by the Executive Branch. Requests for information could lead to
disclosure of not only normal domestic law enforcement priorities and techniques,
but also disclosure of foreign-policy objective and [in some cases, like AADC itself,]
foreign-intelligence products and techniques. Id. at 490. The Court dismissed [t]he
contention that a violation [of federal law] must be allowed to continue because it has
been improperly selected as not powerfully appealing. Id. at 491. For these reasons,
the Court held that [w]hen an aliens continuing presence in this country is in violation
of the immigration laws, the government did not violate the Constitution by basing its
deportation decision in part on activity protected by the First Amendment. 525 U.S. at
491-92. This general rule was subject only to the possibility of a rare case in which
25
the alleged basis of discrimination was so outrageous that the foregoing considerations
can be overcome. Id. at 491.
5. Finally, the Supreme Courts decision in Cheney makes clear that, at the very
least, mandamus review is warranted for the courts order that the White House conduct
a document search and assert privileges. The Supreme Court emphasized that discovery
directed to the White House raises special considerations regarding the Executive
Branchs interests in maintaining the autonomy of its office and [t]he high respect
that is owed to the office of the Chief Executive. Cheney, 542 U.S. at 385 (alteration in
original). The Court specifically rejected the contention that the White House could
sufficiently protect itself against intrusive discovery through individual privilege
assertions, holding that the White House should not unnecessarily be placed in the
position of having to assert executive privilege. Id. at 390. As the Court explained,
[o]nce executive privilege is asserted, coequal branches of the Government are set on
a collision course and [t]he Judiciary is forced into the difficult task of balancing the
need for information in a judicial proceeding and the Executives Article II
prerogatives. Id. at 389. The burdens placed on the White House here, where the
district courts order also permits assertion of privilege, are directly analogous to those
deemed improper in Cheney. Thus, the district court should have explore[d] other
avenues, short of forcing the Executive to invoke privilege, such as considering the
governments dispositive threshold arguments. Id.at 390.
* * *
26
In sum, the district courts rulings contain several clear, significant and
irreparable errors that would each independently warrant this Courts mandamus
review: the requirement to include privileged, deliberative documents in a new
administrative record; the blanket, erroneous, and virtually unexplained, rejection of
privileges regarding the documents already documented on the privilege log; the
requirement that the White House search for and assert privileges over documents; and
the authorization of discovery in an APA case notwithstanding the governments
dispositive threshold arguments.
Each of these errors is symptomatic of a pervasive misunderstanding of the
nature of this litigation. It will almost certainly be possible to resolve this litigation on
threshold grounds without the need for any discovery or record supplementation. But
neither the district court nor this Court need assume that conclusion. It is sufficient to
conclude that the district court should not countenance discovery or mandate
supplementation of the record without considering the governments threshold
arguments, and, if it believes necessary, reviewing the legal issues presented by plaintiffs
challenges. At this juncture, before any such review has taken place, discovery and
record supplementation should be halted.
II. This Court Should Grant a Stay Pending Review of the Petition.
Given the nature of the district courts order and the burdens of ongoing
discovery, we ask that the Court grant an immediate administrative stay pending its
consideration of the mandamus petition. Absent a stay, the government will suffer
27
immediate, irreparable, and substantial harm. On the other side of the balance, a stay
will not harm plaintiffs: they have demonstrated no reason why they need discovery
now versus a week from now, after this Court resolves this petition. Indeed, the Second
Circuit granted the governments motion for emergency stay in the New York
proceedings pending consideration of a full mandamus petition. Order, In re Duke, No.
17-3345 (Oct. 20, 2017) (Cabranes, J.).
For the reasons explained, the order is without basis in law and the government
is likely to prevail on its request for mandamus relief. A stay is required to prevent the
government from being forced to publicly disclose privileged communications
including those protected by executive privilegeby October 27, and to prevent the
violation of established separation-of-powers principles that will occur if the White
House is required to search for and assert privilege over its documents.
The burden imposed by ongoing discovery also strongly militates in favor of a
stay. The declarations submitted in district court explain that initial searches conducted
by DHS components have resulted in the collection for potential review of over 1
million documents for these cases and those pending in New York. Every full-time
lawyer on the litigation team at DHS headquarters has been assigned to review
documents in the various DACA cases, and lawyers have also been diverted from other
legal practice areas. Add. 6-7. Customs and Border Patrol has put on hold all of its
electronic discovery computer resources ordinarily used for other cases, and
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement has pulled agency counsel and personnel
28
from immigration court appearances and other regular duties, to assist with discovery
in these cases. Add. 3, 13. These efforts are already compromising DHSs ability to meet
its other legal and programmatic obligations. See, e.g., Add. 2 (describing delays to other
litigation obligations and an ongoing critical surveillance operation). Agency officials
estimate that similar burdens would be necessary to locate materials that fall within
plaintiffs expansive understanding of the administrative record. See, e.g., Add. 9.
Moreover, plaintiffs are proceeding with depositions of high-level government officials
that will almost certainly call for testimony regarding sensitive privileged matters.
Depositions have already begun (and will continue) for advisers to the Secretary, and,
as explained, the district court has indicated that it will permit the deposition of the
Acting Secretary herself, which has already been noticed by plaintiffs. See supra p. 21.
Plaintiffs, on the other hand, will suffer no harm from a temporary delay in
discovery while this Court considers the governments petition. The briefing schedule
for dispositive motions will not be affected. Nor would a stay of discovery meaningfully
delay the resolution of these proceedings, as the district court feared. Add. 30-31.5 If
anything, the receipt of guidance from this Court will eliminate areas of dispute between
5
The district courts claim that privileged government communications [will not] be
publicly disclosed, Add. 31, should not be read to call into question whether the
government is currently under an obligation to disclose privileged documents. The
court already ordered the disclosure of documents subject to a claim of privilege
without the benefit of briefing by the parties, and it makes clear that it will withhold
from public view those that it believes require withholding, which means that the
government is at serious risk of further disclosure orders made without briefing. Id.
29
the parties and help to speed resolution of plaintiffs claims.
This Court commonly grants stays pending disposition of a writ of mandamus,
including in cases involving challenges to discovery orders. See, e.g., Order, In re United
States of America, No. 17-71692 (July 25, 2017) (staying all proceedings in district court);
Barton v. U.S. Dist. Court for Cent. Dist. of Cal., 410 F.3d 1104, 1106 (9th Cir. 2005);
Calderon v. U.S. Dist. Court for the N. Dist. of Cal., 98 F.3d 1102, 1104 (9th Cir. 1996). The
appropriateness of a stay in these exact circumstances has been recognized by the
Second Circuit, which stayed discovery and record supplementation proceedings in the
New York cases, see In re Duke, No. 17-3345 (2d Cir. Oct. 20, 20170 (order of Cabranes,
J.), and in similar circumstances by another district court in the Northern District of
California, which stayed proceedings pending this Courts review of the mandamus
petition in In re Thomas E. Price, No. 17-71121. See Order Granting Motion To Stay,
Institute for Fisheries Resources v. Price, No. 16-cv-1574 (N.D. Cal., May 3, 2017), Dkt. 108.
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, this Court should grant an immediate administrative
stay to permit it to consider the petition for writ of mandamus, grant that petition and
stay all discovery, and vacate the order of October 17.
30
Respectfully submitted,
CHAD A. READLER
Acting Assistant Attorney General
BRIAN STRETCH
United States Attorney
HASHIM M. MOOPPAN
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
MARK B. STERN
ABBY C. WRIGHT
THOMAS PULHAM
Attorneys, Appellate Staff
Civil Division
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530
(202) 514-2000
OCTOBER 2017
31
STATEMENT OF RELATED CASES
Petitioners are aware of one related case: In re Thomas E. Price, No. 17-71121,
which raises closely related issues to those raised in this petition.

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE
I hereby certify that this motion complies with the page limit of Ninth Circuit
Rule 21-2(c) because the motion does not exceed 30 pages, excluding the parts of the
motion exempted by Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32(f). I further certify that
this motion complies with the typeface and type-style requirements of Federal Rules
of Appellate Procedure 27(d)(1)(E), 32(a)(5), and 32(a)(6) because it has been
prepared using Microsoft Word 2013 in a proportionally spaced typeface, 14-point
Garamond font.
s/ Mark B. Stern
MARK B. STERN
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I hereby certify that on October 20, 2017, I electronically filed the foregoing
with the Clerk of the Court by using the appellate CM/ECF system. Service has been
accomplished via e-mail to the following counsel:
Regents of the University of California et al.: Mark H. Lynch (mlynch@cov.com); Jeffrey M.

Davidson (jdavidson@cov.com); Alexander A. Berengaut (aberengaut@cov.com);
Megan A. Crowley (mcrowley@cov.com)
States of California, Maine, Maryland, and Minnesota: James Zahradka

(james.zahradka@doj.ca.gov); Ronald Lee (ronald.lee@doj.ca.gov)
City of San Jose: nfineman@cpmlegal.com; bdanitz@cpmlegal.com;

tprevost@cpmlegal.com; pluc@cpmlegal.com.
Dulce Garcia, Miriam Gonzalez Avila, Saul Jimenez Suarez, Viridiana Chabolla Mendoza,
Norma Ramirez, and Jirayut Latthivongskorn: Ethan Dettmer
(edettmer@gibsondunn.com); Jesse Gabriel (jgabriel@gibsondunn.com); Katie
Marquart (kmarquart@gibsondunn.com); Kelsey Helland
(khelland@gibsondunn.com); Mark Rosenbaum (mrosenbaum@publiccounsel.org)
County of Santa Clara and Service Employees International Union Local 521: Eric Prince
Brown (ebrown@altber.com, smendez@altber.com); Greta Suzanne Hansen
(greata.hansen@cco.sccgov.org); James Robyzad Williams
(james.williams@cco.sscgov.org); Jonathan David Weissglass
(jweissglass@altshulerberzon.com, smendez@altschulerberzon.com); Laura Susan
Trice (Laura.Trice@cco.sscgov.org; Alicia.casteneda@cco.sscgov.org); Marcelo
Quinones (marcelo.quinones@cco.sscgov.org; leesa.rivera@cco.sscgov.org); Stacey
M. Leyton (sleyton@altshulerberzon.com, mpelrine@altshulerberzon.com)
The district court has been provided with a copy of this petition for writ of
mandamus.
s/ Mark B. Stern
MARK B. STERN
ADDENDUM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
District Court Order, Dkt. No. 67 (October 10, 2017) ............................................. Add. 1
Declaration of Vijai Chellappa in Support of Defendants Opposition to

Plaintiffs Motion to Compel Completion of the Administrative Record,
Dkt. No. 71-3 (October 12, 2017) .................................................................... Add. 2
Declaration of David J. Palmer in Support of Defendants Opposition to

Declaration of James W. McCament in Support of Defendants Opposition to

Declaration of Raymond Milani in Support of Defendants Opposition to

Dkt. No. 71-6 (October 12, 2017) .................................................................. Add. 11
District Court Order, Dkt. No. 79 (October 17, 2017) ........................................... Add. 15
District Court Order, Dkt. No. 85 (October 19, 2017) ........................................... Add. 29
Case 3:17-cv-05211-WHA Document 67 Filed 10/10/17 Page 1 of 1
1
2
3
4 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
5
6
7
8 THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
9 CALIFORNIA and JANET NAPOLITANO,
in her official capacity as President of the No. C 17-05211 WHA
10 University of California, No. C 17-05235 WHA
No. C 17-05329 WHA
11 Plaintiffs, No. C 17-05380 WHA
United States District Court
v.
For the Northern District of California
12
13 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ORDER SHORTENING TIME
HOMELAND SECURITY and ELAINE FOR BRIEFING ON MOTION
14 DUKE, in her official capacity as Acting TO COMPLETE
Secretary of the Department of Homeland ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD
15 Security,
16 Defendants.
/
17
18 Plaintiffs motion to complete the administrative record will be briefed and argued on
19 the following schedule:
20 Defendants shall file an opposition and a privilege log by THURSDAY, OCTOBER

12, AT NOON.
21 Plaintiffs shall file a reply by FRIDAY, OCTOBER 13, AT NOON.
22 A hearing is set for MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, AT 11:00 A.M.
23 Defendants shall bring to the hearing hard copies of all emails, internal memoranda, and
24 communications with the Justice Department on the subject of rescinding DACA.
25
26 Dated: October 10, 2017.
27 WILLIAM ALSUP
28 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Add. 1
Case 3:17-cv-05211-WHA Document 71-3 Filed 10/12/17 Page 1 of 3
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION

REGENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA and
JANET NAPOLITANO, in her official capacity as
President of the University of California,
Hon. William Alsup
Plaintiffs,
v.
Case No. 17-cv-05211-WHA
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF
HOMELAND SECURITY and ELAINE DUKE, in
her official capacity as Acting Secretary of the
Department of Homeland Security,
Defendants.
DECLARATION OF VIJAI CHELLAPPA
I, Vijai Chellappa, do hereby declare and state:
1. I am an E-Discovery Digital Forensic Analyst with U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP), E-Discovery Team, Security Operations, Cyber Security Directorate, Office of
Information Technology (OIT). I have 15 years of experience in the Information Technology
field, and I have worked for CBP, OIT since 2009. I have been an E-Discovery Digital Forensic
Analyst since 2011.
2. I am aware of the Court Order dated October 10, 2017, Dkt. No. 67, Order
Shortening Time for Briefing Motion to Complete the Administrative Record. I make the
following statements based on my personal knowledge and upon information furnished to me in
the course of my official duties.
3. In CBPs efforts to respond to discovery requests in this and related cases, I have
assisted in the ongoing process of searching, collecting, reviewing, and analyzing documents
Add. 2
based on searches of more than 70 GB of data (90,219 electronic files) acquired from searches of
12 network drives and approximately 29 workstations.
4. Additionally, I developed and executed the search of CBPs e-mail mailbox
journal servers which consisting of approximately 200 TB of data from CBP e-mail mailboxes to
locate potentially responsive e-mail messages.
5. CBP, OIT has dedicated significant hours and all of the E-Discovery computer
search resources to accelerate the total time needed to respond to pending discovery. To date, I
have already expended approximately 48 hours in this effort, to include the searches, data
transfers, and refining process for potential discovery material in this and related matters.
Additionally, the Agency has experienced impacts to agency function and mission, as all E-
Discovery computer server resources were reassigned and diverted to address the search for
documents responsive to current discovery requests in the various pending DACA cases.
Specifically, all of our work for other cases and court deadlines was put on hold to perform
discovery tasks in this and related matters in order to expend the entire resource of E-
Discoverys computer server in response to production of this discovery request. As a result, the
agency is already more than a week behind in other litigation obligations and has also fallen
behind on an ongoing critical surveillance operation.
6. Similar burdens would likely be incurred to immediately locate any additional
materials that I understand Plaintiffs assert should be part of the administrative record.
Add. 3
Add. 5
Add. 6
Add. 7
Add. 8
Add. 9
Add. 10
Add. 11
Add. 12
Add. 13
Add. 14
1
2
3
4
5
7
8
9

University of California, No. C 17-05235 WHA
12 No. C 17-05329 WHA

14 v.
15 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ORDER RE MOTION

HOMELAND SECURITY and ELAINE TO COMPLETE
16 DUKE, in her official capacity as Acting ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD
Secretary of the Department of Homeland
17 Security,
18 Defendants.
/
19
20 INTRODUCTION
21 Under the Administrative Procedure Act, plaintiffs seek to compel completion of the
22 administrative record. Federal defendants oppose. For the reasons herein, plaintiffs motion is
23 GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.
24 STATEMENT
25 On June 15, 2012, the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security issued a
26 memorandum promulgating a deferred action policy for those without lawful immigration status
27 who came to the United States as children, were continuous residents in the United States for at
28 least five years, had graduated from high school, obtained a GED, or served in the military, and
Add. 15
1 met certain other criteria a memorandum and policy known as Deferred Action for
2 Childhood Arrivals, DACA for short (Dkt. No. 64-1 at 13).1
3 After the change in administrations in 2017, the new Secretary of DHS, John Kelly,
4 announced that DACA would be continued notwithstanding the rescission of other immigration
5 policies (id. at 230). This was done despite, and with the knowledge of, the decision of the
6 Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Texas v. United States, 809 F.3d 134 (5th Cir. 2015),
7 invalidating a different deferred action policy and the Supreme Courts affirmance of that
8 decision by an equally divided vote, United States v. Texas, 136 S. Ct. 2271 (2016) (per
9 curiam).
10 On September 5, 2017, however, the Acting Secretary of DHS, Elaine Duke, reversed
11 the agencys position and announced DACAs end, effective March 5, 2018.
We now have five lawsuits in this district challenging that rescission.2 Each action is
12
13 proceeding on a parallel track and on the same schedule, which schedule was designed to reach
14 a decision on the merits and to allow appellate review by the March 5 deadline.3
15 Pursuant to the scheduling order, the federal defendants filed the administrative record
16 on October 6. It consisted of fourteen documents spanning 256 pages, each of which was
17 already available to the public, and had, in fact, already been filed in this action (Dkt. No. 49
18 3; Dkt. No. 64-1).
19 In unison, plaintiffs now move to require completion of the administrative record in
20 accordance with Section 706 of Title 5 of the United States Code. They argue that the current
21 record is incomplete because it contains only documents personally considered by the Acting
22 Secretary (and then only some considered by her) and excludes any and all other documents that
23 indirectly led to the rescission.
24
25 1
All docket numbers herein refer to the docket in Case No. C 17-05211 WHA.
26 2
There are two additional DACA lawsuits proceeding in the Eastern District of New York before
Judge Nicholas Garaufis, State of New York v. Trump, Case No. 17-cv-05228 NGG, and Vidal v. Baran, Case
27 No. 16-cv-04756 NGG.
28 3
The fifth lawsuit, County of Santa Clara v. Trump, Case No. 17-cv-05813 HRL, was related after
plaintiffs motion was fully briefed and argued.
2
Add. 16
1 The federal defendants oppose, arguing that they have already filed a complete
2 administrative record, which they contend is properly limited to unprivileged documents
3 actually considered by the decision-maker, here, the Acting Secretary (Opp. at 89).
4 This order follows full briefing and oral argument and the Courts review of all
5 materials in camera that appeared on the governments privilege log.
6 ANALYSIS
7 1. SCOPE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE RECORD.
8 Section 706 of the APA provides that judicial review of agency action shall be based
9 on the whole record. The administrative record is not necessarily those documents that the
10 agency has compiled and submitted as the administrative record but rather consists of all
11 documents and materials directly or indirectly considered by agency decision-makers and
12 includes evidence contrary to the agencys position. Thompson v. United States Dept of
13 Labor, 885 F.2d 551, 55556 (9th Cir. 1989). This includes not only documents that literally
14 pass[ed] before the eyes of the final agency decision maker but also documents that were
15 considered and relied upon by subordinates who provided recommendations to the decision-
16 maker. People of State of Cal. ex rel. Lockyer v. United States Dept of Agriculture, Nos.
17 C05-3508 & C05-4038, 2006 WL 708914, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 16, 2006) (Magistrate Judge
18 Elizabeth Laporte) (internal citations and quotations omitted); see also Amfac Resorts, L.L.C. v.
19 United States Dept of the Interior, 143 F. Supp. 2d 7, 12 (D.D.C. 2001) (Judge Royce
20 Lamberth).
21 The requirement that a reviewing court consider the whole record before rendering a
22 decision ensures that neither party is withholding evidence unfavorable to its position and that
23 the agencies are not taking advantage of post hoc rationalizations for administrative decisions.
24 Walter O. Boswell Meml Hosp. v. Heckler, 749 F.2d 788, 792 (D.C. Cir. 1984).
25 While it is presumed that the administrative record submitted by defendants is complete,
26 plaintiffs can rebut this presumption with clear evidence to the contrary. Cook Inletkeeper v.
27 EPA, 400 F. Appx 239, 240 (9th Cir. 2010) (quoting Bar MK Ranches v. Yuetter, 994 F.2d 735,
28 740 (10th Cir. 1993)).
3
Add. 17
1 Defendants contend a showing of bad faith or impropriety is required in order to compel

2 a complete production of the administrative record. This is incorrect. True, bad faith is one
3 basis for requiring supplementation of an administrative record, but it is not the exclusive basis.
4 Our court of appeals has repeatedly recognized other grounds for requiring supplementation,
5 including where it appears the agency relied on documents not [already] included in the
6 record. Pub. Power Council v. Johnson, 674 F.2d 791, 794 (9th Cir. 1982); Fence Creek
7 Cattle Co. v. United States Forest Serv., 602 F.3d 1125, 1131 (9th Cir. 2010); see also Lands
8 Council v. Powell, 395 F.3d 1019, 1030 (9th Cir. 2005).
9 The bad faith standard of Overton Park applies where, though an administrative
10 record exists, plaintiffs ask to go beyond the record that was before the agency and inquire into
11 the thought processes of decision-makers in Overton Park, by taking the testimony of
12 agency officials. Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 420 (1971)
13 abrogated on other grounds by Califano v. Sanders, 430 U.S. 99 (1977).
14 Our plaintiffs are not seeking materials beyond what were already considered, directly
15 or indirectly, by the decision-maker, and therefore need not show bad faith. Supplementation
16 is appropriate if they show, by clear evidence, that the agency relied on materials not already
17 included in the record. See Portland Audubon Soc. v. Endangered Species Comm., 984 F.2d
18 1534, 1548 (9th Cir. 1993) (distinguishing between materials never presented to the agency
19 and materials that were allegedly [] before the agency); Fence Creek Cattle Co., 602 F.3d at
20 1131.
21 Nor is defendants contention that it need only produce documents directly considered
22 by the Acting Secretary correct. Documents reviewed by subordinates, or other agencies
23 who informed her on the issues underlying the decision to rescind DACA, either verbally or
24 in writing, should be in the administrative record. See Lockyer, 2006 WL 708914, at *2.
25 The threshold question is whether plaintiffs have shown, by clear evidence, that the record
26
27
28
4
Add. 18
1 defendants produced is missing documents that were considered, directly or indirectly, by DHS
2 in deciding to rescind DACA.4
3 2. PLAINTIFFS SHOWING OF INCOMPLETENESS.
4 Here, the tendered administrative record consists merely of fourteen documents
5 spanning 258 pages, which defendants contend constitute the entire record considered in
6 making the decision to rescind DACA. These are plainly pertinent materials, although all were
7 publicly known and already part of the pleadings herein.
8 Plaintiffs seek additional materials including emails, departmental memoranda, policy
9 directives, meeting minutes, materials considered by Secretary Dukes subordinates,
10 communications from White House officials or staff, communications from the Department of
11 Justice, and communications between DHS and state authorities, which they contend should
12 necessarily be part of the administrative record (Br. at 910).

13 Plaintiffs drew this list, in part, from a United States Department of Justice Guidance,
14 which sets forth non-binding recommendations for how to compile an administrative record and
15 what to include. United States Dept of Justice, Envt and Nat. Res. Div., Guidance to Federal
16 Agencies on Compiling the Administrative Record (Jan. 1999). Specifically, the Guidance
17 states that the administrative record should [i]nclude all documents and materials prepared,
18 reviewed, or received by agency personnel and used by or available to the decision-maker,
19 even though the final decision-maker did not actually review or know about the documents
20 and materials. Id. at 3. It further provides that the record should include communications
21 the agency received from other agencies . . . documents and materials that support or oppose
22 the challenged agency decision . . . minutes of meetings or transcripts thereof . . . [and]
23
24
25 4
Defendants also argue that they should not be required to produce any administrative record
whatsoever because the Department of Homeland Securitys decision to end DACA was an exercise of
26 prosecutorial discretion not subject to judicial review (Opp. at 1). Earlier in these actions, our defendants
agreed to produce the administrative record by October 6, and were then ordered to do so. They may not now
27 renege on that commitment. At this stage, defendants are required to produce an administrative record. Should
they prevail on this argument on their eventual motion to dismiss, it will be with the benefit of a proper
28 administrative record.
5
Add. 19
1 memorializations of telephone conversations and meetings, such as memorandum or

2 handwritten notes.5
3 Plaintiffs contend that communications from DOJ and the White House are a critical
4 part of the whole record due to their significant public participation in the process of
5 rescinding DACA. Plaintiffs first point to Attorney General Sessions September 4 letter,
6 which DHS expressly relied upon in its memorandum terminating the program (see Dkt. No.
7 64-1 at 251, 255). Despite this critical and publicly disclosed role in the decision, the only DOJ
8 document defendants include in the record is this one-page September 4 letter. This, plaintiffs
9 contend, is clear evidence that defendants omitted documents supporting (or contradicting) the
10 opinions set forth in Attorney General Sessions letter, in particular the opinion that DACA was
11 unlawfully implemented.
12 Additionally, the White House has repeatedly emphasized the Presidents direct role
13 in decisions concerning DACA. For example, a September 5 White House press release
14 announced President Donald J. Trump Restores Responsibility and the Rule of Law to
15 Immigration by rescinding DACA, and repeatedly stated that President Trump had acted to
16 end the program. Press Release, The White House Office of the Press Secretary, President
17 Donald J. Trump Restores Responsibility and the Rule of Law to Immigration (Sept. 5, 2017),
18 https://www.whitehouse.gov/thepress-office/2017/09/05/president-donald-j-trump-restores-
19 responsibility-and-rule-law. Other articles likewise emphasize White House officials roles
20 in decision-making regarding DACA. See, e.g., Michael D. Shear & Julie Hirschfeld Davis,
21 Trump Moves to End DACA and Calls on Congress to Act, New York Times (Sept. 5, 2017).
22 Moreover, defendants concede in their response that Secretary Duke received advice from
23 other members of the executive branch in making her decision (Opp. at 17) and refer to White
24 House memorandum in their privilege log (Dkt. No. 71-2). And at oral argument, counsel for
25
5
A 2008 DOJ memorandum specifically notes that the 1999 Guidance is a non-binding internal
26 document, which does not limit the otherwise lawful prerogatives of the Department of Justice or any other
federal agency (Dkt. No. 71-1 at 3). In particular, the 2008 memorandum takes issue with outside parties use
27 of the Guidance in litigation to advocate for a particular composition of the administrative record or process for
its assembly (ibid.). Recognizing that the 1999 Guidance is not binding upon agencies, this order finds that the
28 Guidance nevertheless provides helpful insight into the types of documents and materials an agency should
consider when assembling an administrative record.
6
Add. 20
1 defendants said it was likely Secretary Duke had received verbal input before making her
2 decision. Despite this, defendants have failed to provide even a single document from any
3 White House officials or staff.
4 Plaintiffs further observe that not a single document from one of Secretary Dukes
5 subordinates is in the record. It strains credulity to suggest that the Acting Secretary of DHS
6 decided to rescind a program covering 800,000 enrollees without consulting one advisor or
7 subordinate within DHS. Again, at oral argument, government counsel represented that she
8 had likely received verbal input. The governments in camera submission confirms that she
9 did receive substantial DACA input.
10 Finally, former DHS Secretary John Kelly issued a memorandum in February 2017,
11 in which he rescinded all DHS memoranda that conflicted with newly stated immigration
12 enforcement policies but expressly declined to rescind DACA (Dkt. No. 64-1 at 22930).
13 This decision, of course, is directly contrary to that taken by Acting Secretary Duke seven
14 months later. The administrative record, however, omits all materials explaining the change
15 in position from February to September, with two exceptions (1) a June 29 letter from Ken
16 Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas, to Attorney General Sessions, in which he threatens
17 to amend the suit challenging DAPA to also challenge DACA if it is not rescinded by
18 September 5, and (2) Attorney General Sessions September 4 letter to Secretary Duke
19 expressing the opinion that DHS should rescind DACA. Reasoned agency decision-making
20 ordinarily demand[s] that [the agency] display awareness that it is changing position and
21 show that there are good reasons for the new policy. F.C.C. v. Fox Television Stations, Inc.,
22 556 U.S. 502, 515 (2009). Accordingly, the whole record would ordinarily contain materials
23 giving a reasoned explanation . . . for disregarding the facts and circumstances that underlay or
24 were engendered by the prior policy. Ibid. It is simply not plausible that DHS reversed policy
25 between February and September because of one threatened lawsuit (never actually filed)
26 without having generated any materials analyzing the lawsuit or other factors militating in favor
27 of and against the switch in policy.
28
7
Add. 21
1 Based on the foregoing, plaintiffs have clearly shown that defendants excluded highly
2 relevant materials from the administrative record and in doing so have rebutted the presumption
3 that the record is complete.
4 Defendants argument to the contrary is unpersuasive. Their position that only selected
5 documents that Acting Secretary Duke personally reviewed need be part of the administrative
6 record must yield to legal authority requiring both directly and indirectly considered documents
7 be included in the record, see, e.g., Thompson, 885 F.2d at 55556, and by public statements
8 illustrating both DOJ and the White Houses direct involvement in the decision to rescind
9 DACA. The rule that government counsel advocates would allow agencies to contrive a record
10 that suppresses information actually considered by decision-makers and by those making
11 recommendations to the decision-makers, information that might undercut the claimed rationale
12 for the decision.

13 As stated, privilege log entries reveal several documents that were considered in arriving
14 at the decision to rescind DACA. For example, at least seven entries refer to commentary in
15 media articles regarding DACA. At oral argument, government counsel admitted that the
16 Acting Secretary had seen several media items on the issue. There were not, however, any
17 media articles on DACA in the administrative record, but those that came to the Acting
18 Secretary should, of course, be included.6
19 Here, plaintiffs have rebutted the presumption of completeness. It is evident that Acting
20 Secretary Duke considered information directly, or indirectly, through the advice of other
21 agencies and others within her own agency. These documents, as set forth in detail below,
22 should be made part of the administrative record and must be produced by defendants in an
23 amended administrative record by NOON ON OCTOBER 27.
24
6
Many documents were evidently excluded in their entirety based on an assertion of deliberative-
25 process privilege. Any [f]actual portions of documents covered by the deliberative process privilege,
[however], must be segregated and disclosed unless they are so interwoven with the deliberative material that
26 they are not segregable. See Pac. Fisheries, Inc. v. United States, 539 F.3d 1143, 1148 (9th Cir 2008) (citations
and quotations omitted). Accordingly, to the extent that media articles or other non-privileged factual materials
27 were considered, they should have been included in the administrative record, and shall be filed as part of the
amended administrative record, even if passages are redacted as deliberative, and called out as such in the
28 privilege log.
8
Add. 22
1 3. WAIVER OF ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE.

2 Plaintiffs next argue that defendants have waived attorney-client privilege because they
3 have put their attorneys legal opinions at issue by arguing that the rescission was required due
4 to concerns over DACAs legality (Br. at 1516). Indeed, one of DHSs primary rationales for
5 rescinding DACA was its purported illegality (see Dkt. No. 64-1 at 25356 (Rescission
6 Memorandum)).
7 Parties are not permitted to advance conclusions that favor their position in litigation,
8 and at the same time shield the information that led to those conclusions from discovery.
9 See Chevron Corp. v. Pennzoil Co., 974 F.2d 1156, 1162 (9th Cir. 1992). Put differently, [t]he
10 privilege which protects attorney-client communications may not be used both as a sword and a
11 shield. Ibid. Where a party raises a claim, which in fairness to its adversary requires it to
12 reveal the information or communication that claim is predicated upon, it has implicitly waived
13 any privilege over that communication.
14 Here, defendants argue that DHS had to rescind DACA because it exceeded the lawful
15 authority of the agency. They cannot, therefore, simultaneously refuse to disclose the legal
16 research that led to that conclusion. Defendants indeed, have included the September 4 legal
17 opinion of the Attorney General, pithy as it may be yet they seek to conceal all other legal
18 analysis available to the Acting Secretary and to the Attorney General.
19 Significantly, defendants slide into a backup argument that the agencys legal worry was
20 reasonable even if wrong. If this backup argument comes into play (as government counsel
21 posits) then the reasonableness of taking an incorrect legal position would heavily turn on the
22 underlying legal analysis so far withheld from view. In other words, assessing the
23 reasonableness of the Secretarys legal rationale would turn, in part, on how consistent the
24 analysis has been in the runup to the rescission.
25 Defendants arguments to the contrary are unavailing. They first argue, without citation
26 to any legal authority, that [w]ere plaintiffs argument accepted, the government would be
27 deemed to have waived all privileges any time an assessment of the legal landscape informed an
28 agencys decisionsmaking (Opp. at 21). This argument vastly exaggerates plaintiffs position,
9
Add. 23
1 and misrepresents the position defendants have staked out in this litigation. DHS specifically
2 relied upon DOJs assessment that DACA was effectuated . . . without proper statutory
3 authority, was an unconstitutional exercise of authority by the Executive Branch and has
4 the same legal and constitutional defects that courts recognized as to DAPA (Dkt. No. 64-1 at
5 254). Plaintiffs are entitled to challenge whether this was a reasonable legal position and thus a
6 reasonable basis for rescission. In making that challenge, plaintiffs are entitled to review the
7 internal analyses that led up to this change in position.
8 Defendants further argue that the decisions cited by plaintiffs are inapplicable because
9 they arose in different contexts than the present action. True, the decisions plaintiffs cite did
10 not arise in identical circumstances. E.g. Chevron Corp., 974 F.2d at 1162 (defendant
11 prohibited from relying on legal opinion that tax position was reasonable while refusing to
12 disclose the attorney communications leading to that conclusion). They still, however, stand for
13 the widely-accepted proposition that it is unfair for a litigant to defend his action with a
14 selective disclosure of evidence. This principle carries no less force here.
15 In the related context of FOIA, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that
16 the attorney-client privilege may not be invoked to protect a document adopted as, or
17 incorporated by reference into an agencys policy. Natl Council of La Raza v. Dep't of
18 Justice, 411 F.3d 350, 360 (2d Cir. 2005). There, DOJ invoked the reasoning of an OLC
19 memorandum to justify its new position on an immigration issue. Id. at 357. The court held
20 that the agencys view that it may adopt a legal position while shielding from public view the
21 analysis that yielded that position is offensive to FOIA. Id. at 360. So too here.
22 Defendants have waived attorney-client privilege over any materials that bore on
23 whether or not DACA was an unlawful exercise of executive power and therefore should be
24 rescinded.
25 4. DELIBERATIVE-PROCESS PRIVILEGE BALANCING.
26 Defendants further assert the deliberative-process privilege over many documents.
27 The deliberative-process privilege, however, is qualified and will yield when the need
28 for materials and accurate fact-finding override the governments interest in non-disclosure.
10
Add. 24
1 F.T.C. v. Warner Commcns Inc., 742 F.2d 1156, 1161 (9th Cir. 1984). Among factors to
2 be considered in making this determination are: (1) the relevance of the evidence; (2) the
3 availability of other evidence; (3) the governments role in the litigation; and (4) the extent to
4 which disclosure would hinder frank and independent discussion regarding contemplated
5 policies and decisions. Ibid.
6 As set forth below, the judge has personally reviewed in camera all materials on the
7 privilege log and applied the foregoing test to each document for which the deliberative-process
8 privilege is claimed.7
9 5. PRIVILEGE LOG REQUIREMENT.
10 While defendants did not file a privilege log with their original production, they have
11 since, pursuant to order, filed a privilege log claiming attorney-client or deliberative-process
12 privilege over 84 documents considered by Secretary Duke but not included in the
13 administrative record (Dkt. Nos. 67; 71-2). Nevertheless, defendants argue that privilege logs
14 are not generally required in connection with an administrative record and that one should not
15 be required here.
16 Our court of appeals has not spoken on the issue. Every court in this district
17 considering the issue, however, has required administrative agencies to provide a privilege log.
18 See, e.g., Ctr. for Food Safety v. Vilsack, No. 15CV01590HSGKAW, 2017 WL 1709318, at *5
19 (N.D. Cal. May 3, 2017) (Magistrate Judge Kandis Westmore) ([C]ourts in this district have
20 required parties withholding documents on the basis of the deliberative process privilege to, at a
21 minimum, substantiate those claims in a privilege log.); Inst. for Fisheries Res. v. Burwell, No.
22 16-CV-01574-VC, 2017 WL 89003, at *1 (N.D. Cal. Jan. 10, 2017) (Judge Vince Chhabria);
23 Lockyer, 2006 WL 708914, at *4.
24
25
26
27 7
Although not addressed in the brief or at oral argument, the privilege log referenced personal privacy
and executive privilege objections for certain documents. No substantial privacy interest is implicated in any of
28 the documents ordered to be produced below, nor do any of these documents fall within the executive privilege.
11
Add. 25
1 If a privilege applies, the proper strategy isnt pretending the protected material wasnt
2 considered, but withholding or redacting the protected material and then logging the privilege.
3 Inst. for Fisheries Res., 2017 WL 89002 at *1.8
4 Courts outside this district that have determined no privilege log was required have done
5 so on the grounds that the defendants judgment of what constitutes the administrative record is
6 entitled to a presumption of correctness. See San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Auth. v. Jewell,
7 No. 115CV01290LJOGSA, 2016 WL 3543203, at *19 (E.D. Cal. June 23, 2016) (Judge
8 Lawrence ONeill); Natl Assn of Chain Drug Stores v. United States Dep't of Health &
9 Human Servs., 631 F. Supp. 2d 23, 27 (D.D.C. 2009). Here, however, that presumption has
10 been overcome by plaintiffs showing that defendants failed to include documents considered in
11 arriving at the final decision to rescind DACA in the administrative record. Therefore, even
12 applying those courts logic, a privilege log would still be appropriate here.
13 Going forward, defendants shall comply with the standing order in this case and provide
14 a privilege log for all documents withheld on grounds of privilege, which log shall include all
15 authors and recipients of privileged documents, as well as other information set forth in the rule
16 (see Dkt. No. 23 18).
17 RELIEF ORDERED
18 Plaintiffs motion to complete the administrative record is GRANTED to the extent now
19 stated. Defendants are directed to complete the administrative record by adding to it all emails,
20 letters, memoranda, notes, media items, opinions and other materials directly or indirectly
21 considered in the final agency decision to rescind DACA, to the following extent: (1) all
22 materials actually seen or considered, however briefly, by Acting Secretary Duke in connection
23 with the potential or actual decision to rescind DACA (except as stated in the next paragraph
24 below), (2) all DACA-related materials considered by persons (anywhere in the government)
25 who thereafter provided Acting Secretary Duke with written advice or input regarding the
26
8
In a memorandum opinion, our court of appeals denied a plaintiffs request to require a privilege log.
27 See Cook Inletkeeper v. EPA, 400 F. App'x 239, 240 (2010). In that decision, however, our court of appeals
first denied a motion to supplement the record, and finding that the plaintiffs had not presented evidence that the
28 agency had considered the documents the plaintiffs sought to compel, only then denied the accompanying
motion for preparation of a privilege log without further explanation.
12
Add. 26
1 actual or potential rescission of DACA, (3) all DACA-related materials considered by persons
2 (anywhere in the government) who thereafter provided Acting Secretary Duke with verbal input
3 regarding the actual or potential rescission of DACA, (4) all comments and questions
4 propounded by Acting Secretary Duke to advisors or subordinates or others regarding the actual
5 or potential rescission of DACA and their responses, and (5) all materials directly or indirectly
6 considered by former Secretary of DHS John Kelly leading to his February 2017 memorandum
7 not to rescind DACA.
8 The undersigned judge has balanced the deliberative-process privilege factors and
9 determined in camera that the following materials from the governments in camera
10 submission, listed by tab number, shall be included in the administrative record: 16, 7 (only
11 the header and material on pages 34 concerning DACA), 12, 14, 1725, 2730, 36, 39, 44, 47,
12 49 (only the first paragraph, and the paragraph captioned General), 6970, 7374, 77, 79, 81,
13 84. The remainder of the in camera submission need not be included.
14 If the government redacts or withholds any material based on deliberative-process, or
15 any other privilege in its next filing, it shall simultaneously lodge full copies of all such
16 materials, indicating by highlighting (or otherwise) the redactions and withholdings together
17 with a log justification for each. The judge will review and rule on each item.
18 Plaintiffs insistence that defendants scour the Department of Justice and the White
19 House for documents for inclusion in the administrative record is overruled except to the
20 limited extent that DOJ or White House personnel fall within the category described in the first
21 paragraph above as someone who gave verbal or written input to the Acting Secretary. Nor do
22 defendants have to search for DACA materials below the agency levels indicated in the first
23 paragraph above. These are intended as practical limits on what would otherwise be a bone-
24 crushing expedition to locate needles in haystacks.
25 This order, however, is not intended to limit the scope of discovery (as opposed to the
26 scope of the administrative record). The scope of discovery over and above the administrative
27 record continues to be managed by Magistrate Judge Sallie Kim.
28
13
Add. 27
1 The federal defendants shall file an amended administrative record in conformity with
2 this order by NOON ON OCTOBER 27.
3 If any party plans to seek a writ of mandate and wants a stay pending appellate review,
4 then a fresh motion to that effect must be made very promptly.
5
6 IT IS SO ORDERED.
7
WILLIAM ALSUP
9 UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
10
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Add. 28
1
2
3
4
5
7
8
9

University of California, No. C 17-05235 WHA
12 No. C 17-05329 WHA

14 v.
15 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ORDER RE MOTION TO STAY

HOMELAND SECURITY and ELAINE PROCEEDINGS
16 DUKE, in her official capacity as Acting
Secretary of the Department of Homeland
17 Security,
18 Defendants.
/
19
20 An October 17 order required federal defendants to complete the administrative record,
21 including by providing all materials directly or indirectly considered by the Acting Secretary of
22 the Department of Homeland Security in connection with her decision to rescind the Deferred
23 Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) policy, as well as all materials considered by those
24 who advised the Acting Secretary (Dkt. No 79).
25 On October 18, federal defendants filed this motion seeking a stay of certain
26 proceedings including all discovery and further proceedings concerning composition of the
27 administrative record pending resolution of a writ of mandamus appealing the October 17
28 order, which writ they will file with our court of appeals no later than October 20 (Dkt. No. 81).
All parties stipulated to an expedited briefing schedule, pursuant to which plaintiffs filed a
Add. 29
1 response at 5:00 p.m. today. With the benefit of the parties briefing, this order now DENIES
2 federal defendants motion for a stay.
3 Whether to grant a stay is, in the first instance, in the discretion of the district court.
4 Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418, 433 (2009). That discretion is guided by a four-factor test, under
5 which courts consider: (1) whether the stay applicant has made a strong showing that he is
6 likely to succeed on the merits; (2) whether the applicant will be irreparably injured absent a
7 stay; (3) whether issuance of the stay will substantially injure the other parties interested in the
8 proceeding; and (4) where the public interest lies. Ibid. (citations and quotations omitted).
9 These factors do not favor our federal defendants. The contentions federal defendants
10 rely upon in arguing that they are likely to succeed on the merits are largely duplicative of their
11 arguments opposing completion of the administrative record, which were rejected by the
12 October 17 order. For the same reasons set forth therein, these arguments remain unavailing.
13 Federal defendants additional arguments are likewise unpersuasive. They offer a strained and
14 inaccurate interpretation of 8 U.S.C. 1252(g) in support of their position that the decision to
15 rescind DACA is unreviewable. Section 1252(g), however, only bars judicial review of
16 decisions by the Attorney General to [1] commence proceedings, [2] adjudicate cases, or [3]
17 execute removal orders, none of which are at issue here. This provision has been narrowly
18 construed and is plainly inapplicable to this action. See Kwai Fun Wong v. United States, 373
19 F.3d 952, 964 (9th Cir. 2004). Nor does federal defendants argument regarding the Courts
20 position on whether Acting Secretary Elaine Duke is subject to deposition a topic not yet
21 formally raised in this action or properly the subject of defendants mandamus petition show
22 that they are likely to succeed.
23 Most importantly, a stay will likely result in substantial and irreparable harm to our
24 plaintiffs, and to those parties most interested in these proceedings, people who are currently
25 enrolled in DACA. All face a March 5, 2018 deadline, on which date the Department of
26 Homeland Security has determined to end DACA. On that day, people currently living and
27 working in the United States will begin to lose the protections afforded by DACA. The Court
28 intends to reach a decision before the March 5 deadline, on a substantial and complete record,
2
Add. 30
1 which can be reviewed by our court of appeals, and has set a schedule that will accomplish this.
2 A stay risks allowing this deadline to pass without a decision on the merits, and therefore poses
3 a substantial threat to our plaintiffs and to DACA enrollees.
4 Moreover, any alleged irreparable harm imposed upon the government related to their
5 discovery burden pales in comparison to that which will be faced by DACA enrollees. Nor will
6 privileged government communications be publicly disclosed, as the undersigned judge has
7 reviewed, and as necessary will continue to review such documents, submitted in camera, and
8 withhold from public view those that require withholding.
9 Finally, the publics interest is best served by a thorough, transparent, and expeditious
10 resolution of this litigation. Federal defendants argument that this action and one other lawsuit
11 pending in New York have diverted resources from the Department of Homeland Securitys
12 mission of protecting the United States is not well taken. The federal government is certainly
13 equipped to participate in this litigation and continue to perform its core functions.
14 Though federal defendants analyze their motion under the four-factor test set forth
15 above, they also suggest that a different test applies here since they seek to stay a proceeding as
16 opposed to only staying an order or judgment. That test asks whether (1) resolution by the
17 Ninth Circuit of the issue addressed in [the appealed order] could materially affect this case and
18 advance the ultimate termination of litigation and (2) whether a stay will promote [ ] economy
19 of time and effort for the Court and the parties. American Hotel & Lodging Ass'n v. City of
20 Los Angeles, No. CV 14-09603-AB (SSX), 2015 WL 10791930, at *3 (C.D. Cal. Nov. 5, 2015)
21 (Judge Andre Birotte Jr.) (internal citations and quotations omitted).
22 This, however, is mere slight of hand. Federal defendants are not seeking to stay all
23 proceedings in the DACA cases as they state in their notice of motion (Dkt. No. 81 at 1), but
24 rather are seeking to stay discovery and further proceedings concerning the composition of the
25 administrative record pending a ruling on [their] upcoming motion to dismiss as they clarify in
26 their memorandum of points and authorities (id. at 12). In other words, they are moving to
27 stay the October 17 order a motion to which the four-part Nken test applies while
28 continuing to litigate only their affirmative case. This is improper.
3
Add. 31
1 Even under the test set forth in American Hotel & Lodging, however, defendants motion
2 still fails. First, a stay will not promote economy of time and effort. In fact, it will have the
3 opposite effect. It will prolong proceedings and in all likelihood duplicate efforts by creating a
4 delay, which requires litigation first on the issue of provisional relief followed by a second
5 round of litigation on the merits. This will result in a waste of time and resources.
6 Second, staying discovery and proceedings concerning composition of the
7 administrative record will not advance the litigation. An appellate decision on the composition
8 of the administrative record can be made now or later, as our court of appeals prefers, but we
9 ought to continue making progress on the merits while that court considers the issue.
10 For the foregoing reasons, federal defendants motion to stay proceedings is DENIED.
11 This action shall continue on the schedule set forth in the September 22 Scheduling Order (Dkt.
12 No. 49). Even in the unfortunate event that the administrative record is not settled (due to
13 appellate proceedings), our briefing schedule will nevertheless allow an orderly assessment of
14 whether or not provisional relief is warranted.
15
16
17 IT IS SO ORDERED.
18
19
21 WILLIAM ALSUP
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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Add. 32

Petition For Writ of Mandamus (Ninth Circuit)

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No.

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

In re UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al.,

PETITION FOR A WRIT OF MANDAMUS

Counsel for Defendants:

Mark B. Stern (Mark.Stern@usdoj.gov)

Counsel for Plaintiffs:

Regents of the University of California et al.: Mark H. Lynch (mlynch@cov.com);

States of California, Maine, Maryland, and Minnesota: James Zahradka

City of San Jose: nfineman@cpmlegal.com; bdanitz@cpmlegal.com;

to include sensitive privileged materialsincluding documents from the White

Houseand to stay ongoing discovery, including the depositions of high-ranking

Circuit issued an emergency stay of discovery and record supplementation in parallel

In these cases challenging the decision of the Department of Homeland Security

on the governments threshold arguments that the challenged action is non-reviewable,

motivations behind an administrative action, including through vast and erroneous

supplementation of the administrative record; ordered the government to file publicly

documents protected by a variety of privileges including executive privilege, the

universe of documents; and permitted excessively burdensome discovery to proceed,

including the unnecessary depositions of numerous high-ranking government officials.

extraordinary disregard of longstanding doctrine and basic tenets of inter-branch

an administrative stay pending its consideration of this petition.

DACA. Under that policy, DHS had previously determined, as an exercise of

prosecutorial discretion, to forbear from seeking removal of a certain category of

prosecutorial discretion in a different manner is reviewable at all, [t]he task of the

v. Lorion, 470 U.S. 729, 743-44 (1985)).

of a complete administrative record requires disclosure of privileged communications

and depositions of decisionmakers. These determinations turn on the mistaken premise

processes of the agency. United States v. Morgan, 304 U.S. 1, 18 (1938).

administrative record with all DACA-related materials considered by anyone

record be supplemented by materials considered by the former Secretary of DHS. Id. at

before the Secretary at the time of the decision).

2. Before even considering such intrusions into governmental function and

whether the decision to rescind DACA is an unreviewable exercise of prosecutorial

discretion. See, e.g., Heckler v. Chaney, 470 U.S. 821 (1985).

supplement the record with all DACA-related materials considered by persons

The district court has similarly disregarded the governments assertions of

Executive privilege, requiring the government to publicly disclose a group of

despite it being fundamental to the operation of Government and inextricably rooted

683, 708 (1974)

determination that it would be improper to permit the plaintiff to depose members of

2017, at 32, demonstrates the intrusive trajectory of discovery it has sanctioned.

herethe requirement to compile a privilege log in an APA actionpresents a serious

deliberative materials should be included in the administrative record and should be

A. Overview of Deferred Action and the DACA Policy

1. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) charges the Secretary of

other laws relating to the immigration and naturalization of aliens. 8 U.S.C.

by statute, such as asylum, parole, or cancellation of removal. 8 U.S.C. 1158(b)(1)(A),

discretion to abandon the endeavor. Reno v. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Comm.,

discretion, DHS must engage in a complicated balancing of a number of factors which

Deferred action is a practice in which the Acting Secretary exercises discretion

AADC, 525 U.S. at 483-84; 8 C.F.R. 274a.12(c)(14) (describing deferred action as

priority). Although originally developed without express statutory authority,

1154(a)(1)(D)(i)(II), (IV), and recognized by the Supreme Court as a permissible