motion for leave of constitutional law and legal history scholars to participate as amicus curiae

8/13/2019 Motion for Leave of Constitutional Law and Legal History Scholars to Participate as Amicus Curiae

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IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

____________________________________

)

LENEUOTI FIAFIA TUAUA, et al., )

)

Plaintiffs-Appellants, )

)

v. ) No. 13-5272

)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, et al., )

)

Defendants-Appellees. )

____________________________________)

MOTION OF PROFESSORS CHRISTINA DUFFY PONSA AND GARY S.

LAWSON, SCHOLARS OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AND LEGAL

HISTORY, FOR LEAVE TO PARTICIPATE AS AMI CI CURIAE

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 29 and D.C. Circuit Rule

29, Professor Christina Duffy Ponsa and Professor Gary S. Lawson, who are

scholars of constitutional law and legal history, respectfully move this Court for

leave to participate as amici curiaein the above-captioned case. Counsel for

Plaintiffs-Appellants has consented to this motion. Counsel for Defendants-

Appellees has indicated that, should Defendants-Appellees motion for summary

affirmance be denied and amici seek leave to file briefs, Defendants-Appellees

would take no position on those motions.

Professor Christina Duffy Ponsa is a Professor of Law at Columbia Law

School, with expertise in constitutional law and American legal history. She holds

a Ph. D. in History from Princeton University, a J.D. from Yale Law School, an

USCA Case #13-5272 Document #1477267 Filed: 01/29/2014 Page 1 of 4


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M. Phil. in Political Thought and Intellectual History from Cambridge University,

and a B.A. with Honors in History and Latin American Studies from Princeton

University.

Professor Gary S. Lawson is the Philip S. Beck Professor of Law at Boston

University School of Law, with expertise in constitutional law and American legal

history. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. in Philosophy from

Claremont Mens College.

Amicihave a significant interest in the outcome of this case. Their research

focuses on the constitutional implications of American territorial expansion and the

legal history of American empire in the late nineteenth and early twentieth

centuries. See, e.g., Christina Duffy Burnett,1A Convenient Constitution?:

Extraterritoriality after Boumediene, 109 Colum. L. Rev. 973 (2009); Gary

Lawson & Guy Seidman, The Constitution of Empire: Territorial Expansion &

American Legal History(2004). In particular, amicihave written extensively on

the Supreme Courts decisions in the Insular Cases, their historical context, and

their implications for other questions of constitutional law pertaining to the

territories. See id.Amicitherefore have a strong interest in aiding this Court in its

examination of the history and constitutional jurisprudence relevant to the question

1Professor Christina Duffy Ponsa recently changed her name from Christina

Duffy Burnett.



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presented in this case: Whether the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees birthright

citizenship to people born in American Samoa.

The prospective amicusbrief, which would be submitted after and in

accordance with this Courts not-yet-issued briefing order in this case, will focus

on the Insular Cases approach to the geographic scope of constitutional

protections. Amici will examine the history that gave rise to the Insular Cases,

consider their approach to territoriality and the scope of its application, and assess

the implications of intervening changes in constitutional jurisprudence and federal

policy with respect to the United States territories. This amicusbrief may be

joined by other professors and scholars of constitutional law and legal history. The

amicusbrief will not duplicate arguments made by the parties in this case.

Respectfully submitted,

/s/ Paul R.Q. Wolfson

PAUL R.Q.WOLFSON

DINA B.MISHRA

ADAM I.KLEIN

WILMER CUTLER PICKERING

HALE AND DORR LLP

1875Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20006

(202) [email protected]

Dated: January 29, 2014



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CERTIFICATEOFSERVICE

I hereby certify that, on this 29th day of January, 2014, I electronically filed

the foregoing Motion using the Courts CM/ECF system. I certify that all counsel

for the parties, for movants-intervenors, and for other amiciare registered as ECF

filers and will be served electronically by the CM/ECF system.

/s/ Paul R.Q. Wolfson

PAUL R.Q.WOLFSON


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