Motion (2018-12-19)

Date: 2018-12-19

Summary

A motion for leave to file a brief of amici curiae in East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., Case No. 18-cv-06810-JST, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, filed December 5, 2018 as Document 75. The National Center for Lesbian Rights, joined by six other organizations, asks to file a nine-page brief supporting the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction, noticed for hearing on December 19, 2018 before Hon. Jon S. Tigar. The motion states that both sides consent to the filing, with conditions set by the defendants. It says the proposed brief addresses harms the interim final rule and the presidential proclamation would cause LGBTQ asylum seekers at the southern border. The proposed brief is attached as Exhibit A and a proposed order as Exhibit B.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Full text

Case 4:18-cv-06810-JST Document 75 Filed 12/05/18 Page 1 of 4

1 Shannon Minter (SBN 168907)
Amy Whelan (SBN 215675)
2 Julie Wilensky (SBN 271765)
NATIONAL CENTER FOR
3
LESBIAN RIGHTS
4 870 Market Street, Suite 370
San Francisco, CA 94102
5 Tel.: (415) 392-6257
Fax: (415) 392-8442
6 sminter@nclrights.org
awhelan@nclrights.org
7
jwilensky@nclrights.org
8
Attorneys for Amici Curiae
9 National Center for Lesbian
Rights et al.
10

11
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
12 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

13 EAST BAY SANCTUARY Case No. 18-cv-06810-JST
COVENANT, et al.,
14 MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE BRIEF
15 OF AMICI CURIAE NATIONAL
CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS ET AL.
16 Plaintiffs, IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION
FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
17
v. Date: December 19, 2018
18 Time: 9:30 a.m.
19 Dep’t: Courtroom 9
DONALD J. TRUMP, et al.,
20 Judge: Hon. Jon S. Tigar

21
Defendants.
22

MOT. TO FILE BR. OF AMICI CURIAE CASE NO. 18-cv-06810-JST
NCLR ET AL.
Case 4:18-cv-06810-JST Document 75 Filed 12/05/18 Page 2 of 4

1 National Center for Lesbian Rights, joined by Centro Legal de la Raza, El/La Para

2 Translatinas, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, Immigration Equality, Lambda Legal

3 Defense & Education Fund, Inc., and Transgender Law Center (“Amici”) seek leave to file an

4 amici curiae brief in support of Plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction.1 The proposed

5 brief, which is nine pages, is attached as Exhibit A, and a proposed order is attached as Exhibit

6 B.

7 IDENTITIES AND INTERESTS OF AMICI CURIAE

8 The National Center for Lesbian Rights (“NCLR”) is a national nonprofit

9 legal organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual,

10 transgender, and queer people and their families through litigation, public policy advocacy, and

11 public education. Since its founding in 1977, NCLR has played a leading role in securing fair

12 and equal treatment for LGBTQ people and their families in cases across the country involving

13 constitutional and civil rights. NCLR’s Immigration Project has provided free legal assistance

14 since 1994 to thousands of LGBTQ immigrants nationwide through, among other services, direct

15 representation in impact cases and individual asylum cases, as well as advocacy for immigration

16 and asylum policy reform.

17 NCLR is joined by additional amici Centro Legal de la Raza, El/La Para Translatinas,

18 GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, Immigration Equality, Lambda Legal Defense &

19 Education Fund, Inc., and Transgender Law Center. Statements of interest of each amicus are in

20 the Appendix to the proposed brief.

21 Amici have a unique understanding of the harm to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,

22 and queer (“LGBTQ”) asylum seekers that will result from the interim final rule barring asylum

23 for individuals who enter the country while covered by a presidential proclamation suspending

24 entry at the southern border (“the Rule”), and the President’s proclamation suspending the entry

26
1
27 Plaintiffs consent to Amici filing an amicus brief. Defendants also consent to Amici’s filing of
an amicus brief provided that the brief complies with the Court’s order addressing amicus filings
28 and is no longer than half the length of the parties’ briefs.
-1-
MOT. TO FILE BR. OF AMICI CASE NO. 18-cv-06810-JST
CURIAE NCLR ET AL.
Case 4:18-cv-06810-JST Document 75 Filed 12/05/18 Page 3 of 4

1 of individuals who cross between ports at the southern border (“the Proclamation”). See Aliens

2 Subject to a Bar on Entry Under Certain Presidential Proclamations; Procedures for Protection

3 Claims, 83 Fed. Reg. 55,934 (Nov. 9, 2018); Addressing Mass Migration Through the Southern

4 Border of the United States, 83 Fed. Reg. 57,661 (Nov. 9, 2018).

5 ARGUMENT

6 Amici offer an important perspective on the issues before the Court. A district court has

7 “broad discretion to appoint amici curiae.” Hoptowit v. Ray, 682 F.2d 1237, 1260 (9th Cir.

8 1982), overruled on other grounds by Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472 (1995). “District courts

9 frequently welcome amicus briefs from non-parties concerning legal issues that have potential

10 ramifications beyond the parties directly involved or if the amicus has ‘unique information or

11 perspective that can help the court beyond the help that the lawyers for the parties are able to

12 provide.’” NGV Gaming, Ltd. v. Upstream Point Molate, LLC, 355 F. Supp. 2d 1061, 1068 (N.D.

13 Cal. 2005) (citation omitted).

14 The proposed brief seeks to assist the Court in analyzing the harms to Plaintiffs’ clients

15 and the public interest by highlighting the acute vulnerability of LGBTQ asylum seekers and the

16 serious harms the Rule and Proclamation would inflict on this group. The proposed brief

17 explains that although asylum seekers come to the southern border from all over the world, many

18 LGBTQ people are fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity in

19 their home countries of Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. In addition to facing

20 violence and other persecution in their countries of origin, LGBTQ asylum seekers, especially

21 those who are transgender or gender-nonconforming, risk violence and other serious harms at the

22 southern border due to their gender identity or sexual orientation, and it is unsafe for them to

23 remain in Mexico while they await processing and entry into the United States. The effect of the

24 Rule and Proclamation is to foreclose a path to asylum for many LGBTQ refugees with

25 meritorious claims, and to place an already vulnerable group at a significantly higher risk of

26 violence and other harm.

28
-2-
MOT. TO FILE BR. OF AMICI CASE NO. 18-cv-06810-JST
CURIAE NCLR ET AL.
Case 4:18-cv-06810-JST Document 75 Filed 12/05/18 Page 4 of 4

1 CONCLUSION

2 For the reasons above, Amici request that the Court grant leave to file the proposed brief.

4 Dated: December 5, 2018 Respectfully submitted,

5 NATIONAL CENTER FOR
LESBIAN RIGHTS
6

7 By: /s Julie Wilensky

8 Shannon Minter
Amy Whelan
9 Julie Wilensky
NATIONAL CENTER FOR
10
LESBIAN RIGHTS
11 870 Market Street, Suite 370
San Francisco, CA 94102
12 Tel.: (415) 392-6257
Fax: (415) 392-8442
13

14 Attorneys for Amici Curiae
National Center for Lesbian
15 Rights et al.

28
-3-
MOT. TO FILE BR. OF AMICI CASE NO. 18-cv-06810-JST
CURIAE NCLR ET AL.

File and source

File: gov.uscourts.cand.334557.75.0.pdf
Size: 103,844 bytes
SHA-256: b7db80d25ec02393c3e117125a3a88567efbe1c2aa78b601f83f12e7177a5298
Our copy: gov.uscourts.cand.334557.75.0.pdf
Original: archive.org

Motion (2018-12-19)

Summary

Full text

File and source

Related records