On Monday, the Court heard oral argument in Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish. The question presented is whether the energy company, a federal contractor, could remove a case to federal court "when sued for oil-production activities undertaken to fulfill a federal oil-refinement contract." I don't have terribly strong thoughts about this particular question, but my ears perked up when Justice Barrett brought up officer stuff. Yes, you can never get away from officer stuff.
ACB inquired abut Chief Judge Pryor's decision in Georgia v. Meadows (2023). As you might recall, the Fulton County DA indicted President Trump and several of his associates, including former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, for events arising from the 2020 election. But by the time the case arrived to the Eleventh Circuit, Meadows no longer held that position. Judge Pryor found that the federal-officer removal statute does not apply to former federal officers.
In that case Georgia conceded that the Chief of Staff was an "officer" position, and the Eleventh Circuit relied on that concession. I'm not so sure about that concession. There is some reason to think the Chief of Staff is neither a principal nor an inferior officer of the United States. He just might be an employee, in which case he could not avail himself of the federal officer removal statute at all. But that issue was not litigated, so I'll leave it here. And for those with short memories, Seth Barrett Tillman and I argued that Trump, as President, was not an "Officer of the United States," and thus could not remove the case to federal court. Judge Hellerstein, who has been in the news of late with the Maduro case, "believe[d]" in dictum that the President was an "Officer of the United States" for purposes of Federal Officer Removal Statute.
