Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Attorney General Must Be Notified of Constitutional Challenge to Federal Statute in Civil Case

Oklahoma ex rel Edmondson v. Pope, ___F.3d___, 2008 WL 495982 (10th Cir. Feb. 26, 2008)

10th remands case to the district court with instructions that it notify the Attorney General of the United States of a constitutional challenge to a federal statute (the Telephone Consumer Protection Act) raised by a litigant. Fed. R. Civ. Pro. 5.1 requires a party contesting the constitutionality of a federal statute to serve the Attorney General with notice of the action. Remand was one of a number of possible ways the 10th could have dealt with the failure to notify; remand made sense because the parties had not litigated important public policy issues of the statute on which the AG might want to take a stand.