North Dakota v. Heydinger

After the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Minnesota’s low-carbon power law was unlawful, North Dakota and its co-plaintiffs asked the Eighth Circuit to remand the case to the federal district court for the District of Minnesota for a determination on their motion for attorney fees. The district court previously concluded that the plaintiffs were entitled to attorney fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988, and the plaintiffs argued that they were also entitled to attorney fees and costs incurred during the appeal. The plaintiffs asserted that they had obtained all the relief they sought and prevailed in a case that asserted a substantial claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (based on the dormant Commerce Clause), that they had succeeded on their Section 1983 claim (even though the Eighth Circuit “proffered additional rationales for affirmance” based on preemption and only one judge based affirmance on the dormant Commerce Clause), and that they had succeeded on other claims (i.e., the preemption claims) that arose from the same nucleus of operative fact. On July 22, Law360 reported that Minnesota had decide to file a petition for writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court rather than seeking en banc rehearing from the Eighth Circuit.