US v. Foy — civil commitment / jurisdiction — remand — Greenberg

The Third Circuit usually posts new published opinions on its website around 12:25 p.m., but occasionally it posts them late in the day, and it did so today. It’s an odd, complicated, and disturbing case and I’m not sure I can do it justice now, but here’s the gist.

Way back in 2003, Joaquin Foy was charged with a crime, but prior to trial he was found incompetent and the charges were dropped but he was federally committed. By 2009 doctors concluded it was safe to release him but he has continued to be detained because he won’t  promise to take his meds if released! Foy contends that continuing to hold him violates federal law, resulting in a tangle of litigation in 3 different federal courts. Relevant to today’s appeal, Foy filed a pro se motion to vacate judgment under Rule 60 in EDPA, the district court denied it, and in 2011 the Third Circuit appointed counsel and ordered briefing. Today, 4 years later but without oral argument, a divided panel vacated the district court’s denial and remanded for the district court to decide whether to transfer or dismiss it.

Joining Greenberg was Greenaway. Krause dissented in part, describing the case as “nothing short of Kafkaesque and cries out to be heard by some court.” The case was decided without argument.