UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT ANDREW SABLAN SALAS, No. 22-16936

Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. 1:22-cv- 00008 v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, OPINION

Defendant-Appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of the Northern Mariana Islands Ramona V. Manglona, Chief District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted February 12, 2024 Honolulu, Hawaii

Filed August 27, 2024 Before: Richard A. Paez, Milan D. Smith, Jr., and Lucy H. Koh, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Koh; Concurrence by Judge Paez 2 SALAS V. USA

SUMMARY *

Animal Welfare Act

The panel affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a complaint brought by a resident of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (“CNMI”) alleging that the Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in Political Union with the United States of America (the “Covenant”) precludes the application to the CNMI of a federal cockfighting prohibition. The Animal Welfare Act (“AWA”), 7 U.S.C. § 2156, as amended in 1976, prohibited animal fighting, with an exception that if a state or territory’s laws authorized cockfighting, then cockfighting in that state or territory was not federally prohibited. Because cockfighting was lawful in both Guam and the CNMI under each jurisdiction’s own laws, cockfighting was not federally prohibited there until a 2018 Amendment to the AWA, which prohibited cockfighting in every United States jurisdiction. The panel held that because 7 U.S.C. § 2156 existed on January 9, 1978, Covenant § 502—which determines the applicability of laws of the United States in existence on January 9, 1978, and subsequent amendments to such laws— governs whether 7 U.S.C. § 2156 and its 2018 Amendment are applicable to the CNMI. Applying § 502, the panel held that because 7 U.S.C. § 2156 was in existence when the Covenant took effect on January 9, 1978, and was applicable

* This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader. SALAS V. USA 3

to Guam and to the States generally, 7 U.S.C. § 2156 and its 2018 Amendment are applicable to the CNMI. The panel held that Covenant § 105—which determines the applicability of laws enacted after January 9, 1978—does not govern the applicability of amendments to statutes in existence on January 9, 1978, and that Covenant § 502 alone governs. However, even if Covenant § 105 governs, 7 U.S.C. § 2156 and its 2018 Amendment would still apply to the CNMI because they are “applicable to the several States” and do not intrude impermissibly upon the internal affairs of the CNMI. Concurring in the result, Judge Paez disagreed that Covenant § 502 alone governs whether 7 U.S.C. § 2156 and its 2018 Amendment apply to the CNMI, and would hold that Covenant § 105 also applies to amendments to laws in existence on January 9, 1978. Even so, however, plaintiff failed to demonstrate that 7 U.S.C. § 2156 and its 2018 Amendment impermissibly intrude upon the internal affairs of the CNMI.

COUNSEL Joseph E. Horey (argued), Banes Horey Berman & Miller LLC, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, for Plaintiff- Appellant. Anne Murphy (argued), Trial Attorney, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; Abby C. Wright and John S. Koppel, Appellate Staff Attorneys; Shawn N. Anderson, United States Attorney; Brian M. Boynton, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General; Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, 4 SALAS V. USA

D.C.; Jessica F. Cruz and Mikel W. Schwab, Assistant United Sta