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11. Is the court of appeals likely to grant the requested writ of mandamus?
As part of discovery, after weighing the value of anonymous speech against the need for relevant discovery, the district court ordered the fabric company to disclose the identity of the persons directly responsible for the anonymous postings. The fabric company petitioned for a writ of mandamus from the appropriate federal court of appeals, directing vacatur of the disclosure order. The fabric company maintained that requiring the exposure of anonymous, non-party speakers would violate the First Amendment and would cause a substantial amount of harm.
A designer sued a fabric company in federal court for tortious interference with contracts and advantageous business relations. The designer claimed the fabric company orchestrated an internet smear campaign via anonymous postings disparaging the designer.
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In exceptional cases, nearly all jurisdictions allow some circumvention of the final judgment rule through the appellate writs of mandamus and writs of prohibition. Writs of mandamus command a trial judge to act, while writs of prohibition command the judge to refrain from acting. These writs are available only if an appeal will be insufficient to correct a problem and the trial court's actions constitute a serious abuse of power that must be immediately corrected.
The standard for granting a writ of mandamus involves reviewing the record to determine that:
(i) an appeal would be insufficient to correct the problem; and
(ii) the trial court's actions constitute a serious abuse of power in need of immediate rectification.
A is correct. The court of appeals should grant the writ of mandamus IF it determines that an appeal would be insufficient to correct the effects of the disclosure and a review of the record indicates that the trial court abused its power in need of immediate rectification. This is the correct standard for granting a writ of mandamus, which is only used in exceptional cases to circumvent final judgments.
Here, a writ of mandamus would be appropriate if there is a finding that an appeal is insufficient to correct the effects of the disclosure of the speakers and that by ordering disclosure, the district court's order constitutes a serious abuse of power.
B is incorrect. This answer reaches the correct answer with incorrect legal reasoning. The court should not grant the writ simply if requiring the exposure of the anonymous speakers would cause harm. Granting such a writ also requires that an appeal be insufficient to correct a problem AND that the district court's actions amount to serious abuse of power necessitating immediate corrective action. Without reference to the criteria pertaining to the court's serious abuse of power, this answer is not accurate.
C is incorrect. This is an incorrect application of the law. To grant a writ of mandamus, which is available prior to final adjudication, the appellate court does not have to wait for the case to be resolved on its merits. Therefore, the fact that the district court judge already ordered the disclosure does not preclude a proper writ of mandamus.
D is incorrect. This is an incorrect statement of the law. While writs of mandamus may be used for other purposes, they may also be used, when appropriate, to obtain a reversal of district court rulings.