KIMBERLY J. MUELLER, District Judge.
Walter Rosales and Karen Toggery move for leave to file an amicus curiae brief. ECF No. 75. After considering the parties' briefing, the court took the matter under submission without a hearing. The motion is denied, as explained below.
The Jamul Action Committee, several of its individual members, and the Jamul Community Church are the plaintiffs here. The defendants are (1) several employees, officers, or appointees of the National Indian Gaming Commission, the Department of the Interior, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (the federal defendants); and (2) several individual members of the Jamul Indian Village (the Tribal Members)
In their motion, Rosales and Toggery describe themselves as "Native American residents of San Diego County of one-half or more degree of California Indian blood, and former leaders of the half-blood Indian community, known as the Jamul Indian Village." Mem. P. & A. 1, ECF No. 75-1. They claim interests in "their families' remains and funerary objects" and in "the Indian cemetery property in which they were interred." Id. at 0-1.
Id. at 2. To their motion, Rosales and Toggery attach a proposed amicus brief, ECF No. 75-2, and several exhibits and requests for judicial notice, see ECF Nos. 75-3, 76-82, 88.
The defendants oppose the motion. Tribal Members' & Affiliated Defs.' Opp'n, ECF No. 83; Fed. Opp'n, ECF No. 84. They argue the proposed amicus brief is untimely and irrelevant to any pending issues, Tribal Members' Opp'n 4-5, 15-17; Fed. Opp'n 7-9, 11; is no more than a collateral attack on this court's previous orders and federal decisional law, Tribal Members' Opp'n 5-9, 13-14; Fed. Opp'n 10; injects new issues into this litigation, Tribal Members' Opp'n 6-9; Fed. Opp'n 9-10; and ignores the requirements of this court's standing order, Tribal Members' Opp'n 14-15; Fed. Opp'n 6-7.
Federal district courts have broad discretion in the appointment of amici. Hoptowit v. Ray, 682 F.2d 1237, 1260 (9th Cir. 1982), abrogated on other grounds by Sandin v. Conner, 515 U.S. 472 (1995); In re Roxford Foods Litig., 790 F.Supp. 987, 997 (E.D. Cal. 1991). Although courts in general liberally allow the filing of amicus briefs, if a proposed brief would not be helpful, an amicus may be turned away. See Cmty. Ass'n for Restoration of Env't (CARE) v. DeRuyter Bros. Dairy, 54 F.Supp.2d 974, 975 (E.D. Wash. 1999) (citing Northern Sec. Co. v. United States, 191 U.S. 555, 556 (1903)). An amicus brief may be unhelpful for many reasons, including because it is untimely or does not provide information relevant to a pending decision. See id.
Here, the proposed brief is unhelpful to resolve any pending issue and is best understood as a request for reconsideration of the court's previous order. Only one other motion is pending: the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction and writ of mandate. ECF No. 60. It has been fully briefed. Id.; Fed. Opp'n Prelim. Inj., ECF No. 63; Tribal Members' Opp'n Prelim. Inj., ECF No. 62; Reply Prelim. Inj., ECF No. 67. The court took the matter under submission on January 27, 2015. Minute Order, ECF No. 68. In that motion, the plaintiffs seek to enjoin construction of the casino until the federal defendants issue certain environmental impact statements. See Mem. P.&A. Supp. Prelim. Inj. 2, ECF No. 60-1. The proposed amicus brief does not address the basis of the plaintiffs' pending motion, namely the proposed gaming management contract and its regulatory implications. See Mot. Prelim. Inj. 2-5, ECF No. 60-1.
To the extent the proposed amicus brief contests the Tribe's federal recognition, the tribally affiliated defendants' or the Tribe's sovereign immunity, or argues the Tribe is not a necessary party, the proposed brief runs contrary to the court's prior order. See Order Aug. 5, 2014, at 7, ECF No. 50. That order addressed a motion filed nearly a year ago and decided several months before the proposed amicus brief was filed. Rosales and Toggery describe no reason for their delay. Nothing prevented an earlier motion or an application for reconsideration had it been denied. Now simply is not the time.
The motion is DENIED.