ORDER

M. CASEY RODGERS, District Judge.

By sua sponte order of this court, the parties have submitted memoranda of law regarding this court's continued jurisdiction over a mutually agreed consent decree (doc. 94). Based on prior repeated briefing on this issue by would-be intervenor Christian Educators Association International ("CEAI") this court deems it necessary to articulate the court's jurisdictional basis for continued enforcement jurisdiction over the consent decree.1 The court has also considered CEAI's previously submitted legal arguments on this issue. This ruling is intended to memorialize the basis for the court's conclusion that it retains ancillary enforcement jurisdiction over the consent decree, a final order, pursuant to the parties' negotiated agreement.

Background

The court entered a jointly proposed consent decree in this case on May 6, 2009, resolving admitted Establishment Clause violations within the School District of Santa Rosa County, Florida, and retaining enforcement jurisdiction for a period of at least five years (doc. 94). The clerk's final judgment issued on May 11, 2009, and no appeal was taken. The consent decree expressly provides that if the school district fails to perform or otherwise violates the consent decree, each plaintiff or any affected student—present or future—may seek to enforce the consent decree by contacting the plaintiffs' counsel, who may then move the court for enforcement action if deemed appropriate. (Doc. 94, at 9.)

Following entry of the final consent decree, CEAI moved to intervene for the purpose of vacating the consent decree first and foremost, and alternatively, seeking a modification on grounds that the consent decree infringed on CEAI's members' constitutional rights and required them to infringe on the students' free exercise of religion and free speech rights. Shortly after CEAI filed its pleading in intervention, the court granted a motion to strike several affirmative defenses in the pleading that sought to vacate the entire consent decree, concluding that CEAI lacked standing to undo the final judgment between the parties.2 (Doc. 190.) The court permitted CEAI to attempt to demonstrate it had standing to intervene for the purpose of seeking to modify the decree to avoid infringing on its members' constitutional rights. The court ultimately denied the motion to intervene, finding that CEAI lacked associational standing and the motion to intervene was untimely.3 CEAI has appealed the court's order denying intervention to the Eleventh Circuit, where it is currently pending.

Plaintiffs then filed a bill of costs and motion for attorneys' fees against CEAI in connection with the post-judgment intervention proceedings. In opposition, CEAI argued that neither fees nor costs were reasonably incurred by plaintiffs in resisting CEAI's motion to intervene because the dispute may be moot due to the possibility that the named plaintiffs had graduated from the school district at the end of May 2009, before the motion to intervene was filed.4 (Doc. 252.) The court denied plaintiffs' motion for attorneys' fees, finding CEAI had intervened in good faith and had not been responsible for the violation of the plaintiffs' civil rights. (Doc. 256.) CEAI then moved for limited discovery on the question of whether the plaintiffs lack standing to obtain costs due to mootness, arguing again that if the plaintiffs have graduated from high school, they have no continued interest in this litigation or the consent decree; CEAI intends to challenge the bill of costs as unreasonably incurred on the basis of such discovery. (Doc. 259.) In light of CEAI's repeated assertion of a mootness problem with the consent decree and with this court's continued enforcement jurisdiction, the court deems it prudent to file this separate order articulating the court's reasoning.

Discussion

"Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction." Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 511 U.S. 375, 381, 114 S.Ct. 1673, 128 L.Ed.2d 391 (1994). A court must evaluate its own jurisdiction over a pending dispute as "the first principle of federal jurisdiction." Stillman v. Travelers Ins. Co., 88 F.3d 911, 914 (11th Cir.1996) (internal marks omitted). "Standing `is the threshold question in every federal case, determining the power of the court to entertain the suit.'" CAMP Legal Def. Fund, Inc. v. City of Atlanta, 451 F.3d 1257, 1269 (11th Cir.2006) (quoting Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 499, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975)). Additionally, "[a] moot case is nonjusticiable and Article III courts lack jurisdiction to entertain it." Troiano v. Supervisor of Elections in Palm Beach County, Fla., 382 F.3d 1276, 1281 (11th Cir.2004). Article III of the United States Constitution requires a live case or controversy at the time a federal court decides the case as well as at the time it was filed. CAMP Legal Def. Fund, Inc., 451 F.3d at 1277.

In this case, CEAI has made allegations that the controversy is moot and the plaintiffs lacked standing to resist the intervention because the plaintiffs may have graduated from high school, which, according to CEAI, requires this court to vacate the consent decree. At first glance, CEAI's argument seems persuasive. Indeed, the law recognizes that when a student seeking relief from a school has graduated prior to final judgment or during the pendency of an appeal and will no longer attend the school, a question of mootness may arise. See, e.g., Bd. of Sch. Comm'rs. of the City of Indianapolis v. Jacobs, 420 U.S. 128, 129-30, 95 S.Ct. 848, 43 L.Ed.2d 74 (1975); Mellen v. Bunting, 327 F.3d 355, 363-65 (4th Cir.2003), cert. denied, 541 U.S. 1019, 124 S.Ct. 1750, 158 L.Ed.2d 636 (2004). The Supreme Court has concluded that "a case or controversy no longer exists" between a student and a school regarding the validity of certain school rules where the student graduated while the appeal was pending and no class was certified.5 Jacobs, 420 U.S. at 129-30, 95 S.Ct. 848. In that situation, the judgment must be vacated because the dispute became moot while the appeal was pending. Id.; see also Mellen, 327 F.3d at 363-65 (explaining the court generally vacates a district court judgment where a claim has become moot by a student's graduation "after the entry of a district court's final judgment and prior to the completion of appellate review" where the mootness occurred through happenstance, such as a graduation, rather than voluntary action). Here, however, by contrast, the judgment became final, with no appeal taken, prior to the alleged graduation, and, therefore, the fact of the plaintiffs' graduation would not affect the validity of the consent decree or this court's continued jurisdiction to enforce its final judgments.6

When a consent decree becomes a final judgment of the court it secures for the parties the benefit of their mutually agreed bargain. See generally, Fla. Ass'n for Retarded Citizens, Inc. v. Bush, 246 F.3d 1296, 1299 (11th Cir.2001) (stating that to require the parties to a consent decree to bring a new lawsuit to seek relief they allege they are entitled to under a consent decree would "deny the plaintiffs the benefit of the bargain which was reached in the original consent decree"); Pigford v. Veneman, 292 F.3d 918, 925 (D.C.Cir.2002) (questioning why one "would sign a consent decree if district courts had free-ranging interpretive or enforcement authority untethered from the decree's negotiated terms" to deprive a party the "benefit of its bargain"). Parties to consent decrees have negotiated their claims and waived their rights to pursue further litigation in exchange for the entry of a mutually agreed compromise. See United States v. Armour & Co., 402 U.S. 673, 681-82, 91 S.Ct. 1752, 29 L.Ed.2d 256 (1971). Further, the enforcement of a final consent decree in which the court has expressly retained jurisdiction and incorporated the terms of the parties' settlement agreement into the order is a proper exercise of the court's ancillary jurisdiction to enforce its orders. See Kokkonen, 511 U.S. at 381, 114 S.Ct. 1673; see also id. at 379, 114 S.Ct. 1673 (noting ancillary jurisdiction is invoked to continue a former litigation in the same court by the same or additional parties or to obtain equitable relief growing out of a judgment rendered in the same court).7 "For enforcement purposes, consent agreements are interpreted under the principles of contract law," and "[f]or purposes of modification, consent decrees are not governed by contract law, but are treated as judicial acts, akin to injunctions." Jacksonville Branch, N.A.A.C.P. v. Duval County Sch. Bd., 978 F.2d 1574, 1578 (11th Cir.1992).

The consent decree in this case embodies the parties' fully negotiated compromise of their dispute, and, as such, both sides are entitled to the benefit of their bargain, which, according to the express terms of the agreement, includes enforcement for the benefit of current students. See Jacksonville Branch, N.A.A.C.P., 978 F.2d at 1578 (interpreting consent decrees as contracts); see also Salazar v. Buono, ___ U.S. ___, 130 S.Ct. 1803, 1808, 176 L.Ed.2d 634 (2010) (plurality) (stating, "[a] party that obtains a judgment in its favor acquires a `judicially cognizable' interest in ensuring compliance with that judgment"). Absent the advantages gained by negotiating their claims, the plaintiffs might otherwise have pursued class action status at even greater expense to the school district, and likewise, the school district might otherwise have resisted the allegations and prolonged the litigation. The mutually negotiated compromise was intended to end the litigation quickly through a consent decree which, for a period of at least five years, benefits all students in the school district as well as the plaintiffs (while they are students) and retains this court's enforcement jurisdiction for a limited time. The plaintiffs' counsel was designated in the consent decree to bring student claims of violations before the court.8 The decree further directs the parties to return to court in five years to discuss the need for further continuation of the order. The decree itself stands as a valid final order subject to this court's enforcement jurisdiction, regardless of the graduation status of the named plaintiffs.

Accordingly, the court finds that it retains enforcement jurisdiction over the consent decree.9 CEAI's Motion for Reconsideration of Order Requesting Memoranda on Mootness (doc. 260) is DENIED.