Cite as: 585 U. S. ____ (2018)
15
Opinion of the Court
Appellees argue that an order denying an injunction
(the situation in Carson) and an order granting an injunction (the situation here) should be treated differently,
Brief for Appellees in No. 17–586, p. 27, but they offer no
convincing reason for doing so. No authority supports
their argument. The language of §§1253 and 1292(a)(1)
makes no such distinction, and we have stated that the
“practical effect” analysis applies to the “granting or denying” of injunctions. Gulfstream, supra, at 287–288.
In addition, appellees’ suggested distinction would put
appellate courts in an awkward position. Suppose that a
district court granted an injunction that was narrower
than the one requested by the moving party. Would an
appellate court (whether this Court or a court of appeals)
have jurisdiction to rule on only part of that decision?
Suppose the appellate court concluded that the district
court was correct in refusing to give the movant all the
injunctive relief it sought because the movant’s entire
claim was doomed to fail. Would the appellate court be
limited to holding only that the lower court properly denied the relief that was withheld? The rule advocated by
the appellees would needlessly complicate appellate review.12
Finally, appellees point in passing to Rule 65(d) of the
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which requires that an
injunction “state its terms specifically” and “describe in
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not an injunction. Again, the text of §1253 says nothing about declaratory judgments.
12 The inquiry required by the practical effects test is no more difficult
when the question is whether an injunction was effectively granted
than it is when the question is whether an injunction was effectively
denied. Lower courts have had “no problem concluding that [certain
orders have] the practical effect of granting an injunction.” I. A. M.
Nat. Pension Fund Benefit Plan A v. Cooper Industries, Inc., 789 F. 2d
21, 24 (CADC 1986); see also Andrew v. American Import Center, 110
A. 3d 626, 634 (D. C. 2015) (“[G]ranting a stay pending arbitration does
have the ‘practical effect’ of enjoining the party opposing arbitration”).