Lawyer Edward Moses, Jr., self-described monarch and deity of the “Atakapa Indian de Creole Nation” and “Christian Emperor of New Orleans,” tried for a second time to get the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to take up his case.
For some reason, the three-judge appellate panel felt that Moses’ lawsuit, which is essentially a reverse class action, wasn’t supported by law or facts.
In his lawsuit on behalf of the Atakapa tribe, an entity which has not been officially recognized by the federal government, Moses accuses 150 world leaders – including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Spain’s King Felipe VI, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Chinese President Xi Jinping and former U.S. President Donald Trump – of “monopolizing intergalactic foreign trade.”
To be clear, Moses – why would you want another name if you were born Moses? – does not limit his allegations to antitrust. He also claims that the Atakapa Indian De Creole Nation are the victims of civil rights violations, fraud and trademark infringement.
“Plaintiff invokes myriad federal laws and treaties yet makes no coherent argument as to why he is entitled to relief under any of them,” wrote the Fifth Circuit panel consisting of judge Jacques Wiener, Leslie Southwick and Stuart Kyle Duncan.
“The defendants include corporations and local, national and international leaders … but plaintiff does not explain their connection to the allegations,” the judges wrote.
The Fifth Circuit upheld the trial court decision to dismiss the case “for lack of jurisdiction because the claims are frivolous.” The judges also rejected Moses’ request to file an amended complaint because “the futility of amendment is readily apparent.”
In its previous decision in this case, the Fifth Circuit wrote, “Unsurprisingly, we can find no Supreme Court precedent controlling or even addressing the plaintiff’s exotic claims.”
Moses, who also refers to himself as “God of the Earth Realm,” originally brought his case as a habeas corpus petition. He based some of his arguments on 18th-century federal treaties with France and Spain, as well as sources such as the “Pactum De Singularis Caelum, [or] the Covenant of One Heaven.”
Appellate and constitutional lawyers everywhere are likely wondering if the Fifth Circuit missed a unique opportunity to issue a precedent-setting decision establishing the due process and equal protection rights of those involved in intergalactic commercial trade.