# Gallagher **Gallagher** is the short name a March 8, 2012 internal U.S. Department of Justice email uses for *[[Magner v. Gallagher]]*. In that Supreme Court case the [[City of St. Paul]] was the petitioner.[^1][^2] Certiorari was granted on November 7, 2011, on the question "Are disparate impact claims cognizable under the [[Fair Housing Act]]?"[^1] The email reads: "Government declined to intervene in Newell, and has agreed to decline to intervene in Ellis, in exchange for defendants withdrawal of cert. petition in Gallagher case."[^2] The two cases the email names were False Claims Act qui tam suits against Saint Paul.[^3] A 64-page joint congressional staff report released on April 15, 2013 alleges that the Department agreed to decline intervention in both in exchange for the City withdrawing *Magner* from the Supreme Court.[^3] House Oversight Democrats issued a memorandum concluding that "Mr. Perez and other Department officials acted professionally."[^6] The record places the government's declination in *[[Newell]]* in February 2012, the same month *Magner* was dismissed.[^4] No Department of Justice [[Office of Inspector General]] report on the matter was located.[^7] The record attaches three dollar figures to the matter. The relator alleged that the City falsely certified more than $62 million in HUD grants.[^4] The Department's Civil Fraud Section valued *Newell* at $86 million. The report and the hearing announcement put potential recovery forgone at as much as $200 million.[^3] ## Who - **Thomas E. Perez**, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, is named in the joint staff report. The report alleges that he instructed career attorneys to omit any discussion of *Magner* from the declination memoranda.[^3] - **Fredrick Newell** was the relator in *United States ex rel. Newell v. City of St. Paul*. The report describes him as reduced to a "bargaining chip."[^3][^4] - Mayor **[[Christopher Coleman]]** is named in the report as having accepted the arrangement. The report also names **Sara Grewing**, the Saint Paul City Attorney.[^3] - **[[David Lillehaug]]**, Saint Paul's outside counsel, is named in the report as having negotiated with Perez.[^3] - The report was released by three committee leaders:[^3] - [[House Oversight]] Chairman Darrell Issa; - House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte; - Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley. - Witnesses at the May 7, 2013 hearing included Newell, Sen. Grassley and Sen. Isakson.[^5] - House Oversight Democrats issued the minority memorandum. An ethics statement by Prof. Stephen Gillers was submitted for the minority.[^6] ## What *Magner v. Gallagher* reached the Supreme Court on the City of Saint Paul's petition. Certiorari was granted on the question whether disparate impact claims are cognizable under the Fair Housing Act.[^1] *Newell* was filed in May 2009.[^4] It alleged that the City obtained approximately $62 million in HUD grants between 2003 and 2009 by falsely certifying compliance with [[Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act]] of 1968.[^4] The second suit, *[[Ellis]] v. City of St. Paul*, has no recoverable public docket number. Its existence rests on the congressional record and the March 8, 2012 email.[^2][^3] The email is the only document in the record that states the terms in the Department's own words. It states that intervention had been declined in *Newell* and that the government had agreed to decline in *Ellis*, "in exchange for defendants withdrawal of cert. petition in Gallagher case."[^2] ## When - **May 2009** — *Newell* filed.[^4] - **November 7, 2011** — certiorari granted in *Magner v. Gallagher*.[^1] - **February 2012** — the government declines to intervene in *Newell*. *Magner* is dismissed the same month.[^4] - **March 8, 2012** — date of the DOJ internal email.[^2] - **April 15, 2013** — the joint staff report is released.[^3] - **May 7, 2013** — joint subcommittee hearing.[^5] - **August 28, 2013** — the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirms dismissal of *Newell* (No. 12-3894) on "original source" grounds.[^4] ## Where - The City of Saint Paul was petitioner in *Magner* and defendant in the qui tam suits.[^1][^4] - The 2013 hearing was held in Rayburn 2154.[^5] - The appeal in *Newell* was decided by the Eighth Circuit.[^4] ## Why The record carries no statement of reasons from the City or the Department beyond the email's own terms: "in exchange for defendants withdrawal of cert. petition in Gallagher case."[^2] The two committee accounts read that record differently: - The joint staff report alleges that the declinations were exchanged for the withdrawal of *Magner*.[^3] - The minority memorandum characterized the investigation as part of "a broader political campaign to undermine the legal safeguards against discrimination."[^6] The record documents both positions and does not adjudicate between them. ## How The joint staff report gives an account of how the declinations were handled inside the Department:[^3] - It alleges that Perez instructed career attorneys to leave *Magner* out of the declination memoranda. - It reports that career staff described the situation as "weirdness" and "ridiculous." - It names Lillehaug, the City's outside counsel, as having negotiated with Perez. The email itself was reproduced in Senator Grassley's correspondence. The record does not hold a Department-issued copy.[^2] The *Newell* suit did not proceed: the Eighth Circuit affirmed its dismissal on "original source" grounds.[^4] ## How much - **More than $62 million** — HUD funds allegedly falsely certified, 2003–2009.[^4] - **$86 million** — the DOJ Civil Fraud Section's own valuation of *Newell*.[^3] - **As much as $200 million** — potential recovery forgone, as stated in the report and the hearing announcement.[^3] These are distinct measures from the same record, not competing figures for one quantity. ## How many - **Two** qui tam cases are named in the email: *Newell* and *Ellis*.[^2] - **64 pages** — length of the joint staff report.[^3] - **3,500+ pages and six interviews** — the material the minority memorandum reported reviewing before reaching its conclusion.[^6] - **Two** serial numbers, 113-23 and 113-6, identify the joint hearing's record.[^5] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue record lists the March 8, 2012 email as pair AI-Ramsey-003. The pair is rank 3 in Tier I, *The Doctrinal Spine*.[^2][^8] It is set beside the White House presidential action *Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System* (May 2026). The project's stated ground for the pairing is that "a False Claims Act case traded for a litigation posture is the integrity failure the order names."[^8] That rationale is the project's pairing, not a finding of any court or agency. Two limits apply to the record: - No DOJ Office of Inspector General finding exists to cite. The March 2013 OIG report that circulated in the same news cycle concerns the Voting Section and does not address this matter.[^7] - The congressional allegations remain contested. They are recorded alongside the minority memorandum's contrary conclusion.[^3][^6] ## Notes [^1]: Supreme Court of the United States, *Magner v. Gallagher*, certiorari granted (Nov. 7, 2011) — the question presented and the City of Saint Paul as petitioner; recorded in the companion table to *RAMSEY_COUNTY_COMPLETE_HISTORY_2026-09-02*, row HE-0212. No public URL in the pack. [^2]: U.S. Department of Justice, internal email (Mar. 8, 2012), as reproduced in Senator Chuck Grassley's correspondence — the text of the email; Warren E. Burger apex dossier §V.c (validated), note 20; at-issue pair AI-Ramsey-003 (sources at grassley.senate.gov and oversight.house.gov); history row HE-0215. No public URL in the pack. [^3]: House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa, House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Senate Judiciary Ranking Member Chuck Grassley, *Department of Justice's Quid Pro Quo with St. Paul: How Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez Manipulated Justice and Ignored the Rule of Law* (joint staff report, Apr. 15, 2013) — the report's allegations, named persons and dollar figures; Warren E. Burger apex dossier §V.c (validated), notes 5–6. No public URL in the pack. [^4]: *United States ex rel. Newell v. City of St. Paul* (filed May 2009); U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, No. 12-3894 (Aug. 28, 2013) — the qui tam allegations, the February 2012 declination and the affirmance of dismissal on "original source" grounds; Warren E. Burger apex dossier §V.c (validated), note 21. No public URL in the pack. [^5]: U.S. House joint subcommittee hearing, *DOJ's Quid Pro Quo with St. Paul: A Whistleblower's Perspective* (May 7, 2013), Serial Nos. 113-23 and 113-6 — date, room and witnesses; Warren E. Burger apex dossier §V.c (validated), note 22. See also [[DOJ's Quid Pro Quo with St. Paul]]. No public URL in the pack. [^6]: House Oversight Democrats, minority memorandum (2013) — the review of 3,500+ pages and six interviews, the memorandum's conclusions, and the Gillers ethics statement; Warren E. Burger apex dossier §V.c (validated), note 23. No public URL in the pack. [^7]: Warren E. Burger apex dossier §V.c (validated), notes 6, 20 and 24 — negative findings: no DOJ OIG report on the *Magner/Newell/Ellis* matter located; the March 2013 OIG report concerns the Voting Section; no public docket number for *Ellis* recoverable. No public URL in the pack. [^8]: The White House, *Restoring Integrity to America's Financial System* (presidential action, May 2026) — the order to which at-issue pair AI-Ramsey-003 is anchored; cited for the pairing, not for the DOJ email. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/restoring-integrity-to-americas-financial-system/