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PRECEDENTIAL UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT _____________ No. 09-4615 _____________ DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE; NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATIC STATE COMMITTEE; VIRGINIA L. FEGGINS; LYNETTE MONROE v. REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE; NEW JERSEY REPUBLICAN STATE COMMITTEE; ALEX HURTADO; RONALD C. KAUFMAN; JOHN KELLY Republican National Committee, Appellant ______________ APPEAL FROM THE JUDGMENT OF THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY (D.C. Civ. Action No. 2-81-cv-03876) District Judge: Honorable Dickinson R. Debevoise ______________ Argued on December 13, 2010 ______________
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Before: SLOVITER, GREENAWAY, JR., and STAPLETON,
Circuit Judges
. (Opinion Filed: March 8, 2012) ______________ John W. Bartlett Angelo J. Genova (argued) Rajiv D. Parikh Genova Burns 494 Broad Street 6th Floor Newark, NJ 07102
Counsel for Appellee, Democratic National Committee
Bobby R. Burchfield (argued) Jason A. Levine Vinson & Elkins 2200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Suite 500 West Washington, DC 20037
Counsel for Appellant, Republican National Committee
James R. Troupis 7609 Elmwood Avenue Middleton, WI 53562
Counsel for Amicus Appellant, Republican Party of Wisconsin
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Karl S. Bowers, Jr. Hall & Bowers 1329 Blanding Street Columbia, SC 29201
Counsel for Amici Appellants, Karl S. Bowers, Jr., Asheegh Agarwal, Esq., Roger Clegg, Esq., Robert N. Driscoll, Eric Eversole and Hans A. Von Spakovsky
______________ OPINION ______________ GREENAWAY, JR.,
Circuit Judge
. In 1982, the Republican National Committee (“RNC”) and the Democratic National Committee (“DNC”) entered into a consent decree (the “Decree” or “Consent Decree”), which is national in scope, limiting the RNC’s ability to engage or assist in voter fraud prevention unless the RNC obtains the court’s approval in advance. The RNC appeals from a judgment of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey denying, in par t, the RNC’s Motion to Vacate or Modify the Consent Decree.
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Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise, a United States District Judge, has presided over all district court proceedings regarding the Consent Decree at issue in this case, beginning with the 1981 lawsuit through the Motion to Vacate in 2009.
Although the District Court declined to vacate the Decree, it did make modifications to the Decree. The RNC argues that the District Court abused its discretion by modifying the Decree