Removal, Remand, Review: the 3 “Rs” of federal-officer removal

Removals under the federal-officer statute have drawn increased scrutiny in recent years. In BP P.L.C. v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, the Supreme Court addressed an important issue about appellate review of remand orders involving that statute, concluding: “To remove a case, a defendant must comply with 28 U. S. C. §1446. Essentially, that statute requires the defendant to provide affected parties and
courts with a notice stating its grounds for removal. §§1446(a), (d). The combination of these actions ‘effect[s] the removal.’ §1446(d). To remove a case ‘pursuant to’ §1442 or §1443, then, just means that a defendant’s notice of removal must assert the case is removable ‘in accordance with or by reason of’ one of those provisions. Here, everyone admits the defendants’ notice of removal did just that by citing §1442 as one of its grounds for removal. Once that happened and the district court ordered the case remanded to state court, the whole of its order became reviewable on appeal.” No. 19-1189 (U.S. May 17, 2021) (footnotes omitted).