Keller v. Social Security Administration , 457 F. App'x 247 ( 2011 )

UNPUBLISHED
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
No. 11-1797
DAVID W. KELLER, and all Persons Similarly Situated,
Plaintiff – Appellant,
v.
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION; BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA,
President of the United States of America; TIMOTHY GEITHNER,
Secretary of the Treasury of the United States of America,
Defendants - Appellees.
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, at Richmond. James R. Spencer, Chief
District Judge. (3:11-cv-00471-JRS)
Submitted: December 1, 2011 Decided: December 14, 2011
Before KING, GREGORY, and DIAZ, Circuit Judges.
Dismissed by unpublished per curiam opinion.
David W. Keller, Appellant Pro Se. Helen L. Gilbert, Michael
Raab, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for
Appellees.
Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.
PER CURIAM:
David W. Keller appeals the district court’s order
dismissing without prejudice Keller’s civil complaint for lack
of ripeness. Shortly after entry of the district court’s order,
Congress passed the Budget Control Act of 2011 (“the Act”), Pub.
L. No. 112-25, 125 Stat. 240 (2011), which raised the federal
debt ceiling. Given the passage of the Act, the legal basis for
Keller’s complaint — that the failure to raise the debt ceiling
would cause the country to default on its foreign debt, which in
turn would necessitate the Government to withhold Social
Security benefits payments — is no longer viable. Accordingly,
we dismiss the appeal as moot. See United States v. Hardy, 545
F.3d 280, 285 (4th Cir. 2008) (explaining that this court should
dismiss an appeal “when, by virtue of an intervening event, a
court of appeals cannot grant any effectual relief whatever in
favor of the appellant” (internal quotation marks omitted)). We
dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal
contentions are adequately presented in the materials before the
court and argument would not aid the decisional process.
DISMISSED
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