Last week, the D.C. Circuit decided Simmons v. Rubio, a case about the deadline to seek review of a decision of the Foreign Service Grievance Board. The plaintiff is a foreign service officer who filed a grievance about her treatment at work. The Foreign Service Act permits officers to file a complaint in district court “not […]

The D.C. Circuit did not release any published opinions on administrative law last week. Its only opinion dealt with a motion to unseal applications for non-disclosure orders filed by the government under the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2705(b). The orders related to a 2017 grand jury subpoena for records of the chief investigative counsel of the […]

The D.C. Circuit issued no opinions this week. Instead of the usual analysis, here are a few almost-year-end statistics. The D.C. Circuit has issued published opinions in 164 cases this year, down from 200 in 2024. As regular readers might guess, the busiest months were August (38) and July (26). The slowest months were February […]

The D.C. Circuit decided one merits case involving the Essential Air Service program, stayed an interim final rule governing commercial driver’s licenses, and denied en banc rehearing of the mandamus order in the Alien Enemies Act case. Essential Air Service First, in Southern Airways Express, LLC v. U.S. Department of Transportation, the court unanimously denied a […]

Last week, the D.C. Circuit released an opinion deferring to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in light of Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County; an opinion deferring to the FBI in a Freedom of Information Act case; an opinion vacating a FERC order that departed from the cost-causation principle; an opinion on standing; and an […]

Last week, the D.C. Circuit adopted an interesting remedy in a notice-and-comment case; dealt with an analogy between administrative proceedings and judicial disciplinary proceedings; and addressed the standards for scientific studies in an arbitrary-and-capricious case. It also issued an order staying an injunction against the removal of two members of the National Credit Union Administration. […]

The D.C. Circuit has once again addressed the surprisingly vexing question of when a rule becomes a rule. National Council of Agricultural Employers v. Department of Labor involves two competing rules modifying the H-2A farmworker visa program. The Trump administration’s Department of Labor submitted a final rule to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) on January […]

The D.C. Circuit issued another unusual en banc order last week in challenges to funding cuts at the U.S. Agency for Global Media. It also vacated and remanded in two cases involving immigration standards of review. And it denied petitions for review in an SEC whistleblower case and a FERC case. “Special En Banc” Before […]

The D.C. Circuit entered three administrative stays and decided three administrative law cases on the merits last week. Emergency Orders Alien Enemies Act In J.G.G. v. Trump, this month’s special panel administratively stayed the district court’s interim order on contempt. As Thomas Griffith has discussed on this blog, the district court entered a temporary restraining order prohibiting the removal […]

The D.C. Circuit was busy last week with emergency motions. In Dellinger v. Bessent, the district court enjoined the removal of Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger. The D.C. Circuit (Henderson, Millett, and Walker, JJ.) stayed the injunction pending appeal. As the panel explained, the stay gave “effect to the removal of appellee from his position as Special […]

The D.C. Circuit decided four administrative law cases last week. This post focuses on Cigar Association of America v. FDA. The district court (Mehta, J.) vacated an FDA regulation on the ground that it arbitrarily and capriciously applied to “premium cigars.” In an opinion by Judge Randolph, the D.C. Circuit agreed on the merits. But it […]

“No delay” was the theme last week at the D.C. Circuit. In one case, the court denied a temporary injunction against the TikTok ban-or-sale requirement going into effect. In another case, the court denied a petition for review on the ground that the agency would have reached the same result on remand even without the […]

The D.C. Circuit released two opinions this week, and I’ll be covering the one that isn’t about the Second Amendment. In Lee v. Garland, the FBI terminated the plaintiff’s security clearance and fired him. The plaintiff alleged violations of the First Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and Title VII. The court (per Katsas, J.) unanimously held that the […]

The late summer burst of opinions appears to have ended, as the D.C. Circuit released no published opinions last week. But the court did hear oral argument in a noteworthy emergency administrative law appeal, KalshiEx LLC v. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Kalshi seeks to offer what it calls Congressional Control Contracts. Buyers who correctly predict […]

As August rolls on, the D.C. Circuit released five published opinions in administrative law cases last week. One vacated a do-over by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, two addressed standing, one addressed mootness, and one applied the Freedom of Information Act. FERC In City of Port Isabel v. FERC, the court vacated FERC’s reauthorization of two […]