The Fifth Circuit’s recent decision in Sayegh v. Bondi, 25-20073 provides a useful illustration of how administrative finality operates under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), particularly in regulatory schemes that involve multi-stage agency decision-making.  Although the case arises in the immigration context, the court’s analysis centers on familiar administrative law issues: when agency action is […]

There’s a saying among Fifth Circuit clerks, practitioners, and court-watchers: “Hated, adored, never ignored.”  But when it comes to administrative law, that last part hasn’t really been true lately.  In recent months, the flow of administrative and regulatory opinions from the Fifth has slowed to a crawl.  The reason is pretty simple: politics.  During the […]

Another EPA rule met its demise in the Fifth Circuit this week.  The case is Texas Corn Producers v. EPA—which presented a very technical dispute over how the government calculates vehicle fuel efficiency, but the substance of the rule did not play that big a role in the decision.  This decision focused almost exclusively on […]

In National Religious Broadcasters v. FCC, the Fifth Circuit struck down the FCC’s 2024 Rule requiring television and radio broadcasters to annually report employee demographic information using a form known as Form 395-B.  The case, brought by a coalition of broadcasters and industry associations, centered on whether the FCC had the statutory authority to mandate […]

In AT&T v. FCC, the Fifth Circuit vacated a $57 million forfeiture order issued by the Federal Communications Commission, ruling that the agency’s internal enforcement process violated AT&T’s constitutional rights under Article III and the Seventh Amendment. The opinion, authored by Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan, represents one of the most significant applications yet of the […]

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) has ignited a firestorm of legal challenges in the Fifth Circuit.  In the last five weeks alone, three different district judges have issued three separate opinions resulting in two nationwide injunctions—one of which is already before the Supreme Court.  In Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland, the plaintiffs contested […]

Happy Holidays!  I am excited to announce that my colleague Mikaela (Schulz) Milligan and I are joining forces with Shane Pennington to bring you a (somewhat) regular column about admin and regulatory cases in the Fifth Circuit.  While I have written for Notice and Comment as a Guest Columnist a few times, this post is […]