Summary: In this two-part series I discuss the Supreme Court’s June 24, 2019 decision in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media, which upended over fifty years of doctrine defining the scope of FOIA Exemption 4, and explore five implications of the Court’s decision. “[I]t is one of the surest indexes of a mature and […]
These two ABA AdLaw Section brownbags look terrific and timely: Summer Brown-Bag Series Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice Regulatory Policy Committee Please join us Wednesday July 24th, 12:00-1:30 PM ET for the Regulation of Social Media? teleconference. Today’s laws and regulations do not address some of the challenges of social media. The United […]
This has been such a busy month on the administrative law front, with the end of the Supreme Court’s Term producing a lot of material for future law review articles. In case you missed it, I posted on SCOTUSblog the opinion analysis for PDR Network v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic (the Hobbs Act case) and on this blog […]
Four years ago, Michael Herz published a fascinating article in which he argued that separation-of-powers devotees should stop worrying about Chevron deference. However it might once have been understood, Herz argued that Chevron deference descriptively was and normatively ought to be understood in 2015 as a two-step process that allowed both the judicial and the […]
I’m in Maryland today — to learn about the D.C. Circuit. Cambridge, Maryland is home to the 2019 D.C. Circuit Judicial Conference.* Because I’m rushing to catch a flight home, this will be a post filled with a hodgepodge of thoughts. (1) If you’re wondering whether we should have Judicial Conferences, here are some thoughts […]
Each year, the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice recognizes the best work of administrative law scholarship for the prior year. I write to request nominations for that award. Eligible books and articles are those that were published (copyrighted) during 2018. In general, publications worthy of the Section’s award should be: well written, […]
In an era when our politics seems to leave us all deeply divided, the Supreme Court’s end-of-Term flurry of agency-related decisions is a welcome reminder of how much we agree on. The challenge, of course, is that we don’t express our agreements simultaneously. But they’re there. We want courts to create new doctrines of skeptical […]
Today the Supreme Court decided Department of Commerce v. New York, which was the challenge to Commerce Secretary Ross’s decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 census questionnaire. The Court, in a 5-4 decision, ultimately agrees with the district court that Secretary Ross’s reason for his decision was pretextual and thus a remand […]
Today the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited (at least for adlaw geeks) decision in Kisor v. Wilkie. The question presented in Kisor was whether to eliminate Auer deference (a.k.a. Seminole Rock deference) — the doctrine that commands courts to defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of its own regulation unless the agency’s interpretation is “plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation.” […]
When Notice & Comment hosted its two-week symposium on Seminole Rock deference, I insisted on calling it “Seminole Rock” rather than “Auer.” This stubbornness drew hoots from my more nouveau friends but I didn’t see any reason to start using a new name, especially because my sense was that Seminole Rock was still used as […]
Over at SCOTUSblog last Friday, I did a quick opinion analysis of the Supreme Court’s decision in PDR Network v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic. Here’s a snippet from that post: Yesterday the Supreme Court handed down its decision in PDR Network v. Carlton & Harris Chiropractic. The court unanimously agreed to vacate and remand the case to the U.S. Court […]
2019 Administrative Law Conference November 14-15 | Washington Convention Center | Washington, DC We are excited to announce that the 2019 Administrative Law Conference is now open for registration! This year’s conference features 20 panels providing in-depth analysis of current administrative law and practice, with insights gleaned from faculty who are leaders in government, academia […]
In a surprise, the Supreme Court agreed this morning to hear cases arising out of the risk corridor mess. At issue is $12 billion in federal money, and the case’s outcome will hinge on what Congress meant when it placed limits on the use of appropriated funds in an effort to sabotage the Affordable Care […]
We are nearing the end of June so talk of precedent is in the air. In just the last week, both Justices Thomas and Kagan have defended conflicting theories of stare decisis; the Supreme Court — I think — effectively overruled one case and — I know — openly overruled another; and four of the […]
This week, Senator Hawley made waves by announcing a proposal to require major social media companies to either secure FTC certification that that they are politically unbiased or lose their Section 230 immunity. Days earlier, Wired published a new cover story describing the legal issues surrounding “Backpage,” a controversial web site linked to human trafficking and prostitution. […]