Last week was a quiet one at the D.C. Circuit. No new opinions at all, but the Court corrected an opinion it issued in July. Hyland Hunt provides a thorough summary of the decision, Advanced Energy United v. FERC, here. Among other things, the Court held that petitioners’ rehearing petition was untimely. In doing so, […]
With the Senate’s confirmation of Anna Gomez as the fifth member of the Federal Communications Commission, the Democrats finally have their long-awaited 3-2 majority. So FCC Chairman Jessica Rosenworcel didn’t waste any time in initiating a rulemaking proceeding proposing to reimpose “Net Neutrality” regulations on Internet service providers (ISPs) such as Verizon, Comcast, and dozens of others. […]
Today’s Ad Law Reading Room Entry is “Saving Agency Adjudication,” by Aaron L. Nielson, Christopher J. Walker, and Melissa F. Wasserman. Here is the abstract: When discussing the federal judiciary, commentators typically fixate on the 800 or so “Article III” judges who are nominated by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and enjoy life tenure […]
The law known as the “Little” Tucker Act authorizes federal district courts to entertain small dollar civil claims against the United States, “in cases not sounding in tort.”[1] It also sets out a statute of limitations. As amended, the limitations period provides that “every civil action commenced against the United States shall be barred unless the […]
Supreme Court Justice Brandeis once wrote: “[S]unlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” As applied to our administrative state, our government best serves the public when it operates in the open. Transparency through public notice of meetings and public participation in the regulatory process is our best tool to hold our public officials accountable. […]
Last week, the D.C. Circuit issued two administrative-law opinions and unsealed an opinion regarding the FBI’s investigation into Representative Scott Perry’s cell phone. You can find the unsealed opinion here and summaries of the administrative-law opinions below. In American Society for Testing and Materials v. Public.Resource.Org, Inc., the D.C. Circuit considered how the Copyright Act […]
For several decades, the oil and gas industry has been extensively involved in a campaign of climate denial aimed at safeguarding their financial interests and evading regulation. In order to obstruct fossil fuel regulation, the industry has knowingly misled the public and policymakers about its role in the climate crisis. As it turns out, major oil […]
The U.S. Supreme Court has increasingly invoked the major questions doctrine to police the separation of powers, with a series of cases in the past few terms relying on the doctrine. Observers have noted that the rise of the doctrine appears to compensate for a long-comatose nondelegation doctrine that the Court is undecided on whether […]
Today’s Ad Law Reading Room Entry is “Internal Revenue’s External Borders,” by Shayak Sarkar, which is forthcoming in the California Law Review. Here is the abstract: The mandate of tax agencies seems clear: to secure revenue for the government and ensure taxpayer compliance. Yet for decades, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has regularly facilitated violent […]
Here is the August Edition of the most-downloaded recent papers (those announced in the last 60 days) from SSRN’s U.S. Administrative Law eJournal, which is edited by Bill Funk. For more on why SSRN and this eJournal are such terrific resources for administrative law scholars and practitioners, check out my first post on the subject here. You can check […]
On Monday, I’ll be in Seattle to speak at the annual Federal Administrative Law Judges Conference. With the Supreme Court currently considering the constitutional future of agency adjudication in SEC v. Jarkesy, perhaps not surprisingly I’ll focus my remarks on the case and, in particular, on what the path forward could be if the Court […]
The American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice (the Section) is pleased to invite applications for its ABA Administrative Law Fellowship. The fellowship, established in 2021, aims to diversify the cohort of legal academics in administrative law and regulatory practice by positioning lawyers currently in practice to be successful job candidates in […]
When I served on the D. C. Circuit, the hoped-for deadline to issue opinions was three months after oral argument. That is a deadline I’m not certain that I ever met! Frequently late summer releases involve opinions that, for one reason or another, have proven vexing to write. Their releases are met with sighs of […]
The summer gush of opinions that my fellow bloggers have been reviewing appears to have slowed down to a trickle as we head into the last week of August. Only one opinion this week, and it’s antitrust … though I suppose we can call it admin-law-adjacent because the (unsuccessful) antitrust claim was brought by the […]
On October 9, 2023, the St. John’s Law Review will be hosting a symposium on West Virginia v. EPA and the future of the administrative state. Lots of people are writing on the major questions doctrine, and this symposium looks like a great way to showcase that work (they only want 1,000 to 7,000 word […]