Since the Supreme Court announced the arrival of the major questions doctrine in West Virginia v. EPA in 2022, federal appellate courts have struggled to apply the doctrine’s amorphous standards with any consistency both across and within circuits. Perhaps no court better demonstrates this problem than the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. […]
In U.S. v. Arthrex, the Supreme Court in an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts held that administrative patent judges (APJs) were not inferior officers for purposes of the Appointments Clause since their decisions were not reviewable by any executive branch officer. While the result in the case may very well accord with the Constitution’s original […]
All was relatively quiet on the D. C. Circuit last week through the customary release of opinions on Friday, and then the storm hit. First, the calm. Only two decisions were released through Friday, neither of which has much significance beyond the interest of the parties. In Edward M.R. v. District of Columbia, No. 23-7143, the […]
I’m so excited that the University of Michigan Law School will be hosting the Federalist Society’s 44th annual student symposium here in Ann Arbor on March 7-8, 2025. The symposium theme is Congress: Reviving the Impetuous Vortex, and the program is going to be terrific. You are welcome to join us on in person or […]
The ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice is pleased to announce its 2025 Spring Conference will again include a day of in-person academic paper workshops at the Royal Sonesta Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on Thursday, May 8th, 2025. The workshops will provide the selected participants with an opportunity to receive useful feedback […]
Here is the January 2025 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 […]
Welcome back. Two more cases today to review from the Sixth Circuit, and we’ll jump right in with the court’s latest attempt to address Loper Bright—this time in the immigration context. Moctezuma-Reyes v. Garland Here’s a key question after Loper Bright: Whether—and to what extent—courts should defer to agency legal interpretations in a post-Chevron world. […]
Since the inception of his second term, domestic media has reveled in criticizing President Trump’s every act, from policy decisions to his executive orders. Their latest target of ire is his proposed tariffs against Mexico, Canada, and China aimed to address undocumented immigration and curb the inflow of fentanyl. For instance, the Associated Press asked: […]
Welcome back to Sixth Circuit Review. It’s been a while. Your humble host has been on extended parental leave. But “America’s Court” marches on. Time to recap. First things first. What we won’t go over extensively here: net neutrality. Yes, the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion on that issue, but these pages have already covered […]
As readers are no doubt aware, the Trump administration has attempted to “pause” various spending programs for an initial period at the start of Trump’s new term. Two first-day executive orders mandated such pauses for certain grants and foreign aid pending a review for compliance with administration policies. On January 27, the Office of Management […]
There were no opinions out of the D.C. Circuit last week–only an order granting a motion for summary affirmance in False Claims Act appeal. While there are interesting Article II questions surrounding qui tam actions, the order simply applies settled law that pro se litigants cannot pursue claims on behalf of the United States. For […]
Welcome back to Ninth Circuit Review-Reviewed, your periodic recap of administrative law before arguably “the second most important court in the land.” Since my last post in late 2024, the Ninth Circuit published several significant decisions involving agency adjudications. These cases—and their doctrinal implications—are discussed below. Panel Applies Decker Coal Doctrine in Denying ‘Double Tenure’ […]
Today’s Ad Law Reading Room entry is “Standard Textualism,” by James Macleod. Here is the abstract: For as long as legal scholars have been writing about the rules-versus-standards distinction, textualism has been presumed to produce typically rule-like law. This Article argues for the opposite view. Far from generating the “law of rules” that Scalia famously […]
INTRODUCTION In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, a flurry of executive orders and memoranda has once again brought the concept of “national emergency” to the forefront of American governance. Within hours of taking office, the administration declared a “national emergency at the southern border,” villainized immigration, and raised the specter […]
The D.C. Circuit issued only one opinion last week, and it wasn’t about administrative law. (The case involved a civil contempt motion to enforce an injunction that protected free-exercise rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.) The court did hear arguments on several administrative-law cases, including: More opinions to come soon!