Notice & Comment

D.C. Circuit Review

Notice & Comment

D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed: Contract Interpretation, the Plain Meaning Rule, and FERC

There was not much administrative law news in the published opinions of the D.C. Circuit during the first week of October. One published opinion dealt with res judicata and diversity jurisdiction. The other was Basin Electric Power Cooperative v. FERC. Writing for the unanimous panel, Judge Childs held that the Commission had properly interpreted a contract. The parties […]

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Contracts, Contractors, and Fraud

It was a slow week opinion-wise at the D.C. Circuit, leaving me with no administrative law decisions to review. Instead, I thought I would use this week to reflect on a peculiarity of the D.C. Circuit Review. The peculiarity grows out of recent changes to the administrative state wrought by the second Trump administration. While […]

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D. C. Circuit Review – Reviewed: An Unusual Constitution Day Celebration and a Criminal Law Matter

The week of Constitution Day is circled on the calendars of state and federal judges because we are often called on by schools and civic groups to speak at events to tout the virtues of the Constitution. Last week, an unusual Constitution Day celebration was held at the Washington National Cathedral. Dallin Oaks, leader of […]

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D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed: A Belated Roundup of the Last August Opinions

The D.C. Circuit ended the month of August with a host of opinions on administrative law as well as arbitration and criminal law and criminal procedure. These included a case about generic drugs that involved judicial review under Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo as well as two cases concluding that but-for causation is the default under federal […]

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The Kick in the Anti-Kickback Statute

The D.C. Circuit gave us just one administrative-law decision this week, one dealing with new biotechnology, potential bribery, and more! But first, a programming note: In my post several weeks ago, I drew a musical analogy between Queen’s 1984 hit “Radio Ga Ga” and the court’s review of the FCC’s attempt to reinvigorate part of […]

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D.C. Circuit Review—Reviewed: Clearing the Queue

Last week, the D.C. Circuit issued four administrative-law opinions. The first, Advanced Energy United v. FERC, involved the nation’s backlogged interconnection queue—a waiting list of proposed energy-generating facilities seeking to connect to the power grid. Before 2023, a developer seeking to connect a new facility would submit an interconnection request to the transmission provider, which […]

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D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed: A Busy Week

(The following post is by our new contributor, Alexis Abboud, who does not yet have login credentials). It was a busy week at the D.C. Circuit last week! The court issued eight administrative-law-related opinions across a range of domains plus a contracts case wearing administrative-law clothing, so it’s a longer post. I’ve tried my best […]

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D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed: Did You Forget About the Postal Regulatory Commission? You Did, Didn’t You?

The midterms and mail-in voting are approaching, and as they do, the federal courts are already deciding cases about postal operations. One such case began in the summer of 2020, a time of pandemic and postal policy changes. The policy changes “included a reduction in the number of high-speed mail sorting machines, a decrease in […]

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D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed:  Celebrating America250 at the D.C. Circuit Judicial Conference

The D.C. Circuit held its Bench and Bar Judicial Conference in Colonial Williamsburg on June 23-26.  In addition to the obligatory session on AI (led by Stanford’s Dan Ho), a review of the Supreme Court term (with Irv Gornstein, Kelsi Corkran, Roman Martinez, and Jeff Wall), and moving tributes to recently departed judges (Judge Urbina […]