I’ve written before about the D. C. Circuit practice that a judge who has failed to circulate to the panel more than two of his assigned opinions from the term by August 15 may not hear cases in the new term that begins in September until they have been circulated. For that reason, typically there […]
The D.C. Circuit’s sole administrative law decision last week was a big one: not only because of its high profile (headlines abound), and not only because of its length (136 pages!), but also (most pertinent for this blog) because of the range of administrative law issues it covers. In National Trust for Historic Preservation v. […]
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 […]
(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 […]
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 […]
The D.C. Circuit issued four opinions last week, and none squarely fall into the admin law category. There was a criminal case, a case about defamation claims under D.C. law, and a case about multiemployer pension fund liabilities. The fourth case was not about agency action, but it did address standing principles that come up […]
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 […]
The D.C. Circuit issued six administrative-law decisions last week. Several represent the latest installment in protracted legal battles, making for some complicated (or at least long) procedural histories. Taking the prize for the oldest dispute is Baxley v. Driscoll, which began with Baxley’s “Other than Honorable Conditions” discharge from the Army fifty years ago, in […]
The D.C. Circuit issued two orders and two opinions in administrative law cases last week. The court denied a stay of an injunction against DHS’s policy for congressional visits to detention facilities (and Judge Rao explored a broad theory of irreparable injury). The court denied an administrative stay of a permanent injunction to remove President […]
“There’s something about black holes that draws in scientists and the rest of us terrestrial dwellers,” lawyers included. Last week, however, the D.C. Circuit concluded that the military is not a constitutional “black hole of futile claims.” The case was Talbott v. United States. (See here and here for news coverage about the case, and here for a prior D.C. Circuit order […]
The D.C. Circuit issued four opinions last week; two were in cases related to admin law. (The others were a criminal case and a Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act case). The most interesting admin law case addressed when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) can find a violation based on conduct not expressly included in the […]
Last week, the D.C. Circuit issued two opinions summarized below but also heard oral argument in the much-discussed dispute between AI developer Anthropic and the Defense/War Department. Let’s start with the oral argument. A panel of the D.C. Circuit comprised of Judges Henderson, Katsas, and Rao heard oral argument in Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Department […]
No opinions out of the D.C. Circuit last week, on administrative law or otherwise. The Court was busy hearing arguments. One in particular caught my eye (ear?), not least because it was argued by my excellent former co-clerk, Robert Stander. Michigan v. Department of Energy concerns the authority of the Secretary of Energy to order […]
Last week, the D.C. Circuit decided four cases on the merits and issued interim orders in two others. The interim orders involve the scope of an injunction against the Pentagon’s press-pass policy and the court’s jurisdiction to intervene in merger-related proceedings before the FCC. The merits cases involve the SEC’s failure to explain the denial […]
One of President Donald Trump’s first acts of his second term was to proclaim that there was an “invasion” of immigrants at the border between Mexico and the U.S. His proclamation aimed to block people from entering the U.S. and applying for asylum. Last week, the D.C. Circuit held in Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education […]