That’s the sound of a major opinion from the D.C. Circuit. Last week, in TikTok Inc. v. Garland, the Court of Appeals held that the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act’s provisions about the TikTok platform do not violate the U.S. Constitution. The First Amendment issue got the most treatment. Judge Ginsburg, who wrote the majority […]
Unsurprisingly, the D.C. Circuit did not issue any opinions last week (Thanksgiving week). Indeed, the whole month of November was light on opinions, with only two issued, though both were important cases. One was about the power of FINRA (and, by extension, other private regulatory entities), though as my fellow D.C. Circuit Review blogger described, […]
Last Friday, the D.C. Circuit issued its decision in Alpine Securities Corp. v. FINRA, No. 23-5129, a closely-watched case about the authority of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”), a private corporation that regulates and oversees large parts of the securities industry. The case raised significant questions about whether FINRA exercises too much executive authority […]
The D.C. Circuit released two opinions this week, and I’ll be covering the one that isn’t about the Second Amendment. In Lee v. Garland, the FBI terminated the plaintiff’s security clearance and fired him. The plaintiff alleged violations of the First Amendment, Fifth Amendment, and Title VII. The court (per Katsas, J.) unanimously held that the […]
The D.C. Circuit published one opinion last week, which did not deal with administrative law. It did, however, deal with a high-profile issue: criminal prosecutions stemming from January 6. United States v. Griffin posed the question, what does it mean for a person to “‘knowingly enter[]’ the restricted safety zone [around the Vice President]” within […]
The D.C. Circuit issued only one opinion this week, and it wasn’t about admin law. (It’s about the exceptions to the “three strikes” rule under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which bars prisoners from proceeding in forma pauperis if they have filed three frivolous lawsuits). So there isn’t much to report! The Court did hear […]
Last week, the D. C. Circuit issued only one opinion from a case argued last February. In Campaign Legal Ctr. v. 45Committee, Inc., No. 23-7040, Chief Judge Srinivasan, joined by Judge Childs and Senior Judge Randolph, affirmed the district court’s dismissal of a citizen suit brought under the Federal Election Campaign Act (“FECA”). Under FECA, […]
We have three opinions from the D.C. Circuit last week, including another dispatch from the Loper Bright frontier. Let’s begin there. May FERC require a power generator to upgrade its circuit breaker so that another generator can safely connect to the regional power grid? The generator’s duties with respect to facility upgrades are governed by […]
The D.C. Circuit issued only one opinion last week: Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen v. National Railroad Passenger Corp. In 2017, the Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen (“the Union”) filed a complaint in federal district court arguing that Amtrak had violated their collective bargaining agreement by refusing to say that it would use Union-represented workers in a […]
The late summer burst of opinions appears to have ended, as the D.C. Circuit released no published opinions last week. But the court did hear oral argument in a noteworthy emergency administrative law appeal, KalshiEx LLC v. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Kalshi seeks to offer what it calls Congressional Control Contracts. Buyers who correctly predict […]
The D.C. Circuit published an interesting standing opinion last week: Citizens for Constitutional Integrity v. Census Bureau. In an opinion by Judge Wilkins, joined by Chief Judge Srinivasan and Judge Childs, the court aimed to clarify when to relax the Article III standing test for a procedural rights claim. “There is no established test in […]
Like all who follow admin law or the D.C. Circuit to any degree, my colleagues here at D.C. Circuit Review have been keeping track of decisions illustrating the Circuit’s emerging approach to Loper Bright. Last week offers two more examples to consider, which were also the only two admin law decisions from the week, and […]
One of my go-to resources for trying to stay abreast of developments in constitutional law is the National Constitution Center and especially its podcast, We, the People. Under the inspired and able direction of Jeff Rosen, its president and CEO (and former D. C. Circuit clerk), the Center consistently produces excellent materials on the history […]
The D.C. Circuit issued two decisions last week. Both offer early examples of what administrative deference and respect looks like now that courts no longer defer to agency interpretations of statutes under Chevron. In Pacific Gas & Electric Company v. FERC, the Court once again considered PG&E’s obligations to distribute (“wheel”) its competitor’s energy to […]
The D.C. Circuit’s internal August 15 deadline for circulating opinions has come and gone, and the pace of opinions has started to slow. The court issued six opinions last week, only four of which involve administrative law. And it was a mixed bag for the agencies, as the court vacated multiple agency actions and regulations. […]