The U.S. Supreme Court reminded the world this week that while the D.C. Circuit may be the nation’s “second most important court,” the Supreme Court remains the first. In particular, the Supreme Court decided to stay the EPA’s Power Plant Rule, even though a motions panel of the D.C. Circuit (Judges Henderson, Rogers, and Srinivasan) […]

Here is a pretty good rule of thumb: If you want to understand an appellate judge, don’t spend too much time on majority opinions. To be sure, those opinions are almost always the most important ones—they’re the law, after all.* But the author of a majority opinion must write an opinion that reflects the views […]

Here is a little known fact about Justice Samuel Alito: in 1989, he wrote a chapter for a book entitled The RICO Racket (buy it now on Amazon for $100!). In his chapter—Racketeering Made Simple(r)—Alito described himself as “a federal prosecutor and staunch RICO supporter.” In a colorful way, his chapter runs through the basics […]

When it comes to appellate litigation, the color of a brief matters a lot. Judges—busy people—are particular about it because standardization helps. After all, a judge can quickly sort out the appellant’s brief from the appellee’s brief from the appendix from the amicus briefs. The importance of a color code, moreover, is especially important at […]

This isn’t a novel insight but it bears repeating: no two judges are the same. They grew up in different families; had different careers; have different interests; and operate with different intuitions. Yet judges in the United States—at least as a rule—wear the same uniform: a plain black robe.* Recently, however, Noah Feldman—one of the […]

At 12:02 last night, one of my (very tired) children made a keen observation: “New Years is a silly holiday.” I sympathize. We don’t celebrate turning the calendar from January to February, nor do we throw a party when February 29th rolls around every Olympiad.* But you know what? The fact that January 1st is […]

Here’s a new Christmas experience: This year, I had to check with the federal government to make sure that “Santa’s” gift for my young son is legal. You see, I bought him a toy helicopter. It turns out that is now called a drone. And it also turns out that the FAA has begun regulating […]

This is a foolish way to start a sentence, especially one published on the internet: “I’m no military historian, but ….” After all, there are lots of actual military historians out there, and they often have strong opinions on the subject. Even so, I’ll chance it. I’m no military historian, but it seems to me […]

Everything I am about to say will be old hat for many readers. Even so, I like to provide public service announcements to law students. In that spirit, here is a valuable lesson: law — or at least the practice of law — is about math. In particular, law revolves around expected value, and by […]

Law clerks, of course, vow to keep confidential “any information [they] receive through [their] clerkship that is not part of the public record.” Even so, this announcement should be safe: D.C. Circuit law clerks are terrible at basketball. Each year, the D.C. Circuit clerks play a game of basketball against the Supreme Court clerks. In my […]

What a strange world we administrative lawyers call home. Ours is a land where elephants hide in mouseholes, wolves sometimes wear clothes, and some even say that “Article III judges — like jackals stealing the lion’s kill — expropriate some of the power that Congress has wrested from the unitary Executive.” We talk of “Black […]

This week was a quiet one at the D.C. Circuit — just two cases, neither of which involves “admin law.”* The Thanksgiving holiday undoubtedly played a role. Thanksgiving, however, prompts a thought. With all the talk of Black Friday, my mind turned to one of the most important days in the history of administrative law: […]

Pluto is a dog; Goofy is a dog. Pluto scampers about in the buff with only a slobbery femur to chew on; Goofy wears comfortable clothes and manages a moderately expensive restaurant. This, of course, is not a novel observation about “cartoon doghood,” but it does illustrate a principle: not all dogs are created equal. […]

Who doesn’t love a great headline? Years will go by without so much as a single thought about Elvis Costello crossing my mind, but yet when I read a headline like “When Elvis Costello Was Cruel,” I click. Funny headlines are great too: “Big Rig Carrying Fruit Crashes on 210 Freeway, Creates Jam.” And some […]