Justia Government & Administrative Law Opinion Summaries

Petitioners sought review of the SEC's order approving Rule 2030, which regulates the political contributions of those members of FINRA, prohibiting a placement agent from accepting compensation for soliciting government business from certain candidates and elected officials within two years of having contributed to such an official's electoral campaign or to the transition or inaugural expenses of a successful candidate.The DC Circuit held that NYGOP has standing, but denied its petition on the merits, holding that the SEC acted within its authority in adopting Rule 2030; doing so was not arbitrary and capricious because the SEC had sufficient evidence it was needed; and the Rule does not violate the First Amendment in view of our holding in Blount v. SEC, 61 F.3d 938 (1995), in which the court upheld a functionally identical rule against the same challenge. View "New York Republican State Committee v. SEC" on Justia Law

These consolidated cases concerned the kind of evidence that the Commission deems relevant to proceedings challenging the rate increase of oil pipelines. The DC Circuit vacated the challenged orders, holding that the Commission failed to provide sufficient reasons for changing its policy. Therefore, the court remanded for the Commission to explain or reconsider its decision to take into account post-rate-increase information. View "Southwest Airlines Co. v. FERC" on Justia Law

Sierra Club filed a petition for the Administrator of the EPA to object to a renewal of an operating permit under Title V of the Clean Air Act issued by the State of Utah for the Hunter Power Plant. After the Administrator denied the petition for objection without examining the merits of Sierra Club's claim, Sierra Club sought vacatur and remand.The DC Circuit held that venue was not proper in this court, because the order denying the petition or objection was neither a nationally applicable regulation nor determined by the Administrator to have nationwide scope or effect. Accordingly, the court dismissed the petition for review under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act. View "Sierra Club v. EPA" on Justia Law

Plaintiff filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeking documents regarding the government's relationship with Reinhard Gehlen, a former Nazi general. The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment against plaintiff, holding that the government conducted an adequate search and properly justified its withholdings. In this case, taken together, the government has sufficiently justified its assertion that the redacted information was of the type protected by the CIA Act. View "DiBacco v. United States Department of the Army" on Justia Law

After ICE changed how it calculated overtime pay for certain employees, the union filed a grievance, alleging that ICE changed the policy without first bargaining. The DC Circuit agreed with the Authority's determination that ICE had no duty to bargain with the union before changing its overtime policy because ICE's previous policy was unlawful. In this case, ICE's previous policy of excluding leave time was unlawful under a straightforward reading of the 1997 Guidance and the 2002 amendments to the regulations. View "American Federation of Government Employees National Council v. FLRA" on Justia Law

In 2017, MSHA promulgated a safety standard that requires mine operators to examine all areas before miners begin work and to record all conditions that may adversely affect safety or health discovered during the examination. In 2018, MSHA amended the requirements, allowing examinations to occur before or as miners begin work and allowing mine operators to exclude from their records adverse conditions that are promptly corrected. At issue was whether MSHA explained adequately how the amendments to the 2017 Standard comply with the no-less-protection standard.The DC Circuit held that MSHA failed to offer a reasoned explanation as to why the examination and recordkeeping requirements of the 2018 Amendment satisfied the no-less-protection standard. Therefore, the 2018 Amendment was ultra vires and uneforceable. The court vacated the 2018 Amendment and ordered the 2017 Standard reinstated. View "United Steel v. MSHA" on Justia Law

The Medicare statute precludes judicial review of estimates used to make certain payments to hospitals for treating low-income patients. At issue was whether this preclusion provision barred challenges to the methodology used to make the estimates.The DC Circuit held that it could not review the Secretary's method of estimation without also reviewing the estimate. Therefore, the two were inextricably intertwined and 42 U.S.C. 1395ww(r)(3)(A) precludes review of both. The court held that Florida Health Sciences Center, Inc. v. Secretary of HHS, 830 F.3d 515 (D.C. Cir. 2016), -- not ParkView Medical Associates v. Shalala, 158 F.3d 146 (D.C. Cir. 1998) -- was controlling in this case. In Florida Health, the court held that section 1395ww(r)(3) barred review because the plaintiff was simply trying to undo the Secretary's estimate of the hospital's uncompensated care by recasting its challenge to the Secretary's choice of data as an attack on the general rules leading to her estimate. Here, DCH was simply trying to undo the Secretary's estimate of its uncompensated care by recasting its challenge to that estimate as an attack on the underlying methodology. View "DCH Regional Medical Center v. Azar" on Justia Law

Petitioners sought review of FERC's decision authorizing the construction and operation of a new natural gas compression facility in Davidson County. The DC Circuit denied the petition and held that FERC did not violate the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to adequately assess alternatives to the proposed action. In this case, the environmental assessment reflected that the Commission considered twelve alternatives and evaluated each with respect to eighteen different environmental factors.Despite the court's misgivings regarding the Commission's decidedly less-than-dogged efforts to obtain the information it says it would need to determine that downstream greenhouse gas emissions qualify as a reasonably foreseeable indirect effect of the project, the court held that petitioners failed to raise this record-development issue in the proceedings before the Commission. Accordingly, the court lacked jurisdiction to decide whether the Commission acted arbitrarily or capriciously and violated NEPA by failing to further develop the record in this case. View "Birckhead v. FERC" on Justia Law

Sierra Club challenged the EPA's adoption of a final rule modifying its regulations for air monitoring networks. The DC Circuit held that Sierra Club was barred from seeking review of the claimed legal requirement that monitoring plans be assessed under the same procedures as state implemented plans (SIPS) because the new rule and EPA's preamble did no more than echo a prior EPA regulation; Sierra Club lacked standing to attack the sampling frequency changes; and Sierra Club failed to make a showing that the asserted non-response on quality assurance issues manifested any failure to consider factors relevant to the changes. Accordingly, the court dismissed Sierra Club's first two claims and denied the third. View "Sierra Club v. EPA" on Justia Law

After the press reported that White House personnel were communicating over messaging apps that, unlike standard text messaging platforms that preserve conversations, automatically delete messages once read, CREW sought a writ of mandamus prohibiting the use of such apps and requiring the White House to issue guidelines to ensure compliance with the Presidential Records Act (PRA). As press attention to the messaging practice spread and before this lawsuit commenced, White House Counsel circulated an internal memo describing the staff's PRA obligations (the February 2017 Memo).The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of the writ and held that CREW failed to establish a clear and indisputable right to relief. The court held that, by issuing the February 2017 Memo, the White House has instructed its staff to comply with the PRA, and it has done so by prohibiting the use of message-deleting apps and restricting electronic communications to official email accounts that automatically preserve records. Furthermore, under the law of this circuit, the court would have no jurisdiction to order the correction of any defects in the White House's day-to-day compliance with the Memo's records-preservation policy. View "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Trump" on Justia Law