When he was a member of the D. C. Circuit, then-Judge John Roberts commented on a unique feature of the court and a problem that presented: “[A]ll the D. C. Circuit judges are in the same building, along with all the district court judges. This allows the circuit judges the unique opportunity of sitting down […]
The D. C. Circuit released two decisions last week, both upholding challenged agency actions. The first involved the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; the other involved FERC. Public utilities must file with FERC all rates and charges and may not charge a rate that is not on file. Utilities must report their operational costs incurred so that […]
Last week the en banc D.C. Circuit issued a per curiam order denying rehearing in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. Federal Election Commission (CREW II), 993 F.3d 880 (D.C. Cir. 2021), accompanied by a concurring opinion authored by Judge Rao (and joined by Judges Henderson, Katsas, and Walker), and a dissenting opinion […]
The D. C. Circuit issued only one decision this week. In Ohio Nuclear-Free Network v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Court rejected a petition challenging the agency’s grant of a license to produce uranium for failure to prepare the analysis called for by the National Environmental Policy Act. In an opinion written by Judge Henderson (within […]
It’s hard to imagine the D. C. Circuit without Judge Larry Silberman. As has been noted by many since his passing last week he was a commanding presence, an iconic judge. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/05/us/laurence-silberman-dead.html; https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/10/03/laurence-silberman-federal-appeals-judge/; https://www.yalejreg.com/nc/the-most-intimidating-judge-i-ever-met-reflections-on-judge-laurence-silberman/; https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-loses-a-judicial-giant-laurence-silberman-restraint-dc-circuit-constitution-judge-legacy-scalia-clerks-second-amendment-11664750990 I shall miss him. Before joining the D. C. Circuit I was in awe of Judge Silberman and his singular […]
The release of seven opinions this week brings to 41 the total number of opinions the D. C. Circuit issued in August. So much for taking off work for the summer! If there is an organizing principle to this week’s opinions, it is too subtle for me to find. Kudos to Chief Judge Srinivasan, Judge […]
After a busy week last week—when the Court released ten cases—there was some speculation that the Court might take it easy this week. Not quite. The Court released nine more opinions, including seven administrative law cases, one of which involves a second-round loss for an agency. Two of the cases were direct criminal appeals. First, […]
Our team of commentators at D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed have repeatedly warned our readers that the comparative quiet of the last few weeks on the D.C. Circuit would not last for long. This week proves the point. Although the week started slowly with the release of a single opinion on Tuesday, on Friday the […]
The D.C. Circuit issued four opinions this week. Three were in its wheelhouse of agency or public law litigation. One was atypical: a purely commercial dispute. Just for the novelty of it, let’s start with the outlier. Reinsurance disputes are not the standard fare of the D.C. Circuit, and the Court had to wrestle with […]
In a week when our attention was focused on the atrocity of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the D.C. Circuit handed down an opinion that hearkens back to Hitler’s effort to destroy Europe. In the consolidated case of David De Csepel v. Republic of Hungary (20-7047) and In re: Republic of Hungary (20-8001), Judges Tatel and […]
The big news this week was Justice Breyer’s announcement that he will step down from the Supreme Court at the end of this Term upon the appointment of a successor. Readers of this blog who are inclined to think that most really important legal news must have some connection to the D.C. Circuit (and just […]
Life on the D.C. Circuit is a mixture of the grand and the mundane. As Haley Proctor wrote in the last entry to this blog, the decisions from the Court two weeks ago included a blockbuster case: a clash between President Biden and former President Trump over presidential records at the heart of a congressional […]
David Levi and I were two of the three former federal judges who served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court. (Nancy Gertner was the other.) David and I co-authored an op-ed that appears in today’s Washington Post explaining our opposition to proposals to expand the size of the court and limit the terms […]
In the “bad old days,” the D.C. Circuit was the butt of many a joke – deserved or not – about the sleep-inducing qualities of its opinions. When I was running the gauntlet of the nominations process, a White House lawyer asked me, in all seriousness, “Tom, how can you stand the thought of spending […]
At my investiture, I confessed that I had long been in awe of the judges on the D.C. Circuit who were now my colleagues. Caveat lector: Nothing changed during the fifteen years that I served alongside them. Which means that my contributions to the D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed, a blog I read religiously while […]