Justia U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Sorenson is a purveyor of telephones for the hearing-impaired that have words scrolling on a screen during a call. Sorenson's technology uses the Internet to transmit and receive both the call itself and the derived captions (IP CTS). Sorenson gives its phones out for free, with the captioning feature turned on. On appeal, Sorenson challenged the FCC's promulgation of rules regarding IP CTS under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq. The court concluded that the FCC's rule requiring all new users to register and self-certify their hearing loss, but only if the provider sold the IP CTS equipment for $75 or more, was arbitrary and capricious because the FCC failed to articulate a satisfactory explanation for its action. Further, the FCC's requirement that IP CTS phones "have a default setting of captions off, so that all IP CTS users must affirmatively turn on captioning," was unsupported by the evidence and, rather, contradicted by it. Accordingly, the court granted the petitions for review.View "Sorenson Communications Inc., et al. v. FCC, et al." on Justia Law

After taxpayers failed to pay federal income taxes for the 2007 tax year, the IRS assessed the unpaid amount plus penalties and interest, and then attempted to collect them from taxpayers by means of a levy on the couple's home. Taxpayers unsuccessfully challenged the proposed levy in the Tax Court. On appeal, taxpayers contend that the Tax Court judge may have been biased in favor of the IRS in a manner that infringed the constitutional separation of powers. The court held that 26 U.S.C. 7443(f) did not infringe the constitutional separation of powers. Even if the prospect of "interbranch" removal of a Tax Court judge would raise a constitutional concern in theory, there is no cause for concern in fact: the Tax Court exercises Executive authority as part of the Executive Branch. Presidential removal of a Tax Court judge thus would constitute an intra-branch removal. The court rejected taxpayers' remaining claims and affirmed the judgment of the district court.View "Kuretski, et al. v. Commissioner of IRS" on Justia Law

The Union petitioned for review of the FLRA's decision finding, inter alia, that the IRS did not commit an unfair labor practice when Union representatives were excluded from "suitability" interviews of "covered" IRS personnel conducted by OPM investigators. Determining that it had jurisdiction to decide the Union's petition for review, the court concluded that the Authority reasonably construed the "representative of the agency" language in 5 U.S.C. 7114(a)(2)(B) to support a function and control analysis in determining its applicability vel non, and that the Authority's application of its interpretation to OPM-conducted suitability interviews of covered IRS personnel was not "arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law." Accordingly, the court denied the petition for review.View "Natl' Treasury Employees Union v. FLRA" on Justia Law

Petitioner sought review of PowerPoint presentations that the FMCSA posted on its website on May 16, 2012. Petitioners claimed that the presentations represented an "astonishing" change in agency policy, which the agency failed to subject to notice-and-comment rulemaking as required by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 500 et seq. The court concluded that the presentations did nothing more than explain the agency's Safety Measurement System, which was announced and implemented in 2010. The court dismissed the petition as untimely because, under the Hobbs Act, 28 U.S.C. 2344, challenges to agency rules, regulations, or final orders must be brought within 60 days of their issuance. View "Alliance for Safe, Efficient and Competitive Truck Transp., et al. v. FMCSA, et al." on Justia Law

A member of the British House of Commons, an informal British parliamentary caucus, and an American lawyer representing both all filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, request seeking various records from the CIA and other intelligence agencies. The district court dismissed their suit to compel disclosure, agreeing with the agencies that the requesters all qualified as "representatives" of the British government. The court concluded that FOIA requesters who have authority to file requests on behalf of foreign government entities are "representatives" of such entities when they file requests of the sort they have authority to file. Since the intelligence agencies conceded that under this theory these three requesters fall outside the Foreign Government Entity Exception, the exception posed no barrier to the FOIA requests at issue. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded.View "All Party Parliamentry Group, et al. v. Dept. of Defense, et al." on Justia Law

Congress prohibited Bell Operating Companies from subsidizing their own payphones or charging discriminatory rates to competitor payphone providers. At issue were the remedies available for violations of that prohibition. Specifically, whether independent payphone providers who were charged excessive rates by Bell Operating Companies were entitled to refunds or instead were entitled only to prospective relief in the form of lower rates. The court concluded that Congress granted discretion to the FCC to determine whether refunds would be required in those circumstances and that the Commission reasonably exercised that discretion here. The court denied the petitions in part and dismissed the remainder for lack of jurisdiction. View "Illinois Public Telecommunications v. FCC, et al." on Justia Law

Petitioners challenged the EPA's issuance of a memorandum entitled, "Next Steps for Pending Redesignation Requests and State Implementation Plan Actions Affected by the Recent Court Decision Vacating the 2011 Cross-State Air Pollution Rule." The court dismissed the petition for review because petitioners failed to show that they suffered injury that is imminent or certain as a result of the Memorandum. Accordingly, the court lacked jurisdiction to consider petitioners' challenges.View "Sierra Club, et al. v. EPA, et al." on Justia Law

In August 2011, the Department updated the special procedures that establish the minimum wages and working conditions employers must offer U.S. sheepherders, goatherders, and open-range (cattle) herders before hiring foreign herders. Plaintiffs, U.S. workers experienced in herding claimed that the Department administers the temporary worker visa program in a way that gives herding operations access to inexpensive foreign labor without protecting U.S. workers. The court concluded that the district court erred in holding that plaintiffs lacked both Article III and prudential standing to bring this action where plaintiffs were injured by the Department's promulgation of the Training and Employment Guidance Letters (TEGLs) and fell within the zone of interests protected by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, 8 U.S.C. 1188(a)(1). On the merits, the court concluded that plaintiffs were entitled to entry of summary judgment in their favor where the Department violated the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553, by promulgating TEGLs without providing public notice and an opportunity for comment. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded.View "Mendoza, et al. v. Harris, et al." on Justia Law

The Board of County Commissioners of Kay County appealed the district court's dismissal of its complaint seeking a declaratory judgment that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, along with the FHFA as their conservator, violated state law by failing to pay Oklahoma's documentary stamp tax (the Transfer Tax). The court held that 12 U.S.C. 1452(e), 1723a(c)(2), 4617(j)(1)-(2) exempt the entities from all state and local taxation, including Oklahoma's Transfer Tax, and that the Transfer Tax did not constitute a tax on real property such that it fell into the real property exceptions from the exemptions. The court also held that Kay County has forfeited its argument that the exemptions represent an invalid exercise of the Commerce power. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court.View "Bd. of Cty. Comm'rs v. FHFA, et al." on Justia Law

These consolidated petitions concerned proposed alternatives to security procedures mandated by the TSA. Amerijet requested alternative cargo screening procedures at various foreign airports it services and the TSA largely denied these requests. Amerijet petitioned for review, arguing that TSA's denials failed for want of reasoned decisionmaking and that TSA's actions violated Amerijet's right to equal protection of the law. The court concluded that, even under a highly deferential standard of review, TSA's denials were arbitrary and capricious as to most of Amerijet's requests where TSA failed to adequately explain most of its denials. Because the court had no meaningful basis to evaluate TSA's decisionmaking, the court remanded, excluding two issues. Accordingly, Amerijet's equal protection claim is unripe and the court dismissed the claim without prejudice.View "Amerijet Int'l, Inc. v. Pistole" on Justia Law