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

Teton, a nonprofit that maintains historic military aircraft, filed suit challenging the DOD's decisions that make it effectively impossible to buy surplus aircraft parts from the Department. The district court concluded that Teton lacked standing to sue because its injury was not redressable. The court concluded, however, that Teton has shown redressability where Teton has adequately demonstrated, based on the Department's past willingness to sell property of this kind and its interest in the financial benefits of such sales, that the Department will likely sell aircraft parts in the future if Teton wins the suit. Likewise, although GL is an independent party, its relationship with the Department, its incentives, and its past expressions of intent together make clear that GL would likely sell any property the Department made available for sale. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded. View "Teton Historic Aviation Found. v. Dept. of Defense" on Justia Law

AFA petitioned for review of the FAA's Notice N8900.240, which is an internal guidance document issued to FAA aviation safety inspectors concerning the use and stowage of portable electronic devices aboard commercial and other aircraft. AFA seeks to invoke the court's jurisdiction under 49 U.S.C. 46110(a), but the FAA claims that this court lacks jurisdiction because the Notice does not constitute final agency action. The court concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to consider AFA's challenge because the disputed Notice does not reflect final action by the FAA where it does not determine any rights or obligations, or produce legal consequences. The Notice does not purport to amend any FAA regulation and it does not otherwise carry the force of law. View "Assoc. of Flight Attendants v. Huerta" on Justia Law

The Back Pay Act, 5 U.S.C. 5596(b)(1), authorizes back pay awards to employees "affected by an unjustified or unwarranted personnel action." At issue was whether Customs and Border Protection must provide a border guard, whom an arbitrator found was wrongfully denied an overtime opportunity in violation of the agency's assignment policy, with monetary compensation under the Act or whether Customs must provide the next available overtime opportunity under the agency's assignment policy. Customs argues that the Act limits the guard's remedy to the terms of the assignment policy but the Authority rejected the agency's reading of subsection (b)(4) and ruled that even if the Act limits awards to the terms of the agency's assignment policy, that policy was inapplicable in this case because it applies only in situations involving administrative error and the arbitrator had concluded that the denial of overtime was "more than a mere mistake." Customs petitioned for review. The court agreed with the Authority that it lacks jurisdiction to review the Authority's final orders. Section 7123 of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute, 5 U.S.C. 7123(a)(1), vests the court with jurisdiction to review the Authority's final orders "other than an order...involving an award by an arbitrator." Because no exception applies, the court dismissed the petition. View "DHS v. FLRA" on Justia Law

Sunrise claimed that the federal government seized property from criminal defendant Charles Emor belonging to Sunrise. After SunRise was excluded from the criminal proceedings, SunRise filed a third-party forfeiture proceeding claiming ownership in the forfeited property and requesting a hearing to determine its interest. The district court granted the government's motion to dismiss SunRise's petition for lack of standing. The court concluded, however, that SunRise has Article III standing where it alleged that its property was taken by the government without due process; the district court improperly dismissed SunRise's claims based on an alter ego finding that the district court made at a hearing in which SunRise was not allowed to participate and SunRise has statutory standing under 21 U.S.C. 853(n)(2); and SunRise stated a valid claim of relief in order to obtain a hearing by alleging that the forfeited property at all times remained the property of SunRise. However, the court concluded that several of SunRise's claims fail as a matter of law and the district court need not consider them on remand. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. View "United States v. Emor" on Justia Law

After Venezuela forcibly seized oil rigs belonging to the Venezuelan subsidiary of an American corporation, both the parent and subsidiary filed suit in the United States asserting jurisdiction under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's (FSIA), 28 U.S.C. 1604, 1605-1607, expropriation and commercial activity exceptions. The district court granted Venezuela's motion to dismiss as to the subsidiary's expropriation claim, but denied the motion in all other respects. The court concluded that the district court correctly concluded that the parent corporation had sufficient rights in its subsidiary's property to support its expropriation claim; but the district court should have allowed the claim to proceed because the subsidiary's expropriation claim is neither "wholly substantial" nor "frivolous" under this Circuit's standard for surviving a motion to dismiss in an FSIA case; and the district court should have granted the motion to dismiss with respect the commercial activity exception where the subsidiary's commercial activity had no "direct effect" in the United States, which is required by the FSIA to defeat sovereign immunity. Accordingly, the court affirmed in part and reversed in part. View "Helmerich & Payne Int'l Drilling v. Bolivarian Rep. of Venezuela" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs filed suit challenging the constitutionality of Title X of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, 12 U.S.C. 5481 et seq., as a violation of the separation of powers. The district court dismissed the complaint for injunctive and declaratory relief without reaching the merits of the complaint, ruling that Morgan Drexen Inc. had an adequate remedy at law in an enforcement action filed by the Bureau in the Central District of California, where Morgan Drexen could raise the constitutional challenge as a defense. The district court also ruled that the other plaintiff, an attorney who contracts with Morgan Drexen for paralegal services, lacked standing under Article III. The court affirmed, concluding that the attorney failed to proffer evidence of an injury in fact at the time she filed the complaint and that Morgan Drexen failed to show the district court abused its discretion in dismissing the complaint. View "Morgan Drexen, Inc. v. CFPB" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted of two drug possession offenses and one drug conspiracy offense. The court applied the especially deferential "manifest miscarriage of justice" standard and concluded that there was sufficient evidence to convict defendant of the drug conspiracy offense. The court also concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion by excluding evidence of defendant's prior acquittal on the drug distribution counts. Therefore, the court affirmed the judgment of the district court except that, consistent with the court's ordinary practice in these circumstances, the court remanded the case so that the district court may address defendant's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in the first instance. View "United States v. Williams" on Justia Law

Delaware and others petitioned for review of EPA's final rule governing use of certain kinds of power generators known as Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines ("backup generators" or "emergency engines"). The court held that Delaware lacks standing to challenge the exemption from emissions controls for backup generators in low-density areas under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7412; EPA acted arbitrarily and capriciously under Section 111 of the Act when it modified the National Emissions Standards and the Performance Standards to allow backup generators to operate without emissions controls for up to 100 hours per year as part of an emergency demand-response program; and, therefore, the court reversed and remanded as to those portions of the challenged rule. View "DE Dept. of Natural Res. v. EPA" on Justia Law

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) prohibited Ege, a pilot for Emirates Airlines, from flying to, from, or over the United States. Ege had experienced travel problems and had submitted an online inquiry to the DHS’s Traveler Redress Inquiry Program. He believes the TSA’s prohibition is based on his alleged inclusion on the “No-Fly List,” a subset of the Terrorist Screening Database (TSDB) used by the TSA to “deny boarding of individuals on commercial aircraft operated by U.S. carriers or flying to, from, or over the United States.” He sought removal from the No-Fly List or, at a minimum, a “meaningful opportunity to be heard.” The D.C. Circuit dismissed his petition for lack of standing and lack of jurisdiction. Neither the TSA nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the only two rnamed agencies, has “authority to decide whose name goes on the No-Fly List.” The Terrorist Screening Center, which is administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation), is “the sole entity with both the classified intelligence information” Ege wants and “the authority to remove” names from the No-Fly List/TSDB. View "Ege v. Dep't of Homeland Sec." on Justia Law

Citizens of Myersville, in Frederick County, Maryland, oppose the construction of a natural gas facility called a compressor station in their town as part of a larger expansion of natural gas facilities in the northeastern United States proposed by Dominion, a regional natural gas company. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, over the objections of the citizens, conditionally approved it. Dominion fulfilled the Commission’s conditions, including obtaining a Clean Air Act permit from the Maryland Department of the Environment. Dominion built the station, and it has been operating for approximately six months. The D.C. Circuit denied a petition for review, rejecting arguments that the Commission lacked substantial evidence to conclude that there was a public need for the project; that the Commission unlawfully interfered with Maryland’s rights under the Clean Air Act; that environmental review of the project, including its consideration of potential alternatives, was inadequate; and that the Commission unlawfully withheld hydraulic flow diagrams from them in violation of their due process rights. View "Myersville Citizens for a Rural Community, Inc. v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm'n" on Justia Law