2019 D.C. Circuit US Court of Appeals Case Law
Date: December 31, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1300
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit granted Constellium's petition for review of the Board's decision determining that the company violated sections 8(a)(1) and (3) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by suspending and discharging an…
Date: December 27, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5353
Justia Opinion Summary: Commercial-fishing associations challenged the creation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, which was established by President Obama to protect distinct geological features and unique…
Date: December 27, 2019
Docket Number: 19-7110
Justia Opinion Summary: In this first case arising under the Hague Convention that has reached the DC Circuit, petitioner claimed that his wife, respondent, wrongfully retained their five-year-old daughter in the United States. The court held…
Date: December 20, 2019
Docket Number: 15-1426
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied Affinity's petition for review of the Board's finding of labor practices violations. The court held that substantial evidence supported the finding that Affinity committed unfair labor practices by…
Date: December 20, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1262
Justia Opinion Summary: Virginia power wholesalers who buy electricity from Dominion challenged the Commission's conclusion that Dominion's Virginia customers, but not its North Carolina customers, should bear the costs of undergrounding new…
Date: December 20, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5123
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeking information related to the FBI's thoughts about and possible uses of mosaic theory in its handling of FOIA cases. The DC Circuit reversed the…
Date: December 20, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5266
Justia Opinion Summary: Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap filed suit seeking access to documents from the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. The DC Circuit held that, because the emails at issue were neither "similar"…
Date: December 20, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5319
Justia Opinion Summary: Cares filed suit claiming that defendants unlawfully allowed an insurer offering Medicare prescription drug coverage, Humana, to pay Cares less for drugs that Cares obtains at a discount under a separate federal program…
Date: December 20, 2019
Docket Number: 19-5012
Justia Opinion Summary: The County and other parties filed a complaint in the district court claiming that DOT exceeded its authority under 26 U.S.C. 142(m)(1)(A) when it allocated $1.15 billion in Private Activity Bond (PABs) to fund Phase II…
Date: December 10, 2019
Docket Number: 16-3121
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to vacate his conviction. Defendant claimed that his trial and appellate counsel failed to properly argue or advance a claim that his Speedy Trial…
Date: December 10, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5196
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment sustaining the Tobacco Control Act and its application to e-cigarettes. The court held that e-cigarettes are indisputably highly addictive and pose health risks,…
Date: December 10, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1271
Justia Opinion Summary: Flat Wireless and NTCH challenged the FCC's order approving rates that Verizon offered to Flat Wireless for both voice and data roaming. The DC Circuit held that Flat Wireless' challenge runs counter to Commission rules…
Date: December 10, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1299
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Board found that the company violated Sections 8(a)(1) and 8(a)(3) of the National Labor Relations Act by suspending and discharging one of its employees, the company petitioned for review. The DC Circuit…
Date: December 6, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5302
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, an asylum seeker, as well as Catholic Charities of Washington, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to DHS seeking documents related to her asylum application. After DHS's initial determination,…
Date: December 3, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1239
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Union proposed that, in appraising employee work performance, the Agency not use any "performance appraisal rating levels above the Successful rating level for purposes of the annual appraisal process," Agency…
Date: December 3, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5299
Justia Opinion Summary: Ipsen challenged CMS's designation of the pricing information Ipsen must report to CMS for a drug that it manufactures. At issue was whether a series of letters CMS sent Ipsen constitutes final agency action under the…
Date: November 26, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1275
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the tax court's judgment that certain partnership currency option transactions lacked economic substance and were shams designed to look like real world trades without any of the risk or…
Date: November 26, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5222
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's partial grant of summary judgment to HHS. Determining that the appeal was not moot, the court held that the district court correctly declined to grant plaintiff equitable…
Date: November 22, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1250
Justia Opinion Summary: After the labor union representing CBP employees proposed a new way to determine an employee’s eligibility for travel time and expenses, CBP viewed the union's proposal as running afoul of government travel regulations.…
Date: November 22, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3048
Justia Opinion Summary: After defendant was sentenced for possession of a heroin mixture exceeding two kilograms based on the then-applicable statutory minimum contained in 21 U.S.C. 841(b)(1)(A), Congress enacted the First Step Act, narrowing…
Date: November 19, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5218
Justia Opinion Summary: HHS issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) in 2018, soliciting applications for family planning grants. Plaintiffs filed suit challenging the FOA as inconsistent with a governing regulation and the…
Date: November 8, 2019
Docket Number: 16-5287
Justia Opinion Summary: Save Jobs challenged DHS's rule permitting certain visa holders to seek lawful employment. The rule permitted H–4 visa holders to obtain work authorization if their H–1B visa-holding spouses have been granted an…
Date: November 1, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5316
Justia Opinion Summary: The Institute filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeking information related to all records contained in the IRS's Asset Forfeiture Tracking and Retrieval System (AFTRAK). The DC Circuit reversed the…
Date: October 25, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1114
Justia Opinion Summary: States, environmental groups, and industry representatives challenged the EPA's announcement that it would reconsider the appropriateness of, and conduct a rulemaking to potentially alter, greenhouse gas emission…
Date: October 22, 2019
Docket Number: 19-3054
Justia Opinion Summary: Roger Stone and members of his family petitioned for a writ of mandamus vacating the district court's orders modifying his conditions of release. Stone, a political consultant, was indicted on one count of obstruction of…
Date: October 18, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1081
Justia Opinion Summary: INEOS, a chemical producer, petitioned for review of the Commission's decision to accept tariff filings without an investigation under Section 15(7) of the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA). The DC Circuit dismissed the…
Date: October 11, 2019
Docket Number: 19-5142
Justia Opinion Summary: President Trump filed suit alleging that the House Committee on Oversight and Reform's investigation into his financial records serves no legitimate purpose. He sued to prevent Mazars, an accounting firm, from complying…
Date: October 4, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3082
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant appealed the district court's order authorizing the government to medicate him without his consent for the purpose of rendering him competent to stand trial. Defendant was indicted for threatening bodily harm…
Date: October 1, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1051
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit declined to vacate the FCC's 2018 Order in its entirety, which classified broadband internet access services as an information service under Title I of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the…
Date: September 20, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7158
Justia Opinion Summary: After the University terminated plaintiff, she filed suit under the False Claims Act's (FCA) anti-retaliation provision. The DC Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal of the action and held that the district…
Date: September 13, 2019
Docket Number: 16-1406
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the EPA's rule implementing the "Good Neighbor Provision," which requires upwind states to eliminate their significant contributions to air quality problems in downwind States, by promulgating a…
Date: September 13, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1328
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit granted a petition for review challenging the Postal Services' stamp price increase for the "Forever Stamp," which was part of the Postal Regulatory Commission Order 4875. The court held that the price…
Date: September 13, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3017
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit held that the Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today Act (PROTECT Act) was constitutional as applied to defendant, who was indicted for producing child pornography…
Date: September 6, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1258
Justia Opinion Summary: In these consolidated cases, petitioners challenged the EPA's final 2018 Rule, which established overall targets for the fuel market and imposed individual compliance obligations on fuel refineries and importers. The DC…
Date: September 6, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1248
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the Commission's order authorizing Nexus Gas to construct and operate an interstate natural gas pipeline and exercise the right of eminent domain to acquire any necessary rights-of-way. Although…
Date: September 3, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1091
Justia Opinion Summary: First Student petitioned for review of a decision and order of the NLRB finding it was a "perfectly clear" successor employer and violated the National Labor Relations Act by changing the terms and conditions on which it…
Date: August 30, 2019
Docket Number: 14-3043
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed appellant's conviction for violating 21 U.S.C. 960a, which prohibits using the proceeds of drug trafficking to support foreign terrorist groups. The court held that Congress had the authority to…
Date: August 30, 2019
Docket Numbers: 16-1052, 17-1044
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied Alon Petitioners' petition for review of EPA's decision not to revise its 2010 point of obligation regulation requiring refineries and importers, but not blenders, to bear the direct compliance…
Date: August 30, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7010
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of class certification in a putative class action of over 16,000 shippers allegedly harmed by a price-fixing conspiracy among the nation's largest freight railroads.…
Date: August 23, 2019
Docket Number: 15-1385
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied petitions for review of the EPA's 2015 revisions to the primary and secondary national ambient air quality standards for ozone, except with respect to the secondary ozone standard. The court held…
Date: August 23, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5188
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit alleging that the government unlawfully has permitted funds for promoting the pork industry to be used instead for lobbying on the industry's behalf. The DC Circuit held that plaintiffs offered no…
Date: August 20, 2019
Docket Number: 17-3018
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant and his export business, Wing-On LLC, appealed their convictions of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), unlawful export in violation of the AECA, and conspiracy to launder money. The DC…
Date: August 20, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1085
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the Wehrum Memo, which declares that the plain language of section 112 of the Clean Air Act compels the conclusion that a source of toxic emissions classified as "major" can reclassify to an "area…
Date: August 20, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5154
Justia Opinion Summary: The Association challenged the NCUA's promulgation of a final rule that makes it easier for community credit unions to expand their geographical coverage and thus to reach more potential members. The DC Circuit…
Date: August 16, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1213
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied a petition for review challenging the Commission's 2018 rule allowing investment companies to post shareholder reports online and mail paper copies to shareholders upon request. Petitioners argued…
Date: August 16, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7010
Date: August 13, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5135
Justia Opinion Summary: A group of children's hospitals that receive Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments under the Medicaid Act filed suit challenging the Secretary's promulgation of a regulation defining "costs incurred" in…
Date: August 13, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5156
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs won the 2017 diversity visa lottery but were denied visas pursuant to the State Department's Guidance Memo. The Guidance Memo instructed consular officers reviewing diversity visa applications about how…
Date: August 13, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7135
Justia Opinion Summary: At the motion-to-dismiss stage, dismissal on statute-of-limitations grounds is permissible only if a plaintiff's claims are conclusively time-barred on the face of the complaint. The DC Circuit reversed the district…
Date: August 9, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1129
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged one of the FCC's orders paring some regulatory requirements for the construction of wireless facilities. The Order exempted most small cell construction from two kinds of previously required…
Date: August 9, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7148
Justia Opinion Summary: MEBA filed suit against Liberty, alleging that its contract with Liberty required the parties to submit the underlying dispute to arbitration. The district court ruled in favor of MEBA and granted judgment on the…
Date: August 6, 2019
Docket Number: 19-5068
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States government thought that three banks, headquartered in China, held records that might clarify how North Korea finances its nuclear weapons program. After the government subpoenaed those records, the…
Date: August 2, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1098
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied petitions for review challenging the Commission's orders permitting Transcontinental Gas to move forward with a pipeline expansion called the Atlantic Sunrise Project. The court held that the…
Date: August 2, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1303
Justia Opinion Summary: Exhaustless petitioned for review of the FAA's latest interim orders limiting the number of flights serving LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy Airports in New York and seeking implementation of Exhaustless's patent-pending…
Date: August 2, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3003
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendant argued that the lag between his January 2017 arrest and his December 2017 revocation hearing violated both due process and Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.1(a)(1). The DC Circuit agreed with the…
Date: July 30, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5113
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit alleging that DHS engaged in discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The district court granted summary judgment for DHS and denied plaintiff's…
Date: July 30, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5312
Justia Opinion Summary: ACLA filed suit alleging that the Secretary's final ruling implementing the Protecting Access to Medicare Act's (PAMA) definition of "applicable laboratory" unlawfully excluded most hospital laboratories from PAMA's…
Date: July 26, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1212
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant asked to proceed anonymously before the tax court when challenging the IRS's denial of his application for a whistleblower award, but the tax court denied the request. Determining that it had jurisdiction to…
Date: July 26, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3087
Justia Opinion Summary: After defendant filed an unopposed motion asking the district court to direct the probation officer to disclose the sentencing recommendation in his case, the district court denied the request pursuant to its policy of…
Date: July 19, 2019
Docket Number: 15-3015
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for violating a federal law prohibiting the possession of firearms on the grounds of the United States Capitol. Defendant had pleaded guilty to violating this law after…
Date: July 19, 2019
Docket Number: 16-3108
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's restitution award to the victim of defendant's child pornography offenses. In Paroline v. United States, 134 S. Ct. 1710, 1727 (2014), the Supreme Court held that every…
Date: July 19, 2019
Docket Number: 17-7155
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Association filed suit alleging that the District's school funding practices inadequately fund charter schools, the district court rejected the Association's claims. The DC Circuit did not reach the merits of…
Date: July 19, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1141
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied a petition for review challenging the EPA's February 2018 decision not to issue financial responsibility requirements for the hardrock mining industry. The court deferred to the EPA's interpretation…
Date: July 19, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1155
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied a petition for review of the Board's findings, including the finding that Ingredion violated the National Labor Relations Act by dealing directly with employees and denigrating a union in the eyes…
Date: July 19, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7028
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit held that the district court wrongly denied a stay-put injunction because it placed the burden of proof on the student rather than the local educational agency. Furthermore, the error had continuing…
Date: July 16, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1176
Justia Opinion Summary: After GLH acquired radio spectrum licenses from Leap, who had originally purchased some licenses from the FCC, it assumed the obligation of the installment payments. When GLH failed to make the payments for some of the…
Date: July 16, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5289
Justia Opinion Summary: After President Trump issued three executive orders regarding relations between the federal government and its employees, unions representing federal employees brought suit in the district court challenging various…
Date: July 12, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1160
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners sought review of the National Transportation Safety Board's decision revoking their air agency certificate. The DC Circuit upheld the Board's determination concerning petitioners' performance of maintenance…
Date: July 9, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1150
Justia Opinion Summary: In this labor dispute, the NLRB assumed arguendo that the doctrine of judicial estoppel applied in NLRB proceedings but relied on the factors in New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742 (2001), to determine that judicial…
Date: July 5, 2019
Docket Number: 17-7152
Justia Opinion Summary: The District violates the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 if it cares for a mentally or physically disabled individual in a nursing home notwithstanding, with reasonable…
Date: July 5, 2019
Docket Number: 17-7172
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's issuance of a preliminary injunction enjoining a union's efforts to gain leverage over two commercial air carriers during negotiations over an amended collective bargaining…
Date: July 5, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7123
Justia Opinion Summary: Relator filed suit under the False Claims Act (FCA), alleging that a handful of large chemical manufacturers violated the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) by repeatedly failing to inform the EPA of information…
Date: July 2, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1189
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied the petition for review of OSHA's citation to Griffin for violating workplace safety standards designed to prevent electric shock. The court held that substantial evidence supported the ALJ's…
Date: July 2, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5252
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment for the Architect with respect to plaintiff's discrimination claims, holding that there was sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to infer that…
Date: July 2, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1003
Justia Opinion Summary: 26 U.S.C. 7623(b)(4) does not contain a "clear statement" that timely filing is a jurisdictional prerequisite to the tax court's hearing the whistleblower's case. In this case, the Irwin presumption has not been rebutted…
Date: July 2, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1163
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged EPA's promulgation of a final rule that treated material transferred from a waste generator to a third-party reclaimer as legitimately recycled, rather than "discarded" and subject to Subtitle C…
Date: July 2, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7139
Justia Opinion Summary: The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003's truncation requirement imposes on the merchant the duty not to print "more than the last 5 digits of the card number or the expiration date." The duty applies at…
Date: June 28, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5045
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit against the the Acting Architect of the Capitol (AOC), in her official capacity, alleging that the selecting officials at the AOC denied him a promotion on the basis of his race and national origin…
Date: June 28, 2019
Docket Number: 19-5031
Justia Opinion Summary: EPIC filed suit seeking to enjoin the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. EPIC alleged that, before the Department's announcement of the citizenship question, its members were entitled to a Privacy…
Date: June 25, 2019
Docket Number: 15-5207
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff filed suit alleging that the retroactive application of the 2000 parole guidelines, rather than the 1987 guidelines in effect at the time of his offense, in his parole hearings violated the Ex Post Facto Clause…
Date: June 25, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1028
Justia Opinion Summary: Because the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 contains a citation to nowhere, the EPA issued a document setting forth its interpretation of the periodic-review provision of renewable fuel requirements and…
Date: June 25, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7058
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff appealed the district court's stay of proceedings in its federal complaint. The district court applied the Colorado River doctrine to grant the stay. The DC Circuit held that none of the Colorado River factors…
Date: June 21, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5117
Justia Opinion Summary: These consolidated appeals stemmed from the cyberattack of multiple OPM databases that resulted in the data breach of sensitive personal information from more than 21 million people. Plaintiffs alleged that OPM's…
Date: June 21, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1198
Justia Opinion Summary: The union petitioned for review of the Authority's decision that the union's unfair labor practice charge was untimely. The DC Circuit held that the charge was timely and therefore granted the union's petition for review…
Date: June 21, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5148
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioner challenged the district court's denial of his petition for writ of habeas corpus, raising a due process challenge to the government's use of undisclosed classified information as a basis for his detention.…
Date: June 18, 2019
Docket Number: 17-7064
Date: June 18, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1111
Justia Opinion Summary: 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…
Date: June 18, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7055
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, an international businessman who resides in Missouri, filed this suit against defendant, the investment and wealth fund of one of the United Arab Emirates, Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), alleging that defendant…
Date: June 14, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5048
Justia Opinion Summary: 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…
Date: June 14, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1037
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit held that lacrosse officials working for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) are independent contractors exempt from the protections of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). In…
Date: June 14, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1038
Justia Opinion Summary: 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…
Date: June 14, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1134
Justia Opinion Summary: 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…
Date: June 14, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5093
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs have shown a likelihood of success in connection with their claim that ORR's restriction on abortion access infringes their protected right to choose to terminate their pregnancies. In 2017, the government…
Date: June 14, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7059
Justia Opinion Summary: After plaintiff was denied tenure and terminated by the University, he filed suit against the Board of Trustees, claiming that the University discriminated against him based on race and violated both the terms and spirit…
Date: June 11, 2019
Docket Number: 16-3066
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed defendants' convictions and sentences for health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The court rejected statutory and…
Date: June 11, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1268
Justia Opinion Summary: Under the Internal Revenue Code's general rule, the geographic origin of the redemption income would be sourced according to the residence of the taxpayer. However, that general rule is subject to an exception known as…
Date: June 11, 2019
Docket Number: 17-3070
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Norman, Brantley, and Rowe appealed their convictions on multiple counts of conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery, and conspiracy to distribute and possess marijuana with the intent to distribute. The DC…
Date: June 11, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1116
Justia Opinion Summary: 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…
Date: June 11, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1195
Justia Opinion Summary: 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…
Date: June 7, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5259
Justia Opinion Summary: Rhea Lana, a for-profit consignment business, challenged the Department's determination that the company's workers qualified as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's…
Date: June 7, 2019
Docket Number: 17-7071
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, 47 former longtime employees of the District Child and Family Services Agency who were mostly African American, filed suit alleging claims that their terminations were unlawfully discriminatory on the basis…
Date: June 7, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1092
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Board found that DirectSat had refused to disclose information relevant to the union's statutory duties and thus violated its duty to bargain in good faith under the National Labor Relations Act, the Board…
Date: June 7, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7018
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, 14 locksmith companies, filed suit alleging that Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! have conspired to "flood the market" of online search results with information about so-called "scam" locksmiths, in order to…
Date: June 4, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5203
Justia Opinion Summary: 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…
Date: June 4, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1218
Justia Opinion Summary: 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…
Date: May 31, 2019
Docket Number: 16-1158
Justia Opinion Summary: 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…
Date: May 31, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5179
Justia Opinion Summary: After the DC Circuit held that the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it issued a permit to the Dominion to construct the Surry-Skiffes Creek-Whealton project and vacated the permit, the…
Date: May 28, 2019
Docket Number: 17-7141
Justia Opinion Summary: After the Superior Court approved Chartered's reorganization plans, DC Healthcare Systems filed suit against the District and others, alleging that defendants' unlawful and unconstitutional actions manufactured…
Date: May 28, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5150
Justia Opinion Summary: 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…
Date: May 28, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7068
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs filed suit against SunTrust, alleging accounting and fraudulent-concealment claims arising from the loss of funds deposited into a Florida bank account more than two decades ago. The DC Circuit affirmed the…
Date: May 24, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1266
Justia Opinion Summary: After RERI claimed a charitable contribution deduction of $33 million on its 2003 federal tax return, the IRS determined that RERI was not entitled to the deduction and imposed a 40% penalty for underpayment of tax. The…
Date: May 24, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3026
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed defendant's 24 month sentence for violating his terms of supervised release. The court held that the sentencing judge reviewed and explained defendant's "very extensive" and "horrible" criminal…
Date: May 21, 2019
Docket Number: 14-5105
Justia Opinion Summary: After originally hearing this appeal, the DC Circuit certified to the DC Court of Appeals the following question regarding plaintiffs' intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED) claims: "Must a claimant alleging…
Date: May 21, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5227
Justia Opinion Summary: The LNC filed suit alleging that the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), which imposes limits on both donors and recipients of political contributions, violates its First Amendment rights. This case stemmed from a…
Date: May 21, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7004
Justia Opinion Summary: After plaintiffs prevailed in a long-running Individuals with Disabilities Education Act class action, the district court relied on the USAO's new matrix in awarding attorney fees. The DC Circuit vacated the award and…
Date: May 21, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7102
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, former correctional officers that had separated from service in good standing, sought to invoke the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA) so that they could be able to carry concealed firearms as…
Date: May 17, 2019
Docket Number: 17-7147
Justia Opinion Summary: After plaintiff was eliminated as part of a reorganization from his job of nearly 30 years, he filed suit against DC Water, alleging claims under various federal and D.C. civil rights statutes. The DC Circuit affirmed…
Date: May 14, 2019
Docket Number: 12-3042
Justia Opinion Summary: As a result of newly discovered evidence of a Brady violation, the district court vacated defendant's narcoterrorism conviction and resentenced him to concurrent terms of 300 months on the two remaining convictions for…
Date: May 14, 2019
Docket Number: 15-7034
Justia Opinion Summary: After Esther Klieman was killed in a terrorist attack on an Israeli public bus, plaintiffs filed suit under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), among other laws. The district court dismissed the case against the Palestinian…
Date: May 14, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5049
Date: May 10, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5064
Justia Opinion Summary: At the second prong of the McDonnell Douglas framework, an employer must proffer admissible evidence showing a legitimate, nondiscriminatory, clear, and reasonably specific explanation for its actions. Plaintiff filed…
Date: May 10, 2019
Docket Numbers: 18-7052, 18-7053, 18-7060, 18-7065, 18-7090, 18-7122
Justia Opinion Summary: In this consolidated opinion, the DC Circuit addressed cases arising from the Beirut, Nairobi, and Dar es Salaam terrorist attacks. On appeal, plaintiffs challenged the district court's dismissals of their claims against…
Date: May 7, 2019
Docket Number: 17-3033
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for three counts of bank robbery, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion by declining to appoint substitute counsel for defendant, nor was it an error…
Date: May 7, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1098
Justia Opinion Summary: Coal miners filed suit alleging that mine operators interfered with their rights under Section 103(g) of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Amendments Act of 1977 to raise anonymous complaints with the MSHA regarding…
Date: May 3, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5242
Justia Opinion Summary: The State of Missouri filed suit alleging that the Bureau of Reclamation violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to consider adequately how diverting billions of gallons of Missouri River water…
Date: April 30, 2019
Docket Number: 16-1453
Justia Opinion Summary: An investment adviser and its principals petitioned for review of the SEC's determination that they violated Section 206(2) and Section 207 of the Investment Advisers Act. The SEC alleged that petitioners failed for many…
Date: April 30, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5116
Justia Opinion Summary: CREW seeks to compel the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel to make available all of its formal written opinions, as well as indices of those opinions, under the so-called "reading-room" provision of the Freedom of…
Date: April 26, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1201
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the EPA's 2017 rule establishing a process for updating the inventory of chemicals manufactured or processed in the United States under the Toxic Substances Control Act, alleging that the rule…
Date: April 26, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7051
Justia Opinion Summary: Commonwealth filed suit against two land surveyors, KCI and WMC, alleging breach of contract and negligence claims in connection with four allegedly defective surveys that the two entities delivered to ICG, a non-party…
Date: April 23, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1273
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied the States' petition for review of the EPA's decision to refuse to expand the Northeast Ozone Transport Region to include the upwind States of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina,…
Date: April 23, 2019
Docket Number: 17-3060
Justia Opinion Summary: Defendants Thompson and Knowles appealed their convictions for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine (5 kilograms or more) on an aircraft registered in the United States or owned by a…
Date: April 23, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1157
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied petitions for review of the FAA's decision that payments of the Portland International Airport's utility charges for off-site stormwater drainage and Superfund remediation did not constitute…
Date: April 19, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5278
Justia Opinion Summary: This case arose when a member of the House of Representatives asked the House-appointed Chaplain, Father Patrick J. Conroy, to invite Daniel Barker—a former Christian minister turned atheist—to serve as guest chaplain…
Date: April 19, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1161
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied UPS Ground's petition for review challenging the certification of a union at its Kutztown Pennsylvania distribution facility. The court held that UPS Ground failed to identify a defect in the…
Date: April 16, 2019
Docket Numbers: 18-1279, 18-1315
Justia Opinion Summary: These petitions concern the conduct of a military judge, Colonel Vance Spath, who presided over a current Guantanamo Bay detainee, Abd Al-Rahim Hussein Muhammed Al-Nashiri, who faces capital charges before a military…
Date: April 16, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3043
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2004, defendants were indicted by a grand jury in Washington, D.C. for conspiracy to traffic cocaine, but the government moved to dismiss the charges in 2013 without prejudice because of the age of the case,…
Date: April 12, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5247
Justia Opinion Summary: Oceana challenged the Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology adopted in 2015 by the Fisheries Service, claiming that the methodology violated the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and the…
Date: April 12, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5099
Justia Opinion Summary: In this redacted appeal, the DC Circuit affirmed the district court's decision refusing to enjoin the FEC from releasing information identifying a trust and its trustee in connection with a misreported federal campaign…
Date: April 9, 2019
Docket Number: 17-3031
Justia Opinion Summary: After the DC Circuit affirmed defendant's convictions, the court remanded his ineffective assistance of counsel claims because he had previously raised them in district court. In this case, the court affirmed the…
Date: April 5, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5149
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, a historian, appealed the district court's order denying his petition to release grand jury records from the 1957 indictment of a former FBI agent. The court held that the district court has no authority…
Date: April 5, 2019
Docket Number: 17-7114
Justia Opinion Summary: D.C. Code 22-1307(a), the anti-obstructing statute, is not unconstitutionally vague on its face. The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of a complaint by three DC residents who were arrested under the…
Date: April 1, 2019
Docket Number: 19-5042
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs challenge the ATF's rule classifying bump-stock devices as machine guns under the National Firearms Act. The ATF promulgated the rule after a mass shooting at a concert in Las Vegas in October 2017. The DC…
Date: March 26, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3076
Justia Opinion Summary: The United States appealed the district court's decision that it was unnecessary to detain defendant in order to ensure his presence at a criminal trial and that releasing him pre-trial meant that ICE could not civilly…
Date: March 26, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7031
Justia Opinion Summary: Matthew LeFande appealed a criminal contempt order for refusing a magistrate judge's orders to take the witness stand and be sworn for in-court questioning on the record in lieu of an ordinary, out-of-court deposition in…
Date: March 19, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3007
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for bank robbery and rejected defendant's claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. The court held that, even assuming that counsel was inadequately…
Date: March 15, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1166
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied a petition for review of FERC's decision upholding charges assessed by the Southwest Power Pool. The court held that FERC's decision was not arbitrary and capricious and rejected Missouri River's…
Date: March 15, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5074
Justia Opinion Summary: PETA appealed the district court's dismissal of their claims under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeking records relating to animal welfare laws and regulations from the USDA. In regard to reposted records…
Date: March 15, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5105
Justia Opinion Summary: Under the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, candidates for certain offices, including the Presidency, must file financial disclosures with the Federal Election Commission, 5 U.S.C. 103(e). A presidential candidate’s…
Date: March 15, 2019
Docket Number: 18-7066
Justia Opinion Summary: In 2010, the widow of a Taiwanese plastics magnate and billionaire filed suit against the trusts created before her husband's death, alleging that the transfer of a large portion of her husband's assets to the trusts…
Date: March 12, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1149
Justia Opinion Summary: USC petitioned for review of the Board's ruling that the full- and part-time non-tenure-track faculty of USC's Roski School of Art and Design exercised no effective control over university policies and, as non-managerial…
Date: March 12, 2019
Docket Number: 17-7118
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiff, an American citizen, filed suit under the Torture Victim Protection Act of 1991 (TVPA), against two foreign officials from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for alleged torture. The district court…
Date: March 8, 2019
Docket Number: 16-3125
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction of transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, aggravated sexual abuse of a child, and first-degree child sexual abuse with aggravating…
Date: March 5, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1221
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied Novato's petition for review of the Board's decision finding that it committed an unfair labor practice by firing four union organizers two days before a union election. The court held that the…
Date: March 5, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1102
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied a petition for review of the FAA's decision to revoke petitioner's pilot certification for knowingly operating an aircraft with narcotics on board. After petitioner's plane crash-landed due to an…
Date: March 1, 2019
Docket Number: 17-3077
Justia Opinion Summary: Appellant moved to vacate his rape and murder conviction under 28 U.S.C. 2255 and the holding in Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 (1959), after the government conceded that the testimony of a forensic expert was false and…
Date: March 1, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5204
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, a group of tax return preparers, filed a class action challenging the IRS's requirement that preparers pay a fee to obtain and renew their Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN). The DC Circuit held that…
Date: March 1, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5206
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, 26 individuals who resided in Texas and whose home suffered damage during major natural disasters, and a non-profit filed suit seeking Stafford Act economic relief from the Federal Emergency Management Act…
Date: March 1, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5179
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit held that the Corps' grant of a permit allowing a utility company to build a series of electrical transmission towers across the historic James River was arbitrary and capricious. In this case, the Corps…
Date: February 26, 2019
Docket Number: 17-3027
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea and affirmed the district court's judgment. In this case, defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine…
Date: February 26, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3052
Justia Opinion Summary: Andrew Miller appealed an order holding him in contempt for failing to comply with grand jury subpoenas served on him by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller, contending that the Special Counsel's appointment was unlawful…
Date: February 26, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5214
Justia Opinion Summary: In an action filed by the government to enjoin the vertical merger between AT&T and Time Warner under Section 7 of the Clayton Act, the DC Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of the government's request for a…
Date: February 19, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5207
Justia Opinion Summary: Plaintiffs, Palestinians who mostly reside in the disputed West Bank territory, sued pro-Israeli American citizens and entities, including a former U.S. deputy national security advisor, claiming that the defendants…
Date: February 5, 2019
Docket Number: 17-3065
Justia Opinion Summary: At issue in this appeal was whether the Ex Post Facto Clause forbids applying a current U.S. Sentencing Commission policy statement, which offers sentence reductions only to those defendants whose original sentences are…
Date: February 5, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5012
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit reversed the district court's dismissal on mootness grounds plaintiff's action because the allegations in the complaint logically fell within a mootness exception for claims capable of repetition yet…
Date: February 1, 2019
Docket Number: 18-1026
Justia Opinion Summary: Petitioners challenged the FCC's adoption of two limitations to programs that make voice and broadband services more available and affordable for low-income consumers. Petitioners argued that the limitations limited the…
Date: January 25, 2019
Docket Number: 14-1271
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit granted a petition for review of FERC's orders finding that California and Oregon had not waived their water quality certification authority under Section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and that…
Date: January 25, 2019
Docket Number: 18-5017
Justia Opinion Summary: Judicial Watch filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), seeking release of five memoranda that memorialized advice to the President and his top national security advisers when the President was considering…
Date: January 18, 2019
Docket Number: 17-1243
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied North Carolina's petition for review of FERC's orders involving the relicensing of the Yadkin Hydroelectric Project No. 2197. North Carolina alleged that the license applicant, Alcoa, misrepresented…
Date: January 18, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5248
Justia Opinion Summary: Felons are not among the law-abiding, responsible citizens entitled to the protections of the Second Amendment. The DC Circuit affirmed the district court's dismissal of plaintiff's action seeking to enjoin the…
Date: January 15, 2019
Docket Number: 16-1433
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit denied SDG&E's petition for review of FERC's declaratory order applying FERC's cancelled or abandoned electricity transmission facilities incentive, 18 C.F.R. 35.35(d)(1)(vi) (Abandonment Incentive), only…
Date: January 15, 2019
Docket Number: 17-5082
Justia Opinion Summary: Representatives of the estates of black male farmers sought to submit claims of past discrimination in agricultural credit programs to a claims-processing framework set up to resolve Hispanic and female farmers' credit…
Date: January 8, 2019
Docket Number: 18-3071
Justia Opinion Summary: Assuming the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act's immunity applies, the DC Circuit held that it leaves intact the district courts' subject-matter jurisdiction over federal criminal cases involving foreign sovereigns. The…
Date: January 4, 2019
Docket Number: 17-3090
Justia Opinion Summary: The DC Circuit vacated defendant's sentence after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity, one count of accessory after the fact for…
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