Supreme Court of the United States

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On December 9, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to revisit the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit’s decision in Hoopa Valley Tribe v. FERC, 913 F.3d 1099 (2019), allowing the lower court’s ruling to stand.

The key holding of the D.C. Circuit’s opinion, which concerned the ongoing Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) relicensing of the Klamath Hydroelectric Project, is that the States of California and Oregon waived their authorities under section 401 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), 33 U.S.C. § 1341, by failing to rule on the applicant’s submitted request for water quality certification within one year.  The D.C. Circuit held that the plain language of CWA section 401 establishes a maximum period of one year for states to act on a request for water quality certification.  Accordingly, the court further held that FERC erred in concluding that the “withdrawal-and-resubmittal” of the water quality certification application on an annual basis resets the one-year statutory time period for state action under section 401.
Continue Reading Supreme Court Declines to Hear Clean Water Act Section 401 Case

In Kisor v. Wilkie, 588 U.S. __ (2019), a five Justice majority substantially narrowed, but did not wholly overturn, the embattled doctrines arising from Auer v. Robbins, 519 U.S. 452 (1997), and Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., 325 U. S. 410 (1945).  Under the Auer deference doctrine, courts must defer to reasonable agency interpretations of their own regulations.  Several Justices and prominent scholars had criticized Auer deference on statutory, constitutional, and practical grounds.  While Auer deference lives on after Kisor, the continuing practical relevance of the doctrine is doubtful for most cases.  Further, Kisor’s limitations on Auer deference may portend a similar fate for Chevron deference, in future cases.
Continue Reading Kisor v. Wilkie: The Future of Auer Deference, With Implications For Chevron