Kisor v. Wilkie

 
DOCKET NO.
OP. BELOW
SUBJECT
Procedure
AUTHOR
Kagan

Question(s) Presented

“Whether the Court should overrule Auer [v. Robbins, 519 U.S. 452 (1997)] and [Bowles v.] Seminole Rock [& Sand Co., 325 U.S. 410 (1945)].”

Holding

“This Court has often deferred to agencies’ reasonable readings of genuinely ambiguous regulations. We call that practice Auer deference, or sometimes Seminole Rock deference, after two cases in which we employed it. See Auer v. Robbins, 519 U. S. 452 (1997); Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., 325 U. S. 410 (1945). The only question presented here is whether we should overrule those decisions, discarding the deference they give to agencies. We answer that question no. Auer deference retains an important role in construing agency regulations. But even as we uphold it, we reinforce its limits. Auer deference is sometimes appropriate and sometimes not. Whether to apply it depends on a range of considerations that we have noted now and again, but compile and further develop today. The deference doctrine we describe is potent in its place, but cabined in its scope. On remand, the Court of Appeals should decide whether it applies to the agency interpretation at issue.”

Date
Proceedings and Orders
April 24, 2018
Application (17A1154) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until June 29, 2018.
July 26, 2018
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including August 31, 2018.
August 20, 2018
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including October 1, 2018.
September 27, 2018
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including October 31, 2018.
November 20, 2018
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/7/2018.
December 10, 2018
Petition GRANTED limited to Question 1 presented by the petition.
January 16, 2019
Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, Robert Wilkie, Secretary of Veterans Affairs
January 25, 2019
SET FOR ARGUMENT on Wednesday, March 27, 2019
January 31, 2019
Brief amici curiae of Professors of Administrative Law and Federal Regulation in support of neither party filed. (Corrected version submitted)
February 14, 2019
CIRCULATED
February 21, 2019
Record requested from the U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit.
February 28, 2019
The record received from the U.S.C.A. Federal Circuit is electronic and located on PACER. The record is complete.
February 28, 2019
The record received from U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims are electronic and located on USCAVC web site. Also received are the pleadings from USCAVC which is confidential, (1 Envelope).
June 26, 2019
Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED. Kagan, J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II–B, III–B, and IV, in which Roberts, C. J., and Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor, JJ., joined, and an opinion with respect to Parts II–A and III–A, in which Ginsburg, Breyer, and Sotomayor, JJ., joined. Roberts, C. J., filed an opinion concurring in part. Gorsuch, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Thomas, J., joined, in which Kavanaugh, J., joined as to Parts I, II, III, IV, and V, and in which Alito, J., joined as to Parts I, II, and III. Kavanaugh, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Alito, J., joined.
July 29, 2019
JUGMENT ISSUED.