Administrative Law

The vast majority of the administrative law cases considered by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals during the survey period involved neither novel issues of administrative procedure nor factual situations of significant precedential value or interest. That is not to say, however, that the Fifth Circuit did not face an unusual array of factual contexts in which administrative law issues presented themselves. Indeed, the Fifth Circuit entertained administrative law appeals on matters ranging from a dispute concerning regulations imposed on the shrimping industry that were designed to reduce sea turtle mortality, to a challenge of the CIA Director's denial of a Freedom of Information Act request for CIA documents relating to the 1985 sinking of the GREENPEACE vessel, Rainbow Warrior, in New Zealand.

Although the aforementioned cases involved relatively significant issues of substantive law that arose in administrative contexts, the decisions were not unique with respect to either administrative decision-making or the judicial review of agency actions and, accordingly, are not properly within the province of this segment of the survey. On the other hand, the Fifth Circuit did have the opportunity during the survey period to consider several cases which raised important issues involving (1) agency mechanisms for establishing policy and (2) the jurisdictional contours of federal court review of certain agency actions. This segment of the annual survey will focus on those cases.