No. 23-1053

Cletus Woodrow Bohon, et al. v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, et al.

Lower Court: District of Columbia
Docketed: 2024-03-26
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Amici (2)Response Waived
Tags: administrative-state agency-authority civil-procedure constitutional-challenge jurisdictional-dispute kelo non-delegation-doctrine separation-of-powers takings
Key Terms:
AdministrativeLaw Takings DueProcess Securities JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2024-05-16
Question Presented (AI Summary)

Whether this Non-Delegation Doctrine challenge to the constitutional authority of an agency was properly filed in district court, or whether an agency order extinguishes district court jurisdiction?

Question Presented (OCR Extract)

QUESTIONS PRESENTED The Non-Delegation Doctrine is a staple of the separation of powers. Private property, despite its erosion in Kelo, remains the safeguard of liberty. But during the New Deal era, America witnessed a massive expansion of the administrative state. After Schechter Poultry in 1935, federal courts began applying the “intelligible principle test”’—a lax standard detached from traditional separation of powers principles. For 90 years, unelected agencies have wielded illegitimate legislative powers delegated to them by Congress to accomplish controversial goals (like seizing Cletus’s private property for private gain) while avoiding political accountability. This case seeks to re-establish those constitutional boundaries. But the D.C. Circuit has twice denied Landowners their day in court for “lack of jurisdiction,” even after this Court remanded this case in Bohon v. FERC, 1438 S. Ct. 1779 (2023). Despite this Court’s 9-0 ruling in Axon and Cochran, the D.C. Circuit reinstated its vacated decision. The questions presented are: Whether this Non-Delegation Doctrine challenge to the constitutional authority of an agency was properly filed in district court, or whether an agency order extinguishes district court jurisdiction? Whether non-party plaintiffs are precluded from raising constitutional challenges because the district court loses jurisdiction the minute a different plaintiff files a different case with the agency? Whether §324 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, enacted to bypass environmental cases in the Fourth ii Circuit, strips jurisdiction over this constitutional case, too, even though this Court has never allowed Congress to strip courts of jurisdiction to police its constitutional violations? Jf the inquiry does not end there, whether §324 is unconstitutional?

Docket Entries

2024-05-20
Petition DENIED.
2024-05-10
Letter dated may 8, 2024 from counsel for petitioners received.
2024-04-30
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/16/2024.
2024-04-25
Waiver of right of respondent Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC to respond filed.
2024-04-25
2024-04-25
Brief amicus curiae of Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence filed.
2024-04-11
Waiver of right of respondent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to respond filed.
2024-03-22

Attorneys

Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence
Anthony Thomas CasoConstitutional Counsel Group, Amicus
Anthony Thomas CasoConstitutional Counsel Group, Amicus
Cletus Woodrow Bohon, et al.
Mia YugoYugo Collins, PLLC, Petitioner
Mia YugoYugo Collins, PLLC, Petitioner
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Elizabeth B. PrelogarSolicitor General, Respondent
Elizabeth B. PrelogarSolicitor General, Respondent
Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC
Jeremy Charles MarwellVinson & Elkins LLP, Respondent
Jeremy Charles MarwellVinson & Elkins LLP, Respondent
Young America’s Foundation
Brooks E. HarlowTechnology & Communications Law, PLLC, Amicus
Brooks E. HarlowTechnology & Communications Law, PLLC, Amicus