The D.C. Circuit’s Paralyzed Veterans doctrine – which required federal agencies to engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking when they substantially altered an “interpretive” rule – is dead, the Supreme Court held yesterday.
The Court heard argument Monday in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association (consolidated with Nickols v. Mortgage Bankers Association). Here is the question presented in the Solicitor General’s cert. petition: Whether a federal agency must engage in notice-and-comment rulemaking before it can significantly alter an interpretive rule that articulates an interpretation of an agency regulation.
Brian Wolfman is the Edwin A. Heafey, Jr. Visiting Professor at the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic. Bradley Girard graduated from Georgetown Law in 2014.