Forum

U.S. Supreme Court

Case Status

Decided

Docket Number

16-673

Term

Cert. Denied

Lower Court Opinion

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

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Questions Presented

1. May a federal official retroactively ratify an ultra vires government action when: (1) no federal official was authorized to perform the act at the time it was initially undertaken; (2) the purported ratification does not include an examination of any facts related to the act performed; or (3) the ratification purports to encompass not only the initial act but also federal court rulings entered in response to the act?

2. Do federal courts possess Article III subject matter jurisdiction to hear a case filed at the behest of an individual who, from the time suit was filed until judgment was entered, lacked authority to vindicate the Executive Branch’s interest in seeing that the law is obeyed?

Case Updates

Cert. petition denied

June 26, 2017

U.S. Chamber supports cert. petition in CFPB case

December 22, 2016

The U.S. Chamber urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit decision that erroneously allowed a CFPB enforcement action to proceed despite the fact that—due to CFPB Director Cordray’s unconstitutional recess appointment—no one at the agency possessed a valid grant of Executive power at the time of the suit.

The Chamber’s amicus brief argues that federal criminal prosecutions and civil suits to vindicate the public interest in the enforcement of the law may be brought by “Officers of the United States” to whom the Executive power has been validly delegated and no one else. In holding that the absence of a valid delegation of Executive power was immaterial to its standing analysis, the Ninth Circuit disregarded the limits of both Article II and Article III.

Gregory G. Garre and Benjamin W. Snyder of Latham & Watkins LLP served as counsel for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.

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