The Supreme Court may be slow at issuing opinions in argued cases this term, but it made quick work of Calcutt v. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, summarily reversing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit's split decision upholding an action by the FDIC. The Sixth Circuit panel of Judges Boggs, Griffin and Murphy unanimously rejected Calcutt's constitutional challenges to the FDIC's action, but split on the statutory claims. Judge Boggs wrote the majority, joined by Judge Griffin. Judge Murphy dissented. The entire decision below topped 90 pages.
The Calcutt case raised a suite of interesting constitutional and administrative law issues, including the application of the Appointments Clause to FDIC administrative law judges (ALJs). But there was one issue upon which the justices could all apparently agree: Under SEC v. Chenery I, courts are to evaluate agency actions based upon the rationale offered by the agency, and not substitute their own analysis. This is an important principle because, among other things, if agencies are expected to engage in reasoned decisionmaking, judicial review must focus on the reasons the agency actually gave when making its decision, and courts should not substitute their own, more persuasive rationales when agency actions come before them. While there may be cases in which agency missteps constitute harmless error, courts should not excuse a failure to engage in reasoned decisionmaking lightly.
Here is how the Supreme Court's brief per curiam opinion begins:
