Pub. Citizen, Inc. v. Trump
Pub. Citizen, Inc. v. Trump
Opinion of the Court
This action, brought by three organizations challenging an Executive Order and related guidance issued by the Office of Management and Budget ("OMB"), is before the Court for a second time. In a prior decision, the Court concluded that Plaintiffs had not met their threshold burden of *64alleging or otherwise proffering facts sufficient to establish that they have Article III standing to sue. See Pub. Citizen, Inc. v. Trump ,
The Court concludes that Plaintiffs have now met their burden of plausibly alleging that they have standing to sue. That is all they need to do to survive a Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss that poses a facial challenge to the Court's jurisdiction. It is not all that they need to do, however, to prevail on their motion for partial summary judgment. To carry the more onerous burden applicable on summary judgment, Plaintiffs must show that there is no genuine dispute of material fact regarding their standing to sue. As the Court explains below, they have not done so.
Establishing standing in a case like this one is no easy task. Pub. Citizen I ,
The hurdle that Plaintiffs face in attempting to establish a causal link between the Executive Order and an injury sufficient to sustain their standing is heightened, moreover, by three factors. First, the operation of the Executive Order is not transparent. The government has not disclosed, and there is no process for disclosing, whether the Executive Order has, in fact, precluded or delayed the finalization of any proposed rule. To contrary, although the administration has reported, in general, on its efforts to reduce regulation, it has yet to identify any proposed regulation that would have been adopted but for the Executive Order. Second, the Court must "avoid any undue intrusion on the discretion of the Executive Branch to set policy priorities." Pub. Citizen I ,
But the existence of these hurdles does not mean that Plaintiffs' task is impossible. As detailed in Public Citizen I and explained further below, Plaintiffs have marshalled a multitude of examples of proposed regulatory actions that have failed to move forward since the Executive Order was issued, a number of which have moved from the "Final Rule Stage" to the "Long-Term Actions" section of the Unified Agenda. They have identified executive branch statements and logical inferences *65that support their claims of delay. And, they have filed numerous declarations in an effort to demonstrate that they, or their members, have suffered redressable injuries due to those delays. All told, they have now made out a plausible claim to standing.
There is a significant difference, however, between establishing a plausible claim to standing and showing that Plaintiffs, in fact, have standing to sue. With respect to that more demanding burden, Plaintiffs have not cleared the substantial hurdles they face. They have not yet met-and ultimately may be unable to meet-their burden of proving that the Executive Order, as opposed to separate policy considerations or other factors, has delayed the issuance of a specific regulation, which would have otherwise issued, and that the resulting delay has caused them, or their members, to suffer a redressable injury. This leaves the case in an unfortunate state of incertitude: Plaintiffs have done enough to stay afloat but not enough to move forward.
The Court must, accordingly, deny the government's motion to dismiss, Dkt. 70, but must also deny Plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment, Dkt. 71. The parties may renew their motions following the development of a further factual record. Finally, because the Court's subject matter jurisdiction remains in doubt, the Court must deny the motion of the States of California and Oregon to intervene, Dkt. 73, as premature.
I. BACKGROUND
A. Executive Order 13771 and OMB Guidance
The Court described Executive Order 13771 and OMB's implementing guidance in its prior opinion, Pub. Citizen I ,
The Director of OMB is charged with fleshing out the Executive Order's requirements and exceptions. OMB issued interim guidance on February 2, 2017 and final guidance on April 5, 2017. See Office of Mgmt. & Budget, Interim Guidance Implementing Section 2 of the Executive Order of January 30, 2017 (2017) ("Interim Guidance");
First, OMB explained that the Executive Order applies only to "significant regulatory action[s]" and "significant guidance document[s]," Final Guidance, Q & A 2-that is, actions or guidance documents likely to "[h]ave an annual effect on the economy of $ 100 million or more" or to meet other criteria. Exec. Order No. 12866 § 3(f), 3 C.F.R. 638 (1994). Covered deregulatory actions, in contrast, need not qualify as "significant" and thus take a "wide[r] range" of forms than regulatory actions. Final Guidance, Q & A 4.
Second, unlike prior executive orders, cf. Exec. Order No. 12866, Executive Order 13771 focuses only on compliance costs borne by regulated parties, without regard to the public benefit of the existing or proposed rule. See Final Guidance, Q & A 21, 32; Interim Guidance at 4. In calculating costs and savings for purposes of the Executive Order, agencies are required to determine the present value of the costs or savings of the regulatory or deregulatory action "over the full duration of the expected effects of the action[ ]." Final Guidance, Q & A 25. An agency's "total incremental cost" for a fiscal year "means the sum of all costs from" significant regulatory actions and guidance documents "minus the cost savings from ... deregulatory actions."
Third, the Executive Order recognizes that certain federal statutes prohibit agencies from considering costs in determining whether a significant regulatory action is warranted. With respect to those regulatory actions, the OMB Guidance acknowledges that the Executive Order cannot-and does not-"change the agency's obligations under [such a] statute."
*67regulatory action[ ] as soon as practicable thereafter."
Fourth, agencies are permitted to "bank" cost savings and deregulatory actions "for use in the same or a subsequent fiscal year" to offset significant regulatory actions or guidance documents and to meet their "total incremental cost allowance[s]."
Finally, neither the Executive Order nor the OMB Guidance provides a mechanism for notifying the public whether and when a proposed (or possible) regulatory action might be delayed or abandoned due to the requirements of the Executive Order. See Dkt. 56 at 64 (Tr. Oral Arg. 64:7-22) (Counsel for Defendants: "I suspect [that information on delayed or abandoned regulatory actions] will not be public."). Moreover, although the Executive Order requires that agencies identify offsetting deregulatory actions as a condition of taking new regulatory actions, the OMB Guidance precludes agencies from relying on the Executive Order "as the basis or rationale , in whole or in part, for" taking a deregulatory action, and the guidance does not require that agencies publicly identify the "offsetting ... deregulatory actions" that allow for the regulation. See Final Guidance, Q & A 37 (emphasis added). Similarly, although the Unified Agenda
B. Procedural History
Plaintiffs Public Citizen, Inc., Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. ("NRDC"), and the Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO ("CWA") filed this action against the President, the Director of OMB, the heads of thirteen federal agencies, and the United States in February 2017, alleging that Executive Order 13771"impose[s] rulemaking requirements beyond and in conflict with the requirements of the" Administrative Procedure Act ("APA") and "the statutes from which ... federal agencies derive their rulemaking authority." Dkt. 1 at 5-6 (Compl. ¶ 9). Plaintiffs alleged that the Executive Order (1) exceeds the President's authority under Article II of the Constitution and usurps Congress's power to legislate; (2) conflicts with the President's duty to execute legislation under the Take Care Clause; and (3) directs federal agencies to take actions that are ultra vires. Id. at 43-46 (Compl. ¶¶ 121-47). They further allege that the OMB Guidance (4) is ultra vires; and (5) violates the APA. Id. at 46-48 (Compl. ¶¶ 148-61).
After Plaintiffs filed suit, the government moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of standing and for failure to state a claim, Dkt. 9, and fourteen states filed an amicus brief in support of the government addressing the merits of the dispute, Dkt. 12. In response, Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint as of right, which, among other things, added further allegations relating to their standing to sue. See Dkt. 14 (First Am. Compl.). The government then renewed its motion to dismiss, Dkt. 15, and Plaintiffs cross-moved for summary judgment, Dkt. 16. In opposing Defendants' motion to dismiss and in seeking summary judgment, Plaintiffs relied on theories of both associational and organizational standing.
The Court first addressed associational standing, which at the motion to dismiss stage requires that the plaintiff association "plausibly allege or otherwise offer facts sufficient to permit the reasonable inference (1) that the plaintiff has at least one member who 'would otherwise have standing to sue in [her] own right;' (2) that 'the interests' the association 'seeks to protect are germane to [its] purpose;' and (3) that 'neither the claim asserted not the relief requested requires the participation of [the] individual members in the lawsuit.' " Pub. Citizen I ,
The Court was also unconvinced by Plaintiffs' contention that they had organizational standing, that is, standing to sue in their own right as institutions. Id. at 40. Plaintiffs argued that the trade-off demanded by the Executive Order-requiring that agencies rescind at least two regulations for every new regulatory action-would chill their advocacy efforts. Id. at 35. But, as the Court explained, Plaintiffs did not allege or otherwise proffer evidence showing that they had actually declined to pursue a regulatory initiative out of concern that, if successful, their effort would come at the price of rescission of some other regulation they support. Id. at 38. Plaintiffs, instead, merely posited that the Executive Order had forced them to "evaluate whether the cost of the new rule-the loss of two or more unknown existing rules-[was] worth the benefit of the new rule." Id. at 13 (emphasis added). Because Plaintiffs did not assert "that they have actually declined-or will actually decline-to pursue a new rule," and because the "burden of merely considering the issue" is not enough, the Court rejected this theory of organizational standing. Id. Finally, the Court concluded that, even had Plaintiffs alleged or shown that they had decided to forego a regulatory initiative out of concern that, if successful, the required trade-off would be untenable, they had failed to allege or to proffer facts sufficient to show that the Executive Order was the cause of that injury. Id. at 38. As the Court explained, the Supreme Court's decision in Clapper v. Amnesty Int'l USA ,
Following the Court's decision, Plaintiffs moved for leave to file a Second Amended Complaint, arguing that their proposed pleading "sets forth allegations sufficient to establish standing under the reasoning of the Court's memorandum opinion" and that they would also offer "declarations substantiat[ing] those allegations." Dkt. 64 at 10-11. In light of "the important issues presented in this litigation, and in the interest *70of efficiency," Defendants "elected not to oppose Plaintiffs' [m]otion" for leave to amend. Dkt. 65. At the same time, however, they emphasized that, in their view, nothing contained in the Second Amended Complaint or the accompanying declarations was sufficient to overcome the jurisdictional deficiencies identified in the Court's opinion.
II. ANALYSIS
Two sets of motions are now before the Court. The first set returns to the issue of standing, and the second set relates to whether the states of California and Oregon should be permitted to intervene in this litigation. The Court will start, as it must, with standing. See Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env't ,
A. Plaintiffs' Standing to Challenge the Executive Order and OMB Guidance
As the parties seeking to invoke the Court's jurisdiction, Plaintiffs bear the burden of establishing that they have standing to sue. Sierra Club v. E.P.A. ,
To avoid confusion regarding the applicable standard, the Court will first address whether Plaintiffs have carried their burden for purposes of Defendants' motion to dismiss and will then turn to the distinct issues posed by Plaintiffs' cross-motion for partial summary judgment.
1. Defendants' Motion to Dismiss
At the motion to dismiss stage, a challenge to the plaintiff's standing "may take one of two forms." Hale v. United States , No. 13-1390,
"Alternatively, a Rule 12(b)(1) motion may raise a 'factual' challenge to the Court's jurisdiction." Hale ,
With minor exception discussed below, Defendants' current motion to dismiss asserts a facial challenge to Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint. Defendants have not offered any competent evidence, and, at least for purposes of their motion to dismiss, they do not challenge the accuracy of any specific (non-conclusory) fact set forth in the Second Amended Complaint or in Plaintiffs' declarations. As a result, there is no factual dispute for the Court to resolve in "ruling upon the motion to dismiss." Phoenix Consulting Inc ,
In opposing the government's motion to dismiss, Plaintiffs identify five putative regulatory actions that they contend have been delayed or withdrawn as a result of Executive Order 13771, purportedly causing at least one identified member of a plaintiff-association to suffer a redressable *72injury in fact. Dkt. 71 at 18-19. If they are correct with respect to at least one of those putative regulatory actions, that-along with the findings of germaneness and suitability that the Court has already made, Pub. Citizen I ,
a. The V2V Proposed Rule and Public Citizen I
As explained in Public Citizen I , on January 12, 2017, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ("NHTSA") proposed a rule that would mandate that all new "light vehicles" be equipped with vehicle-to-vehicle-or "V2V"-communications technology and that would standardize the format for V2V communications.
In the notice of proposed rulemaking, NHTSA agreed with those assessments. It explained that, "[w]ithout a mandate to require and [to] standardize V2V communications, ... manufacturers will not be able to move forward in an efficient way." Id. at 3854. NHTSA further opined that V2V technology "has the potential to revolutionize motor vehicle safety ... [b]y providing drivers with timely warnings of impending crash situations." Id. at 3855. Once fully employed, according to NHTSA, the technology is estimated "to prevent hundreds of thousands of crashes and [to] prevent over one thousand fatalities annually." Id. at 3854. Under the proposed rule, public comments were due by April 12, 2017. Id.
Shortly after the last presidential election, however, the new administration hit pause on the V2V rule and other rules. The Department of Transportation, of which NHTSA is a component, announced that " 'many rule schedules [would] need to be revised' to permit review 'by new [Department] leadership.' " Pub. Citizen I ,
*73Spring 2017 Agenda. The V2V Proposed Rule has remained in that status ever since. See, e.g. , Fall 2018 Agenda.
Plaintiffs argued in Public Citizen I that this was one of the many putative regulatory actions that Executive Order 13771 was delaying or preventing, to the detriment of many of their members. The Court agreed, up to a point, concluding that this was one of five (and possibly six) rules that cleared a number of initial hurdles. Plaintiffs had identified specific members who they alleged had been injured, see Pub. Citizen I ,
As the Court explained, Plaintiffs "devote[d] scant attention" to this core requirement for establishing standing.
b. Purchaser Standing
Responding to this difficulty, Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint takes a different approach. Plaintiffs now that "[t]he delay of the V2V rule is depriving" two of their members "of the opportunity to purchase vehicles with this desired feature." Dkt. 64-2 at 24 (redlined version of Second Am. Compl. ¶ 79). Although that addition might seem minor, it signals a significant change in Plaintiffs' theory of standing: rather than rely on an increased-risk-of-harm theory of standing, as they previously did, they now contend that two members of Public Citizen, Amanda Fleming and Terri Weissman, would have "purchaser standing" were they to sue in their right and that their interests are sufficient to sustain Public Citizen's associational standing to sue. Dkt. 71 at 27-31.
*74Under the doctrine of purchaser standing, the D.C. Circuit "has permitted consumers of a product to challenge agency action that prevented the consumers from purchasing a desired product." Coal. for Mercury-Free Drugs v. Sebelius ,
Here, Plaintiffs contend that the delay in finalizing the V2V rule has "depriv[ed]" Fleming and Weissman "of the opportunity to purchase vehicles with a particular desired feature." Dkt. 71 at 27. In particular, the Second Amended Complaint alleges that Fleming and Weissman "would like to purchase vehicles equipped with V2V communications when they purchase new cars in the next several years," Dkt. 67 at 23 (Second Am. Compl. ¶ 79); that "[t]he delay of the V2V rule is depriving [them] of the opportunity to purchase vehicles with this desired feature,"
The Court notes, at the outset, that Plaintiffs' assertion of purchaser standing differs from Consumer Federation of America, Chamber of Commerce, Competitive Enterprise Institute , and Orangeburg, South Carolina in an important respect-all of those cases dealt with federal regulation that limited consumer choices that would otherwise have been available absent the challenged agency action. Plaintiffs, in contrast, allege an injury that is the product of agency inaction. They argue that the V2V regulation, if finalized, would increase consumer choices. But, as the D.C. Circuit's decision in Center for Auto Safety v. NHTSA ,
c. Defendants' Contentions
Defendants disagree. They do not take issue with the concept of purchaser standing, nor do they contend that purchaser standing is limited to cases in which the regulatory action at issue limits existing consumer choices. Instead, they argue that (1) the law of the case doctrine precludes reconsideration of Plaintiffs' contention that the Executive Order has interfered with Fleming and Weissman's plans to purchase V2V-equipped cars; (2) the Court should reconsider its prior conclusion that Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the Executive Order has delayed issuance of the final V2V rule and thus need not reach the question of purchaser standing; and (3) in any event, neither Fleming nor Weissman has identified a sufficiently certain or imminent injury to support a claim of purchaser standing. Some of these contentions, as the Court will explain below, are sufficient to defeat Plaintiffs' cross-motion for summary judgment. None, however, is *76sufficient to sustain Defendants' motion to dismiss.
(i) Law of the case
First, Defendants argue that Plaintiffs offer no "new facts to cure the deficiencies identified by the Court" and, instead, merely "reuse the same declarations from Ms. Fleming and Ms. Weissman" and "tweak[ ] their legal argument about why these allegations are sufficient to establish standing." Dkt. 70-1 at 23; see also Dkt. 75 at 11-12. According to Defendants, "this Court's prior assessment of the Fleming and Weissman declarations still controls as the law of this case." Dkt. 75 at 11. In response, Plaintiffs argue that the law of the case doctrine "presents no impediment to consideration of standing based on ... the V2V rule-particularly as the Court in its earlier order did not consider the injury on which plaintiffs rely to show standing." Dkt. 78 at 11. Plaintiffs are correct.
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b), orders entered by a district court "may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment adjudicating all the claims and all the parties' rights and liabilities." Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b). As a result, "[i]nterlocutory orders are not subject to the law of the case doctrine and may always be reconsidered prior to final judgment." Langevine v. District of Columbia ,
As the government acknowledged when it assented to Plaintiffs' request to file a Second Amended Complaint, the issues presented in this case are of sufficient importance that Plaintiffs should be given the opportunity to make their best case for standing. Dkt. 65. The Court agrees and can discern no reason to limit the scope of Plaintiffs' second effort to new factual, as opposed to new legal, theories.
(ii) Whether the Executive Order has delayed issuance of the V2V rule
Second, and arguably in some tension with its first argument, the government asks that the Court reconsider its prior conclusions that Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that NHTSA intended to finalize the V2V rule and that Executive Order 13771 has delayed that agency action. Dkt. 70-1 at 23-24. As the Court recognized in Public Citizen I , it is not easy for a plaintiff "plausibly [to] allege or show that [a] putative regulatory action[ ] ... would have been taken in the absence" of some event or requirement.
In seeking to dismiss Plaintiffs' Second Amended Complaint, the government does not take issue with much of this. It does not dispute, for example, that it would take decades for the Department of Transportation to accrue sufficient cost savings to pay for the rule, and it does not assert that it is no longer convinced, as a matter of policy, that the rule is a good idea. Instead, it points to a statement that the Department of Transportation issued on November 8, 2017, and argues that, in light of that statement, "Plaintiffs cannot demonstrate that [the Department of Transportation] intends to issue a final rule, or that such a rule is being delayed by Executive Order 13,771." Dkt. 70-1 at 23-24. The statement is brief and can be quoted in full:
The Department of Transportation and NHTSA have not made any final decision on the proposed rulemaking concern a V2V mandate. Any reports to the contrary are mistaken. In all events, DOT hopes to use the dedicated spectrum for transportation lifesaving technologies. Safety is the Department's number one priority.
In response to the proposal, NHTSA is still reviewing and considering more than 460 comments submitted and other relevant new information to inform its next steps. An update on these actions will be provided when a decision is made at the appropriate time, taking into consideration the rich comments received in response to the proposed action published in December 2016. While [the Department of Transportation] withdrew or revised 13 rules this year, V2V is not one of them, and remains on [the Department of Transportation's] significant rulemaking report.
U.S. Dep't of Transp., V2V Statement (Nov. 8, 2017) (quotations in original) ("V2V Statement").
As an initial matter, the statement confirms that neither the Department of Transportation nor NHTSA has decided, as a matter of policy, that the proposed rule is ill-advised. To the contrary, the statement seeks to rebut "mistaken" reports that the Department has made a decision to withdraw the proposed rule and emphasizes that, although the Department has withdrawn or "revised 13 rules this year, [the] V2V [proposed rule] is not one of them."
It has now been almost twenty-two months since the comment period on the proposed rule closed, and the regulatory agenda continues to reflect that the rule is on the list of items for "[l]ong-[t]erm [a]ction" with an "[u]ndetermined" date for any further action. Fall 2018 Agenda. Although it is possible that the Department is simply engaged in a detailed review of the comments it has received, the Court adheres to its prior conclusion that Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the delay is due, at least in part, to Executive Order 13771. It is also possible that the Department will engage in a massive deregulatory action, sufficient to offset the estimated cost of $ 2 billion or more each year for the first several years the V2V rule is in effect or that another agency will transfer sufficient cost savings to the Department of Transportation. And, it is possible that OMB will waive the regulatory cap in order to permit the rulemaking to proceed. But, as the record now stands, it appears that the Executive Order currently precludes issuance of the rule, raising the plausible inference that the Department is not rushing to finalize a rule that it will not be permitted to issue. If that inference is incorrect, the government can rebut it after the parties are provided an opportunity for further factual development.
*79(iii) Adequacy of Plaintiffs' allegations of injury
Finally, the government argues that Plaintiffs' allegations and declarations do not plausibly allege or otherwise show that Fleming or Weissman are likely to suffer a non-speculative and redressable injury due to any delay in finalizing the V2V rule. In particular, according to the government, Fleming and Weissman will be able to purchase V2V-equipped vehicles even if the rule is not finalized; their plans to purchase new vehicles with V2V technology years from now are too speculative to support standing; and that their injuries, if any, are not redressable. The Court is unconvinced.
The government first contends that Fleming and Weissman have not suffered, and will not suffer, any concrete injury because they will be able to purchase V2V-equipped vehicles, "regardless of whether DOT issues a final V2V rule." Dkt. 70-1 at 25- 26. For support, the government points to two news stories, one from March 2017 reporting that "Cadillac [had] introduce[d] ... V2V ... communications ... in [its] CTS ... sedan," V2V Safety Technology Now Standard on Cadillac CTS Sedans , Cadillac (Mar. 9, 2017);
With these press reports in hand, the government invokes the D.C. Circuit's decision in Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs v. Sebelius ,
This case differs from Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs in a number of important respects. First, and foremost, the product that Plaintiffs seek here-V2V-equipped vehicles-is fundamentally different from thimerosal-free vaccines. Unlike thimerosal-free vaccines, the value of the technology at issue here turns on its employment in as many vehicles as possible. To be sure, there might be some value in a technology that prevents accidents between Cadillac CTS sedans and Toyota and Lexus vehicles. But that limited benefit falls far short of the objective of the rule, and it renders the technology included in those vehicles far less attractive.
*80Significantly, the products that Fleming and Weissman would like to purchase are not simply vehicles or even vehicles equipped with V2V technology, but vehicles that are capable of communicating with most, if not all, other light vehicles on the road. Nothing the government has offered suggests that Fleming and Weissman-or anyone else-will be able to purchase cars with that capability.
The Court, moreover, need not assess the potential availability of a desired product in a vacuum. Under prevailing D.C. Circuit precedent, the Court must evaluate the effect of agency action (or inaction) on third party conduct based on "evidence contained in the agency's own factfinding" and "the administrative record itself." Competitive Enter. Inst. ,
Despite the[ ] potential benefits, V2V offers challenges that are not present[ed] [by independent safety technologies such as radar and camera systems]. Without government action, these challenges could prevent this promising safety technology from achieving sufficiently widespread use throughout the vehicle fleet to achieve these benefits. Most prominently, vehicles need to communicate a standard set of information to each other, using interoperable communications that all vehicles can understand.... Without interoperability, manufacturers attempting to implement V2V will find that their vehicles are not necessarily able to communicate with other manufacturers' vehicles and equipment, defeating the objective of the mandate and stifling the potential for innovation that the new information environment can create. In addition, there is the issue of achieving critical mass : That V2V can only begin to provide significant safety benefits when a significant fraction of vehicles comprising the fleet can transmit and receive the same information in an interoperable fashion.
The improvement in safety that results from enabling vehicles to communicate with one another depends directly on the fraction of the vehicle fleet that is equipped with the necessary technology, and on its ability to perform reliably.... Because the value to potential buyers of purchasing a vehicle that is equipped with V2V communications technology depends upon how many other vehicle owners have also purchased comparably-equipped models , V2V communications has many of the same characteristics as more familiar network communications technologies.
* * *
... Unless individual buyers believe that a significant number of other buyers will obtain V2V systems, they may conclude that the potential benefits they would receive from this system are unlikely to materialize.
82 Fed. Reg. at 3856 (emphasis added). Based on all of this, the notice of proposed rulemaking concluded that, "[w]ithout government intervention, the resulting uncertainty could undermine manufacturer plans or weaken manufacturers' incentive to develop V2V technology to its full potential." Id. That is precisely Plaintiffs' point, and nothing contained in either of the press reports that the government now cites undermines NHTSA's prior statement.
The government's reliance on Coalition for Mercury-Free Drugs is unavailing for a *81second reason as well. In that case, the agency's action did not limit the choices available to consumers. There was no suggestion that, with the exception of the preservative, the vaccines on the market differed in any material respect from one another. Against that backdrop, the D.C. Circuit held that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the FDA's approval of thimerosal-containing vaccines because the FDA's action did not "prevent[ ] [the association's members and individual plaintiffs] from purchasing thimerosal-free vaccines altogether," and the plaintiffs did "not allege that mercury-free vaccines [were] 'not readily available' " or that those vaccines were "unreasonably priced."
As a result, this case is more like Consumer Federation of America , where the D.C. Circuit held that a consumer who was "deterred" in exercising his full range of choices of high-speed internet services suffered an injury in fact, even though he "could obtain high-speed internet access using technologies other than cable."
Next, the government contends that the timeline and relationships to the regulatory process are too attenuated to support standing. As the government notes, the proposed V2V rule included "two years of lead time" following promulgation of a final rule before the mandate would apply, followed by a three-year phase in period. 82 Fed. Reg. at 4006 ; see also Dkt. 70-1 at 26. And, even beyond that, the technology will provide its full benefit only after a sufficient number of consumers purchase new cars. Fleming, moreover, merely attests that she plans to purchase a new car "in the next five years or so," and Weissman merely says that she plans to purchase a new car "in the next 5-7 years." Dkt. 70-1 at 27 (quoting Dkt. 16-7 at 2 (Fleming Decl. ¶ 5); Dkt. 16-10 at 2 (Weissman Decl. ¶ 4) ). According to the government, when all of this is taken into consideration, it shows that Plaintiffs have not alleged that they are likely to suffer a non-speculative injury that is "certainly impending."
*82Dkt. 70-1 at 27 (quoting Clapper ,
As an initial matter, although the government questions whether Fleming and Weissman "will end up purchasing ... car[s]" when they say they will,
The government also argues that "numerous contingencies outside of its control ... could delay the installation of V2V technology, such as public rejection of the product and the possibility that a court might enjoin the rule." Dkt. 70-1 at 27 n.9. That argument, however, turns the concept of undue speculation on its head. To be sure, it is always possible that a regulation might be enjoined or that members of the public might ask the agency to rescind a mandate. The question for present purposes, however, is simply whether Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged or otherwise shown that they have standing, and they have met that burden.
Finally, the government contends that Plaintiffs have not plausibly alleged that overturning of the Executive Order would redress Fleming and Weissman's injuries. Dkt. 70-1 at 29-30. As is often the case in standing analysis, this argument is simply the flip side of the government's contention that Plaintiffs have not plausibly alleged that the Executive Order has delayed the issuance of the V2V rule. See Carpenters Indus. Council v. Zinke ,
* * *
Plaintiffs have therefore carried their burden of plausibly alleging or otherwise showing that Executive Order 13771 has delayed the issuance of the V2V rule and that the resulting delay will likely cause one or more of their members to suffer a concrete injury redressable by invalidation of the Executive Order and OMB Guidance. The Court will, accordingly, deny Defendants' motion to dismiss.
2. Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment
That disposes of only one of the pending motions; Plaintiffs have also cross-moved for partial summary judgment on the question of standing. In moving from defense to offense, however, Plaintiffs face a far more demanding standard. See Nat'l Whistleblower Center v. Dep't of Health and Human Servs. ,
An association "can establish standing in one of two ways. It can assert 'associational standing' to sue on behalf of its members[,] ... [o]r it can assert 'organizational standing; to sue on its own behalf." Pub. Citizen I ,
a. Associational Standing
To establish association standing, an organization must satisfy three criteria. It must show (1) that at least one of its members "would otherwise have standing to sue in [her] own right;" (2) that "the interests" the organization "seeks to protect are germane to the organization's purpose;" and (3) that the claim is suitable for resolution in a case in which the association's members are not joined-that is, "neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires the participation of individual members in the lawsuit." Hunt ,
To meet that burden, Plaintiffs now identify five putative regulatory measures that they contend have been delayed or withdrawn due to Executive Order 13771, to the detriment of one or more of their members. The Court will consider each of these measures in turn and, as to each, will consider whether Plaintiffs have shown-beyond genuine dispute-(1) that at least one of their members has sustained, or faces the imminent threat of sustaining, an "injury-in-fact" that is neither "conjectural" nor "hypothetical;" (2) that a "causal connection" exists between the Executive Order and that injury, such that the injury is "fairly trace[able] to the" Executive Order or OMB Guidance "and [is] not the result of the independent action of some third party;" and (3) that the injury would "likely" be redressed "by a favorable decision." Lujan ,
(i) V2V Proposed Rule
Plaintiffs' contention that they have established associational standing based on the injuries that Fleming and Weissman will allegedly sustain due to the delay in finalizing the V2V rule does not *85require much analysis beyond that set forth above. As already explained, Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the Executive Order has injured, and will continue to injure, Fleming and Weissman by delaying issuance of a final V2V rule and thereby interfering with their plans to purchase and use V2V-equipped vehicles several years from now. They have not, however, shown that this asserted "causal connection"-and, by extension, the redressability of their asserted injuries-is beyond genuine dispute. To the contrary, the government plausibly contends that the delay in finalizing the rule is the product of "the kind of run-of-the-mill evaluation of a propose rule that often results in additional consideration and, at times, a decision to take a different substantive approach." Dkt. 75 at 12. In short, Plaintiffs have presented evidence that the Executive Order has delayed finalization of the rule, but that evidence is disputed, and the government has done more than offer an unsupported denial. That is enough, at this stage, to preclude the entry of summary judgment in favor of Plaintiffs. See Celotex Corp. , 477 U.S. at 324,
The Court, accordingly, concludes that Plaintiffs have not met their burden of demonstrating, beyond genuine dispute, that any of their members would have standing in their own right to challenge the Executive Order and OMB Guidance based on the alleged delay in finalizing the V2V rule.
(ii) Airline Baggage Fees Proposed Rule
Plaintiffs also argue that the Executive Order and OMB Guidance caused the Department of Transportation to withdraw a rule governing the airline industry that would have benefitted at least one member of Public Citizen. Dkt. 71 at 19-25. In May 2014, the Department issued a notice of proposed rulemaking, proposing to require airlines and ticket agents "to disclose at all points of sale the fees for certain basic ancillary services associated with the air transportation consumers are buying or considering buying." Transparency of Airline Ancillary Fees and Other Consumer Protection Issues,
On March 14, 2017, however, the Department issued a notice suspending the comment period indefinitely to "allow the President's appointees the opportunity to review and consider this action." Transparency of Airline Ancillary Service Fees,
Plaintiffs contend that this series of actions and the Department's own statements show that the Department's decision to withdraw the proposed rule "was attributable to the Executive Order." Dkt. 71 at 23. That decision, they further contend, caused at least one of Public Citizen's members, Amy Allina, to suffer a cognizable and redressable injury. Id. at 22-23. In support of this contention, they offer a declaration in which Allina attests that she travels "by air an average of 6-8 times per year;" that she purchases tickets from various airlines, using various online sites; that she decides which airline tickets to purchase based, in part, on baggage fees; that searching websites for baggage-fee information is time consuming; that she has incurred baggage-fees based on a lack of information regarding the airline's policy; and, finally, that she has reviewed the proposed rule and believes that, "if finalized," it "would save [her] time" in determining baggage fees and the true cost of booking a flight. Dkt. 64-4 at 1-2 (Allina Decl. ¶¶ 3-5).
The government responds that Plaintiffs have failed to establish that the Executive Order or OMB Guidance caused the Department to withdraw the proposed rule, and they identify a number of reasons to question Plaintiffs' inference. Most notably, they point to the Department's assertion that, after careful study, it concluded that the proposed rule was unnecessary to protect "consumers from hidden fees and to ensur[e] transparency" and that "existing regulations already provide consumers some information regarding fees for ancillary services." 82 Fed. Reg. at 58778 ; see also Dkt. 75 at 8-9. The government also disputes Plaintiffs' reading of the statement "[t]he withdrawal ... is consistent with Executive Order 13771," contained in the notice withdrawing the rule. 82 Fed. Reg. at 58778 ; see also Dkt. 75 at 8. According to the government, " 'consistent ' with ... does not mean ... because of," particularly when read in light of the Department's further assertion that it withdrew the proposed rule because, on further consideration, it was deemed unnecessary. Id. (emphasis added). For similar reasons, the government also argues that the "temporal proximity" of the Department's decision to withdraw the rule and the adoption and implementation of the Executive Order is insufficient to establish causation. Id. at 9. What matters, according the government, is the rationale stated in the notice withdrawing the rule, which must be afforded the presumption of good faith-and not temporal proximity, other statements made in the Department's Significant Rulemaking Reports, or a passing reference to the Executive Order in the final notice.
*87For present purposes, the Court need not decide whether the proposed rule was withdrawn because of , or merely consistent with , the Executive Order and OMB Guidance. The evidence that Plaintiffs proffer is far from conclusive, and absent a showing "that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact," Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a), Plaintiffs are not entitled to summary judgment on the issue of standing.
(iii) Prevention of Workplace Violence in Healthcare Rule
Plaintiffs further contend that their members will be injured by the Executive Order because it has delayed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's promulgation of a safety standard addressing workplace violence in healthcare. At this early stage of the rulemaking process, however, Plaintiffs cannot show beyond genuine dispute that the agency has delayed issuing a rule-whether because of the Executive Order or for any other reason.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970,
Plaintiffs allege that the Executive Order has prevented the development of the standard. They argue, in particular, that because "OSHA has taken no public action on the rulemaking" since the close of the RFI comment period, and because it "moved the workplace-violence-prevention rulemaking to '[l]ong-[t]erm [a]ctions' [of the Unified Agenda]" after OMB had instructed the agency to implement Executive Order 13771, one can reasonably infer the Executive Order has delayed OSHA from acting. Dkt. 71 at 32. But, since the close of the RFI, OSHA has, in fact, moved the rule to the "pre-rule stage," and it has indicated that it will initiate the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act ("SBREFA") process in March of this year. Fall 2018 Agenda. Although almost a year has passed since the comment period for the RFI closed, the Court cannot conclude that Plaintiffs have established beyond genuine dispute that issuance of a proposed rule, much less a final rule, has been delayed by the Executive Order or the OMB Guidance. To the contrary, as the Court discussed in Public Citizen I , almost seven years passed from the time OSHA issued an RFI on infectious diseases to the time it planned to *88issue a proposed rule, and that far more substantial delay occurred before the Executive Order was adopted.
Plaintiffs face another hurdle as well. Even if Plaintiffs could show that any such delay has substantially increased the risk that one of their members will suffer a workplace injury and that, once that increased risk is taken into account, there is a substantial probability that such a member will suffer such an injury, see Pub. Citizen I ,
OSHA's workplace violence rule, accordingly, cannot establish Plaintiff's standing beyond material dispute.
(iv) Efficiency Standards for Cooking Products and Water Heaters
Finally, Plaintiffs contend that the Executive Order and OMB Guidance have delayed the Department of Energy from establishing two new energy-efficiency standards: one for residential cooking products and the other for water heaters. But, as explained below, Plaintiffs have again failed to demonstrate as a matter of undisputed material fact that either the Executive Order or OMB Guidance has delayed the finalization of these proposed rules.
The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975,
Plaintiffs identify two such required proceedings, which they contend have been unlawfully delayed by the Executive Order. First, Plaintiffs rely on a proposed rulemaking to set more stringent energy-efficiency standards for residential cooking products, such as residential ovens; and, second, they invoke a proposed rulemaking to set more stringent energy-efficiency standards for commercial water hearing equipment. See Dkt. 71 at 37; see also id="p89" href="#p89" data-label="89" data-citation-index="1" class="page-label">*89
The first of the relevant proceedings commenced in June 2015, when the Department of Energy published a notice proposing "new and amended energy conservation standards for residential conventional ovens," and, at the same time, deferring a decision whether to adopt new standards for "conventional cooking tops." Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Ovens,
Based on the current record, the Court cannot conclude that Plaintiffs have established beyond genuine dispute that the Executive Order or OMB Guidance has delayed the Department in finalizing the residential cooking products energy-efficiency rule. To be sure, the Department will be required by the Executive Order and OMB Guidance to find a cost offset. Final Guidance, Q & A 33. The Department's most recent annual cost estimate for the proposed rule of $ 42.6 million , 81 Fed. Reg. at 60789, however, is several orders of magnitude less than the $ 2.2 to $ 5 billion cost estimate for the V2V rule, Dkt. 67 at 22 (Second Am. Compl. ¶ 76), and it, accordingly, does not raise the immediate question how the Department could possibly find an adequate offset. But, even more significantly, Plaintiffs correctly note that the Energy Policy and Conservation Act requires the Department to issue a final rule within two years of its publication of a proposed rule. Dkt. 71 at 37 (citing
The second energy-efficiency standard that Plaintiffs invoke-the commercial water heater rule-raises similar questions that preclude the Court from granting partial summary judgment in Plaintiffs' favor. Administrative proceedings with respect to that rule commenced in May 2016, when the Department issued a notice proposing to adopt more stringent energy-efficiency "standards for certain commercial water heating equipment." Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Commercial Water Heating Equipment,
In October 2018, however, the Department received a petition requesting that it withdraw the proposed energy-efficiency standard on the ground that the proposed standard "would result in the unavailability of 'performance characteristics' within the meaning of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act," and, in early November, the Department published a notice seeking comments on the petition. See Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Residential Furnaces and Commercial Water Heaters, Notice of Petition for Rulemaking,
In light of this history, the Court cannot conclude that Plaintiffs have shown beyond genuine dispute that the Executive Order or OMB Guidance has delayed finalization of the proposed, amended standard. Although the Court need not-and cannot-resolve that factual issue on the present record, it appears that the delay is more likely the product of disagreement about the substance of the proposed rule. Moreover, as with the residential cooking products standard, Plaintiffs' contention that the Department was required by statute to issue a final rule in or before April 2018 does little to advance their position. As explained above, the OMB Guidance provides that such a statutory requirement must be observed, notwithstanding the Executive Order. It is, of course, possible that the Department is nonetheless reluctant to issue the final rule because its cost might prevent the Department from taking other, possibly higher priority actions. But that possibility, at this point, is both speculative and at odds with the evidence that the Department remains engaged in an effort to assess the proposed rule on the merits. In any event, the Court has no difficulty in concluding that Plaintiffs have *91failed to meet their burden on summary judgment of showing that the proposed rule has been delayed because of the Executive Order.
b. Organizational Standing
Plaintiffs also contend that they have organizational standing to sue in their own right. As they argued during the last round of briefing, Plaintiff contend that the Executive Order and OMB Guidance have put them to "an untenable choice"-either to urge agencies "to adopt new regulations, when adopting those regulations would depend on the repeal of existing regulatory safeguards" that they support, or to "refrain[ ] from advocating for new public protections to avoid triggering the need to repeal existing ones." Dkt. 71 at 46-47. According to Plaintiffs, this dilemma undermines their ability to pursue their respective missions of advocating for health and safety, consumer protection, the environment, and improved working conditions, and, as a result, the Executive Order and OMB Guidance are causing Plaintiffs a cognizable and redressable injury in fact.
The Court rejected this theory of standing in Public Citizen I for two reasons. First, assuming without deciding that "injury to 'pure issue-advocacy' can support standing," Pub. Citizen I ,
In renewing their advocacy-chill theory of standing, Plaintiffs candidly concede that they address only the first of the two problems identified in Public Citizen I. Dkt. 71 at 47. With respect to that shortcoming, they now offer the declaration of Mae Wu, a senior attorney with NRDC, attesting that the organization has "decided not to pursue a rulemaking petition to EPA specifically because of the Executive Order." Dkt. 64-13 at 2 (Wu Decl. ¶ 7). Specifically, she attests that "NRDC has decided not to petition EPA for new drinking water standards for contaminants including PFOA and PFOS, microcystins, *92and legionella" because, if "NRDC's petition were to succeed[,] EPA would have to repeal two or more existing regulations to offset costs, which would likely undermine other health protections and harm NRDC's members." Id. at 2-3 (Wu Decl. ¶ 7).
Little turns on the adequacy of this factual proffer, however, because the Court remains convinced that its alternative holding is both sound and sufficient.
* * *
The Court will, accordingly, deny Plaintiffs' motion for summary judgment.
3. Disposition
Having concluded that the government's facial motion to dismiss must be denied, and that Plaintiffs' cross-motion for partial summary judgment fails as well, the Court must address next steps.
This case currently sits in a liminal state. The Court, of course, cannot consider the merits of Plaintiffs' underlying claims without first concluding that it has jurisdiction. See Steel Co. ,
*93Obama v. Klayman ,
B. The States' Motion to Intervene as Plaintiffs
There is one additional matter that the Court must address. Plaintiffs are not alone in seeking to challenge the Executive Order and OMB Guidance. The states of California and Oregon have moved to intervene as of right under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a) or, in the alternative, for permissive intervention under Rule 24(b). Dkt. 73. According to the proposed intervenors, they "have unique interests in the health and well-being of their citizens, natural resources, infrastructure, institutions, and economies, among other things, and these interests cannot be adequately represented by the NGO Plaintiffs." Id. at 19. In support of their motion, the proposed intervenors have also filed a request for judicial notice of seven publications (in either full or excerpted form) "downloaded from the websites of California, Oregon, and the United States government agencies," Dkt. 81 at 5, which purportedly support their claim of standing. The government opposes the intervention, see Dkt. 77, but has not taken a position with respect to the request for judicial notice. The Court will therefore grant the request for judicial notice. But, because this Court's jurisdiction remains in doubt for the reasons discussed above, the Court must deny the States' motion to intervene as premature.
"The general rule is that '[i]ntervention presupposes the pendency of an action in a court of competent jurisdiction.' " Aeronautical Radio, Inc. v. F.C.C. ,
The threshold question posed by any motion to intervene, accordingly, is whether there is a case in which to intervene. See Ruiz v. Estelle ,
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Defendants' motion to dismiss, Dkt. 70, is hereby DENIED , and Plaintiffs' motion for partial summary judgment, Dkt. 71, is also DENIED . It is further ORDERED that the *94motion to take judicial notice, Dkt. 81, is GRANTED , and the motion for intervention, Dkt. 73, is DENIED without prejudice.
SO ORDERED .
Available at: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/pdf/eo13771/FINAL_TOPLINE_All_20171207.pdf.
Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/briefing-room/presidential-actions/related-omb-material/eo_iterim_guidance_reducing_regulations_controlling_regulatory_costs.pdf.
Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/omb/memoranda/2017/M-17-21-OMB.pdf.
The Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, issued in the spring and fall of each year, provides information on the status of "regulatory and deregulatory activities under development throughout the Federal Government." Office of Mgmt. & Budget, About the Unified Agenda , https://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/eAgenda/StaticContent/UA_About.jsp. As the Court explained in its prior opinion, see Pub. Citizen I ,
Available at: https://www.reginfo.gov/public/jsp/eAgenda/StaticContent/201810/Preamble_8888.html.
RIN: 2127-AL55
Available at: https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/v2v-statement.
Available at: https://media.cadillac.com/media/us/en/cadillac/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2017/mar/0309-v2v.html.
Available at: https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/toyota-lexus-v2v-v2i-dsrc-communication-2021.
The government also contends that purchaser standing requires that the purchaser suffer an independent, "legally cognizable injury" as a result of the lost opportunity to purchase a desired product-beyond the underlying deprivation of the good of his or her choice. Dkt. 70-1 at 28. But that argument cannot be reconciled with decisions like Consumer Federation of America ,
Under this Court's local rules, a party opposing a motion for summary judgment is required to submit a "concise statement of genuine issues setting forth all material facts as to which it is contended that there exists a genuine issue necessary to be litigated, which shall include references to the parts of the record relied on to support that statement." LRCP 7(h)(1). The Court, moreover, "may assume that facts identified by the moving party in its statement of facts are admitted, unless such a fact is controverted in the genuine issues filed in opposition to the motion."
The Court will not do so, however, for several reasons. First, the local rule says only that the court "may" treat an uncontroverted assertion of fact as undisputed, not that is "shall" do so. Second, the Court has an "independent obligation" to determine whether it has Article III jurisdiction, Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp. ,
Although the Court, accordingly, will not accept Plaintiffs' invitation to hold that the government has, in effect, defaulted on the question of causation, resolution of the standing issue will require that during the next phase of the proceeding the government more directly address Plaintiffs' factual contentions.
RIN: 2105-AE56
Available at: https://www.transportation.gov/regulations/significant-rulemaking-report-archive.
RIN: 1218-AD08
RIN: 1904-AD15
RIN: 1904-AD34
Although the Court need not address the issue here, the government argues that it "lack[s] information as to the truth or falsity of" whether the Executive Order has prevented NRDC from petitioning for new drinking water standards claim, "because Defendants have not yet been afforded the opportunity to conduct discovery into these allegations." Dkt. 75-1 at 15 (Def's Response to SUMF ¶ 36). A party seeking discovery at summary judgment, however, must "show[ ] by affidavit or declaration that, for specified reasons, it cannot present facts essential to justify its opposition." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(d). Although the government has presented a declaration laying out the need for discovery on a number of Plaintiffs' claims, the declaration makes no mention of the drinking water standard and NRDC's claims that the Executive Order has prevented it from petitioning the EPA. See Dkt. 75-2 (Second Bensing Decl.).
Available at: https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/epa-deregulatory-actions.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- PUBLIC CITIZEN, INC. v. Donald J. TRUMP, President of the United States
- Cited By
- 12 cases
- Status
- Published