ELR Citation: 53 ELR 20012
No(s). 21-1317 (10th Cir. Jan 10, 2023)

The Tenth Circuit upheld a joint resolution passed by Congress and signed by President Trump that disapproved the Stream Protection Rule, which was adopted by DOI under the Obama Administration. Nonprofit groups argued that the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which Congress used to repeal the rule, was unconstitutional, and thus that the rule was valid and enforceable. A district court dismissed the suit. On appeal, the groups asserted the CRA was facially unconstitutional on separation of powers, equal protection, and substantive due process grounds. The appellate court disagreed, finding that a disapproval resolution adopted under the CRA is enacted by a majority of both houses of Congress and signed by the president, complying with the fundamental constitutional requirements of bicameralism and presentment; that the groups failed to show a "class of persons" the CRA discriminated against for purposes of their equal protection claim; and that there was no substance to their substantive due process challenge. It affirmed dismissal.