Opinion ID: 807353
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure to Reply to Comments

Text: Although it is difficult to take issue with any part of the majority’s catechism on the agency’s refusal to respond to thousands of comments, the whole seems somewhat problematic. Obviously, the opportunity to comment is meaningless unless the agency responds substantively to significant points raised by the public. But the law of this Circuit is clear: an agency is only required to respond to comments if, for example, it can be established that the comment is “relevant to the agency’s decision and which, if adopted, would require a change in [the] agency’s proposed rule, Home Box Office, Inc. v. FCC, 567 F.2d 9, 35 n. 58 (D.C. Cir. 1977), or that a failure to respond would “demonstrate[] that the agency’s decision was not based on a consideration of the relevant factors,” Covad Commc’ns Co. v. FCC, 450 F.2d 186, 197 (D.C. Cir. 1993). In applying this test, however, the majority defines “relevance” as coextensive with the President’s Executive Order and does so without imposing any clear limits on an agency’s ability to ignore comments that contravene the executive’s policy goals. I fear that without such boundaries there remains the distinct possibility that the executive power will expand at the expense of the APA’s regulatory scheme and judicial review will be reduced to rubberstamping preordained results. 7 When the dust settles and the votes are tallied, a majority of this panel supports two seemingly conflicting positions: (1) that law of the case doctrine prevents us from reconsidering the earlier ruling that applied Chevron and (2) that Chevron does not apply. Thus, the majority opinion stands only for the proposition that the earlier result need not be overturned—not that the decision was correct in all respects. 7 Clearly, if the Dickey-Wicker Amendment’s prohibition was unambiguous, NIH could not ignore an entire class of interpretive views because a broad reading of “research” would run counter to the executive’s agenda. Similarly, I do not think the agency could attempt to implement an expansive program Congress had explicitly rejected by deeming challenges to its authority irrelevant. But this is not the case here. As an initial matter, the comments Appellants argue were wrongfully ignored focus not on the text of DickeyWicker or the question of legislative authorization, but on the Executive Order’s (and the Guidelines’) requirement that only “responsible” and “scientifically worthy” research should be eligible for funding. Appellant Br. at 45. This is fundamentally a policy question and we must respect the Executive’s ability to reasonably define the contours of the proposed rulemaking. Nor is there a conflict between branches in NIH’s decision to couch their rejection in more absolute terms, i.e., declaring all comments “advocating a blanket ban on all funding for hESC research . . . not relevant.’” See Joint App’x at 479–80. The NIH cannot be said to have acted arbitrarily and capriciously by refusing to re-open a debate that, as a practical matter, has been foreclosed for more than a decade. Because I ultimately reach the same result, I thus concur with the majority’s conclusion and leave the more technical questions of Executive Orders and deference for a later day. The challenging—and constantly evolving—issues presented by bioethics are critical and complex. Striking the right balance is not easy and not, in the first instance, a task for judges. What must be defended is “the integrity of science, the legitimacy of government, and the continuing vitality” of concepts like human dignity. 8 Given the weighty interests at 8 Snead, supra n. 3, at 1604. 8 stake in this encounter between science and ethics, relying on an increasingly Delphic, decade-old single paragraph rider on an appropriations bill hardly seems adequate.