Opinion ID: 200353
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether a Lawful Regulation Existed

Text: 9 The defendants argue that a lawful regulation did not exist at the time they were arrested because the rule establishing the temporary security zone had not yet been published, assertedly in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. §§ 500-596. 2 10 Notice of a proposed rule, opportunity for public comment, and publication of the final rule are central tenets of the rule making process outlined by section 553 of the APA. See 5 U.S.C. § 553(b) & (d). Nevertheless, rules involving a military or foreign affairs function of the federal government are exempted. Id. § 553(a)(1). The defendants contend that creation of the rule here, regardless of its purpose of setting aside an area for military activity, was a civilian rather than a military function. They reason, without citing authority, that a rule regulating civilians fulfills a civilian, not a military, function. 11 Here, the rule created a temporary security zone comprised of a combined area of ocean and land adjacent to a bombing range at a military installation. A rule designed to render safe and feasible the performance of a military function by preventing interference on the part of civilians necessarily serves a military function as well as a civilian one. Specifying a security zone seems to us no less directly related to military action than identifying targets or establishing the time for artillery exercises. 3 Thus, the proposed zone was well within the concept of military function. 12 The defendants also contend that even if the military function exception saves the rule from having violated section 553, it failed to hurdle the publication requirement of section 552, which was not, they assert, subject to the exception. Because the rule was not published until after its implementation, the defendants contend that section 552 was violated. 13 Regardless of whether the military function exception applies to section 552, however, there was no inconsistency with that provision because it also provides a role for actual notice. Section 552(a)(1) contemplates that actual notice may at times supercede constructive notice through publication, explaining that [e]xcept to the extent that a person has actual and timely notice of the terms thereof, a person may not in any manner be required to resort to, or be adversely affected by, a matter required to be published in the Federal Register and not so published. See also United States v. Mowat, 582 F.2d 1194, 1201 n. 5 (9th Cir.1978) (By virtue of [section 552(a)(1)'s actual notice] provision, regulations that are unpublished in violation of the [APA] are unlawful only as against those who have no actual and timely knowledge of their contents.). 4 14 Because the rule's promulgation did not violate the APA, the fact that the rule was not published until after the defendants' arrest for violating the temporary security zone does not disabuse the rule of its status as a lawful regulation.