Opinion ID: 6494575
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Proper Remedy is a Temporary Remand for Record Supplementation

Text: It has been said that an incomplete record is no more than a “fictional account of the actual decisionmaking process.” Home Box Office, Inc. v. FCC, 567 F.2d 9, 54 (D.C. Cir. 1977). Because the record in this case prevents this court from reviewing the propriety of the ex parte communications that transpired during the March 21, 2012 meeting, from determining whether Kilakila was deprived of due process, and from concluding whether to invalidate the ATST permit, this ease should be temporarily remanded to BLNR for record supplementation. See Portland Audubon Soc. v. Endangered Species Comm., 984 F.2d 1534, 1548-50 (9th Cir. 1993); Pub. Power Council v. Johnson, 674 F.2d 791, 794 (9th Cir. 1982); Prof'l Air Traffic Controllers Org. v. Fed. Labor Relations Auth. (PATCO v. FLRA I), 672 F.2d 109, 113 (D.C. Cir. 1982). Just as in Portland Audubon, the proper remedy is to order a temporary “remand for a ‘vigorous and thorough’ adversarial, evidentiary hearing,” with the aid of a specially appointed hearing officer, to determine what was said by the participants in the March 21, 2012 meeting, what roles each participant played and whether any of the participants acted as a representative of any of the parties, what influence, if any, the discussion may have had on Aila and his decisionmaking process, and whether any of the participants in the meeting exerted political pressure on Aila. See Home Box Office, Inc., 567 F.2d at 58-59 (quoting PATCO v. FLRA I, 672 F.2d at 113). The parties would be allowed to participate in the eviden-tiary hearing. Id, At the conclusion of the hearing, the hearing officer should prepare written findings of facts and conclusions of law to supplement the record in this case. Id. 15