Opinion ID: 682487
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Resolving This Appeal.

Text: 39 When Ghattas filed his ten-day response to the FNS charge letter, he protested his (A & M's) innocence but did not specifically urge that a monetary penalty be imposed in lieu of permanent disqualification should this defense be rejected. Based upon that mistake under the Secretary's procedural regulations, the FNS' initial decision-makers, the FNS food stamp review officer, and the district court have refused to consider Ghattas's subsequent contention that he is an innocent store owner who warrants a lesser sanction under the 1988 and 1990 amendments. By these rulings, the agency has improperly applied its procedural regulations to abdicate its responsibility to exercise the discretion Congress has delegated. See Oberstar v. Federal Deposit Ins. Corp., 987 F.2d 494, 504-05 (8th Cir.1993); Dalton v. United States, 816 F.2d. 971 (4th Cir.1987) (Secretary may not by internal memorandum decline to exercise monetary penalty discretion). And the district court has failed to review de novo that aspect of this informal agency action which is most essential to ensuring, in the words of Congress, that the punishment will more closely fit the crime. 40 For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is reversed and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. The district court will have discretion on remand, at the Secretary's request, to remand the case for further administrative proceedings addressing the alternative monetary sanction issue. If the case is not remanded to the agency, the district court will proceed to consider the alternative sanction issue de novo. With the statute and regulations construed in this fashion, Ghattas's contention that A & M's permanent disqualification violates his due process rights is without merit. See McGlory v. United States, 763 F.2d 309, 312 (7th Cir.1985); Cross, 512 F.2d at 1217-18.