Opinion ID: 538360
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Controlling Effect of Bowen

Text: 17 Two months after the agency denied GM's second petition, the Supreme Court addressed retroactive rulemaking in Bowen v. Georgetown University Hospital, 488 U.S. 204, 109 S.Ct. 468, 102 L.Ed.2d 493 (1988). The Court held that a grant of legislative rulemaking authority will not be understood to encompass the power to promulgate retroactive rules unless that power is conveyed in express terms. 109 S.Ct. at 471. On appeal, NHTSA argues that beyond the independent validity of its petition denials, any retroactive amendment of the CAFE standards is barred by the Bowen decision. 18 We do not find Bowen controlling. While Bowen does create a presumption of statutory construction against retroactive rulemaking, it does not establish an absolute prohibition against such rulemaking. Bowen, nevertheless, does send a clear signal that agencies and courts must find congressional authorization for retroactive rulemaking in the particular law they are construing. Because NHTSA's decision not to initiate retroactive rulemaking was based on a reasonable construction of its statutory authority, however, we need not speculate whether the agency could have interpreted EPCA, consistently with Bowen, to authorize retroactive rulemaking. See Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984).