Opinion ID: 2757983
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: introduction

Text: This appeal is concerned with the ripeness doctrine, a constitutional mandate derived from Article III’s requirement that federal courts hear only cases or controversies. U.S. Const., Art. III, § 2. The doctrine assists courts in avoiding the need to address speculative cases, in deferring to administrators with subject matter expertise, and in deciding cases on the basis of fully-developed records. The Supreme Court has explained that the question of whether a controversy is “ripe” for judicial resolution has two aspects that require a court to evaluate both the fitness of the issues for judicial decision and the possible hardship to the parties if it withholds consideration of a case presented to it. To some extent these inquiries require a court to exercise judgment, rather than to apply a black-letter rule. Abbott Labs. v. Gardner, 387 U.S. 136, 148–49, 87 S.Ct. 1507, 1515 (1967). In this case involving rules applying to the admission of certain foreign workers into the United States for temporary employment, we are mindful of the foregoing considerations and give due regard to the expertise exercised by the Department of Labor (“DOL”), the implicated agency principally involved in this case, and the historical shifts and political compromises underlying the DOL’s adoption of the rules at issue. Furthermore, in view of the subject matter of this litigation, we are concerned with the congressional policy to protect American workers from a depression of their wages attributable to the entry of foreign workers into the domestic labor market. Plaintiffs appeal from an order of the District Court dismissing their challenge to 20 C.F.R. § 655.10(f), a DOL 4 regulation applicable in the administration of the H-2B visa program that authorizes the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) to admit certain unskilled foreign workers into this country for temporary employment. On this appeal, we are concerned with an aspect of the H-2B program, the 2009 Wage Guidance, which authorizes employers to use privately-funded wage surveys to set the prevailing market wage for certain occupations. The Court at the outset of its consideration of the case invoked the ripeness doctrine when it made a determination that the matter was not at that time justiciable and, accordingly, the Court would not consider the merits of plaintiffs’ challenge to the regulation. Comité de Apoyo a Los Trabajadores Agricolas v. Perez, No. 14-2657, 2014 WL 4100708 (E.D. Pa. July 23, 2014) (CATA III). We determine that this case is ripe for judicial review, render judgment for plaintiffs, and hold that 20 C.F.R. § 655.10(f) and the 2009 Wage Guidance are arbitrary and capricious and in violation of the APA. We order vacatur of 20 C.F.R. § 655.10(f) and the 2009 Wage Guidance.1