Opinion ID: 406392
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Political Impropriety

Text: 28 TXO vigorously contends that the Secretary's action was the result of improper political pressure on the part of several Senators. The district court termed the role of the Senators  'regrettable and quite inconsistent with that due regard for the independence of the (Secretary) which Congress and the courts must maintain,'  498 F.Supp. at 677 (quoting American Public Gas Association v. FPC, 567 F.2d 1016, 1070 (D.C.Cir.1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 907, 98 S.Ct. 1456, 55 L.Ed.2d 499 (1978)). The court declined to conclude, however, that the Secretary's action was so improper that a reversal was required on that ground alone. We need not decide for ourselves whether the Secretary's capitulation to political pressure would require us to overturn his actions, because we have found a separate ground for reversal. We note, however, that while the frequent and forceful communications by several Senators amounted to pressure in a general sense and indeed may be regarded as regrettable, they did not contain anything like the sort of threats that this court has suggested could serve as evidence of improper motivation for an agency's action. See D.C. Federation of Civic Associations v. Volpe, 459 F.2d 1231, 1245-48 (1971), cert. denied, 405 U.S. 1030, 92 S.Ct. 1290, 31 L.Ed.2d 489 (1972).