Opinion ID: 186508
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: 9 Under 49 U.S.C. § 41307, the Secretary of Transportation was required to submit his order to the President for review as a decision [to] . . . amend . . . a permit . . . authorizing a foreign air carrier. . . to provide foreign air transportation. Under that section: 10 The President may disapprove the decision of the Secretary only if the reason for disapproval is based on foreign relations or national defense considerations that are under the jurisdiction of the President. The President may not disapprove. . . if the reason is economic.... A decision of the Secretary — 11 . . . 12 (2)(A) takes effect as a decision of the Secretary if the President does not disapprove the decision not later than 60 days after the decision is submitted to the President; and (B) when effective, may be reviewed judicially under section 46110. . . . 13 Section 46110 makes reviewable in this court any order of the Department of Transportation [e]xcept for an order related to a foreign air carrier subject to disapproval by the President under section 41307. 14 The DoT argues its order to Aerolineas comes within the exception in § 46110 and is therefore unreviewable. Aerolineas responds as follows: (1) The DoT's decision was economic, and because the President may not disapprove `economic' decisions the order was not subject to disapproval by the President; and (2) even if the order was initially subject to disapproval by the President, because he did not disapprove it within the 60 days provided therefor, and the order has since take[n] effect as a decision of the Secretary that is no longer subject to presidential disapproval, it is now subject to judicial review. 15 Aerolineas' first argument is really a conclusion, for which it offers no support whatsoever. We reject it in kind. 16 Aerolineas' second argument gains traction from South African Airways v. Dole, 817 F.2d 119, 123 (D.C.Cir.1987), in which we considered the predecessor to § 46110, and concluded that if a DOT action is not disapproved [by the President, then] it `shall take effect as [an] action of [the DoT], not of the President, and as such shall be subject to judicial review as provided in section 1486 of this Appendix.' 49 U.S.C. app. § 1461(a) (1982). 17 The DoT points out that § 1486 differed from the current § 46110 in that it excepted from judicial review any order relating to a foreign air carrier subject to the approval — not the disapproval — of the President; the order at issue in that case was by statute made subject only to the disapproval of the President, and we therefore concluded it was not within the exception to judicial review. 817 F.2d at 122. Because the order under review in this case was subject to the disapproval of the President, pursuant to the exception in § 46110, the DoT argues the result in this case should be different. The DoT fails to appreciate, however, that in the prior case we went on to explain that even if we were to equate `subject to approval' with `subject to disapproval,' — that is, even if the exception to reviewability in § 1486 were the same as the exception in § 46110 —the order would still be reviewable. Id. That leaves the DoT with no basis upon which to distinguish South African Airways. 18 We now make explicit what was necessarily implicit in South African Airways, namely, that § 46110 does not permanently preclude judicial review of an order relat[ing] to a foreign air carrier merely because the order was initially subject to disapproval by the President. When an order is no longer subject to disapproval by the President, there is no longer any reason to shield it from judicial scrutiny, or so the Congress apparently concluded. Here, the order was submitted for the President's review on November 19, 2003, and on November 25 the President's designee  notified the DoT that he did not intend to disapprove it. Even absent such notification, 60 days after the decision is submitted to the President or his designee, if not disapproved the order takes effect as a decision of the Secretary and, when effective, may be reviewed judicially under section 46110. 49 U.S.C. § 41307(2)(A) & (B). 19 If the Congress had intended permanently to shield from judicial review all orders initially subject to disapproval by the President, then it would have said so. The more natural meaning of the phrase subject to disapproval is as a temporal limitation; a court may not review an order relating to a foreign air carrier as long as that order is subject to disapproval by the President. The lack of presidential disapproval, however, indicates only that the order is not harmful to the foreign relations or defense of the Nation. We should not lightly presume the Congress intended to grant the DoT an unreviewable discretion to engage in otherwise noxious decisionmaking. See Steenholdt v. FAA, 314 F.3d 633, 638 (D.C.Cir.2003) (noting the strong presumption of review-ability under the [APA]). Accordingly, as we held in South African Airways, if a DOT action is not disapproved, it . . . shall be subject to judicial review pursuant to the APA. 817 F.2d at 123.