Court Opinion

ID: 8407961
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-11-02 16:37:33.155579+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:47:31.669667
License: Public Domain

KOZINSKI, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
I am not persuaded that this case presents a live controversy any longer. After notice and comment, the DEA has promulgated a regulation construing Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U.S.C. § 812(c), Schedule I(c)(17), as including both natural and synthetic THC. See 68 Fed.Reg. 14,114 (March 21, 2003). Plaintiffs concede that, so long as this regulation remains in force, the agency’s interpretive rule makes no difference. The new regulation has thus “eradicated the effects” of the interpretive rule and mooted the controversy surrounding it. County of Los Angeles v. Davis, 440 U.S. 625, 631, 99 S.Ct. 1379, 59 L.Ed.2d 642 (1979).
My colleagues reach the contrary conclusion because “[e]ven if the new rule were found to be improper in the new appeal, plaintiffs would still face the possibility that the DEA might attempt to enforce the putative interpretive rule at issue here.” Majority op. at 1085, n. 3. This chain of reasoning relies on far too many subjunctives, “possibilities” and “mights” for a live controversy. We must review a legislative regulation with great deference to the agency’s institutional competence and expertise. See Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837, 865, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). The most likely outcome of the new challenge, therefore, is that we will uphold the regulation. Even if we do not, our opinion striking it down will almost certainly alter the relevant legal landscape, superceding whatever force the interpretive rule may have had. Because the opinion we issue today is gratuitous, I am unable to sign on to it.