Dismas Charities, Inc. v. United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons

401 F.3d 666 (2005)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
D
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Dismas Charities, Inc. v. United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons

United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
401 F.3d 666 (2005)

  • Written by Jack Newell, JD

Facts

Dismas Charities (Dismas) (plaintiff) was a nonprofit that ran community correction centers (CCCs), which acted as alternative prisons with a focus on helping inmates reintegrate into society. Dismas serviced both front-end placements, prisoners who had short sentences, and back-end placements, prisoners who were nearing the end of longer sentences. The Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons (BOP) was responsible for deciding where prisoners would be incarcerated. The BOP Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) reinterpreted the statutes that gave the BOP authority to place prisoners. Based on the reinterpretation, the OLC said the applicable law allowed a prisoner to be in a CCC only for the lesser of 6 months or 10 percent of their sentence. This change cost Dismas over $1 million in revenue. Dismas sued in federal district court, claiming that the rule was invalid because there had been no notice-and-comment period as required by the Administrative Procedure Act. The BOP claimed that it had merely released an interpretive rule rather than promulgating a substantive rule, meaning that the notice-and-comment period was not required. The district court dismissed Dismas’s case. Dismas appealed to the Sixth Circuit.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Rogers, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 811,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 811,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Administrative Law

Key Terms