Natural Resources Defense Council v. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) (defendant) delayed the promulgation of a final rule that imposed civil penalties on automobile manufacturers for failing to meet corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards three times. Then, the NHTSA published a final rule, referred to as the suspension rule, which delayed the civil-penalties rule indefinitely. The civil-penalties rule was promulgated to satisfy a directive of the Improvements Act. The suspension rule was promulgated in response to a memo from the president’s chief of staff instructing regulatory agencies to postpone the effective date of any regulations from the previous administration that were published but not yet in effect. The NHTSA argued it was proper to disregard the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) notice-and-comment requirements and to delay the civil-penalties rule indefinitely because the NHTSA anticipated receiving comments on a separate rule that it had published at the same time as the suspension rule and that would relate to CAFE penalties. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) (plaintiff) challenged in district court the suspension rule and the delay in making the civil-penalties rule effective as unlawful violations of the APA’s notice-and-comment requirements. The district court found in favor of the NHTSA. The NRDC appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.