My newest Coale Mind podcast episode looks forward to this fall, when the Supreme Court will consider two decisions by the en banc (full) U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, the federal appellate court for Texas. In the first, California … Continue reading →

The ground rules for the administrative state are few, important, and vexingly difficult to apply. The en banc court confronted the structure of Fannie Mae’s regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, in Collins v. Mnuchin, 938 F.3d 553 (5th Cir. … Continue reading →

The full Fifth Circuit engaged the boundaries of the administrative state in Collins v. Mnuchin. A 9-7 majority of the en banc Court found that the FHFA (the regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) was structured unconstitutionally; a different … Continue reading →

In a remarkable letter last month, some months after an en banc argument, the federal agency at issue in the high-profile case of Collins v. Mnuchin has decided that it is in fact constitutional. The plaintiffs responded that this position shift … Continue reading →

The fractured panel in Collins v. Mnuchin, which addressed the legality of “sweeps” of funds from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by their regulator, led to a fascinating en banc argument today in New Orleans as the Court reviewed fundamental administrative-law issues.

2018 has offered several close votes about en banc review, often showing the importance of the new Trump appointees to the overall makup of the Fifth Circuit. The Court recently voted to rehear en banc the case of Collins v. … Continue reading →

A difficult question of administrative law produced a divided panel in Collins v. Mnuchin. The panel majority concluded that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (a regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac created by Congress in the wake of the … Continue reading →