Kisor v. Wilkie [SCOTUSbrief]
Short video featuring Adam White
In 2006, Vietnam veteran James Kisor appealed the denial of his disability benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Their disagreement stems from differing definitions of the term “relevant” as used in regulations which are created, interpreted, and enforced by the VA.
Should the courts defer to agencies’ interpretations of their own regulations? Adam White of the Hoover Institute and the Antonin Scalia Law School analyzes the past, present, and future of Auer deference in Kisor v. Wilkie. Oral argument is March 27, 2019.
As always, the Federalist Society takes no particular legal or public policy positions. All opinions expressed are those of the speaker.
Learn more about Adam White:
https://www.hoover.org/profiles/adam-j-white
https://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/directory/fulltime/white_adam
Related Links & Differing Views:
The George Washington Law Review: “Kisor v. WIlkie”
https://www.gwlr.org/on-the-docket/kisor-v-wilkie/
Yale Journal on Regulation: “Why the Supreme Court Might Overrule Seminole Rock”
http://yalejreg.com/nc/why-the-supreme-court-might-overrule-seminole-rock/
SCOTUSblog: “Symposium before the oral argument in Kisor v. Wilkie”
https://www.scotusblog.com/category/special-features/symposia-before-oral-arguments-of-october-term-2018/symposium-before-the-oral-argument-in-kisor-v-wilkie/
Reuters: “Everybody hates Auer: Supreme Court challenge to agency deference draws 25 amicus briefs”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-otc-auer/everybody-hates-auer-supreme-court-challenge-to-agency-deference-draws-25-amicus-briefs-idUSKCN1PQ5TZ
Yale Law & Policy Review: “The Uneasy Case Against Auer and Seminole Rock”
https://ylpr.yale.edu/uneasy-case-against-auer-and-seminole-rock
Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance, American Enterprise Institute; Executive Director, Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Adam J. White is the Laurence H. Silberman Chair in Constitutional Governance and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on the Supreme Court and the administrative state. He also directs the Antonin Scalia Law School’s C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State.
He writes on regulation and constitutional government for a variety of publications. He practiced law in Washington, D.C., after clerking for the D.C. Circuit's Judge David Sentelle. He also has been chairman of the ABA's Administrative Law Section.
In 2021, he served on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, where he criticized “Court packing” and other efforts to restructure the Supreme Court.