Latest 2 Cases: Lisnitzer v. Zucker (Government & Administrative Law), Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, ...

The Twenty-Sixth Amendment and the Real Rigging of Georgia’s Election

VIKRAM DAVID AMAR

Illinois law dean Vikram David Amar explains why Georgia’s law allowing persons 75 years and older to get absentee ballots for all elections in an election cycle with a single request, while requiring younger voters to request absentee ballots separately for each election, is a clear violation of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment. Dean Amar acknowledges that timing may prevent this age discrimination from being redressed in 2020, but he calls upon legislatures and courts to understand the meaning of this amendment and prevent such invidious disparate treatment of voters in future years.

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COVID Comes to Federal Death Row—It Is Time to Stop the Madness

AUSTIN SARAT

Austin Sarat—Associate Provost and Associate Dean of the Faculty and William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence & Political Science at Amherst College—explains the enhanced risk of COVID-19 infection in the federal death row in Terre Haute, not only among inmates but among those necessary to carry out executions. Professor Sarat calls upon the Trump administration and other officials to focus on saving, rather than taking, lives inside and outside prison.

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Lisnitzer v. Zucker

Docket: 19-470

Opinion Date: December 23, 2020

Judge: Guido Calabresi

Areas of Law: Government & Administrative Law, Health Law

Defendants appealed the district court's judgment certifying a plaintiff class and enjoining state defendants from conducting Medicaid fair hearings in a manner that does not result in final determinations of Medicaid eligibility within 90 days of hearing requests. At issue is the phrase "final administrative action" in the context of a federal Medicaid regulation that requires a state agency to take such action within a specified time limit following a Medicaid applicant's request for a fair hearing. 42 C.F.R. 431.244(f). The Second Circuit held that the federal regulatory requirement of "final administrative action" within 90 days requires the state to determine Medicaid eligibility within that time. However, the court explained that such determinations may be made in hearing decisions or on remand to local agencies. Therefore, the regulation mandates that states meet the applicable deadline, but it does not limit states as to the administrative level at which that deadline is met. The court affirmed in part and remanded for further proceedings.

Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund v. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Docket: 19-3438

Opinion Date: December 23, 2020

Judge: Menashi

Areas of Law: Government & Administrative Law

Everytown sought disclosure pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) of certain data stored in the FTS database maintained by the ATF. The ATF denied Everytown's FOIA request on the grounds that appropriations riders known as the Tiahrt Riders exempt FTS data from FOIA disclosure, and properly responding to Everytown's FOIA request would require the ATF to create records. The district court granted summary judgment for Everytown. The Second Circuit reversed, holding that a prior statute cannot prevent a later-enacted statute from having effect. The court explained that if the plain import or fair implication of the 2012 Tiahrt Rider is to exempt FTS data from FOIA disclosure, the statute must be given effect even if it does not meet the requirements of the OPEN FOIA Act. In light of the statutory text and history, the court concluded that the 2012 Tiahrt Rider exempts FTS data from FOIA disclosure and that the exemption applies to the data Everytown seeks. Consequently, the court need not address whether Everytown's FOIA request required the ATF to create records. The court remanded with instructions to enter judgment for the ATF.