Before Biden took office in January 2021, there was in place a comprehensive system of advisory boards whose activities were extensively regulated by the Federal Advisory Committees Act (FACA), whose main objective was to secure for government the benefits of “independent judgment” that was not “inappropriately influenced by the appointing authority.” The members of these Boards of Visitors (BOVs) had no executive power, only the ability to advise the respective branches of government and the public at large. I was the lawyer who led the constitutional challenge to this flatly unconstitutional conduct, where our petition was turned down in the Court of Appeals on the dubious ground that the proceedings below had run out the clock, so the court held the case moot. However, because of a key exception to the rule, Roe v. Wade (1973) held that the mootness doctrine, in famous words ignored by the DC Circuit, never blocks hearing any case “capable of repetition, yet evading review.” Stirrup was the perfect vehicle to correct manifest injustice, because the only issue before the court was a pure question of law, which could have been decided on the merits to resolve the legal uncertainty.
Author: November 12, 2024
Published at: 2024-11-12 00:00:00
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