Department of Transportation v. Association of American Railroads

Case Updates

The Supreme Court unanimously reversed the D.C. Circuit’s judgment that Congress, in the Amtrak Reform Act of 2008, had unconstitutionally delegated governmental authority to Amtrak on the ground that Amtrak is a private corporation.

In its brief, the U.S. Chamber argued that the Supreme Court should affirm the decision of the D.C. Circuit that invalidates Section 207 of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 as an unconstitutional delegation of authority. The Chamber reasoned that the Constitution establishes important restraints on the power of Congress to delegate rulemaking power to private parties and that eliminating the Government’s exclusive ability to impose final rules or to disapprove or modify privately developed rules transgresses these important limits. The brief contends also that Section 207’s delegation of authority to Amtrak threatens the efficiency of freight-rail service, and therefore could impose significant costs to companies and consumers that rely on freight rail.

C. Frederick Beckner III, Jonathan F. Cohn, and Joshua J. Fougere of Sidley Austin LLP represented the U.S. Chamber as co-counsel to the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.