Litigation

The Rule of Pelican

By Carter Wood

Washington Post editorial eminence Ruth Marcus is aghast at U.S. District Court Martin Feldman blocking the Administration's six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling as arbitrary and capricious. She writes in a brief "PostPartisan" entry today, "Judicial activism in the deepwater drilling decision":

As the Supreme Court has explained, and Feldman quoted in his ruling, "an agency rule would be arbitrary and capricious if the agency has relied on factors which Congress has not intended it to consider, entirely failed to consider an important aspect of the problem, offered an explanation for its decision that runs counter to the evidence before the agency, or is so implausible that it could not be ascribed to a difference in view or the product of agency expertise."

So, you might ask, in the context of the Gulf disaster and the moratorium: Has Judge Feldman seen pictures of those pelicans?

Feldman on Thursday refused the Administration's request to temporarily lift his stay.

Left-wing activists have been denouncing and even calling for the impeachment of Feldman, claiming he should have recused himself. Louisiana broadcaster and political commentator Jeff Crouere rebuts the claims, which are based on outdated information about Feldman's holdings. In "Judge Faces Death Threats After BP Gulf Oil Drilling Moratorium Ruling," Crouere reports that Feldman is being accompanied by a federal marshal security team after receiving threats.

Full post as published by Point of Law on June 25, 2010 (boomark / email).