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Texas, et al. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 18-10545 · judgment April 6, 2021

Certiorari denied · March 28, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–9%)

Before the decision, about 1.5× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a Fifth Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition).

Question presented

Q UESTI ONS PR ES ENT ED In 1981, Congress passed a statute requiring that reimbursement rates paid to managed-care organizations for managing state Medicaid plans be “actuarially sound.” In 2002, unable to give that term a prescriptive meaning, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services punted the question to a private group of actuaries. Because “actuarially sound” is not actually a term that actuaries use in their day-to-day practice, that group had no definition either. And that group did not adopt a binding definition to be applied to Medicaid capitation rates until 2015. That definition was then used to foist nearly $500 million of taxes under the Affordable Care Act onto Petitioner-States in only three years. The questions presented are:

  1. Whether an agency rule delegating rulemaking authority to a private entity violates the nondelegation doctrine.

  2. Whether the statute of limitations applicable to a challenge to an agency rule that delegates rulemaking authority to a private entity starts to run when the agency delegates the authority or when the private entity exercises the delegated authority. (I)

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Judd Edward Stone II
Texas Attorney General's Office

For respondent
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 9 conferences

Argument & decision

Decided March 28, 2022.

Proceedings

  1. Mar 28 2022
    Petition DENIED. Statement of Justice Alito, with whom Justice Thomas and Justice Gorsuch join, respecting the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
  2. Mar 21 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/25/2022.
  3. Mar 14 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/18/2022.
  4. Feb 28 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 3/4/2022.
  5. Feb 22 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/25/2022.
  6. Feb 11 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 2/18/2022.
  7. Jan 18 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/21/2022.
  8. Jan 10 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/14/2022.
  9. Jan 06 2022
    Rescheduled.
  10. Jan 03 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 1/7/2022.
  11. Dec 06 2021
    Rescheduled.
  12. Nov 23 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 12/10/2021.
  13. Nov 22 2021
    Reply of petitioners Texas, et al. filed. (Distributed)
    Main DocumentProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count
  14. Nov 08 2021
    Brief of respondents Commissioner of Internal Revenue, et al. in opposition filed.
    Proof of ServiceMain Document
  15. Sep 13 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including November 8, 2021.
  16. Sep 10 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from October 8, 2021 to November 8, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
    Main Document
  17. Sep 03 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due October 8, 2021)
    PetitionProof of ServiceCertificate of Word Count