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Allstates Refractory Contractors, LLC v. Julie A. Su, Acting Secretary of Labor, et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 22-3772 · judgment August 23, 2023


Certiorari denied · July 2, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–10%)

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

Question presented

Congress gave the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) the power to write permanent safety standards for virtually every business in America. Both the majority and dissent below agreed that this rulemaking authority, which imposes billions of dollars of costs each year, tasks OSHA with resolving “important choices of social policy.” Indus. Union Dep’t v. Am. Petroleum Inst., 448 U.S. 607, 685 (1980) (Rehnquist, J., concurring in the judgment). The government has never contended otherwise. And the sole statutory limit on this sweeping power over major policy questions is that these standards must, in OSHA’s view, be “reasonably necessary or appropriate” for a “safe” workplace. 29 U.S.C. §§ 652(8), 655(b). The question presented is: Whether Congress’s delegation of authority to write “reasonably necessary or appropriate” workplace-safety standards violates Article I of the U.S. Constitution.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Brett A. Shumate
Jones Day

For respondent
Elizabeth B. Prelogar
Solicitor General

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 5 conferences

Amicus briefs
8 cert-stage

Argument & decision

Decided July 2, 2024.

Proceedings

  1. Jul 02 2024
    Petition DENIED. Justice Gorsuch would grant the petition for a writ of certiorari. Justice Thomas, dissenting from the denial of certiorari. (Detached Opinion)
  2. Jun 28 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 7/1/2024.
  3. Jun 17 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/20/2024.
  4. Jun 11 2024
    Rescheduled.
  5. Jun 10 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/13/2024.
  6. Jun 04 2024
    Rescheduled.
  7. Jun 03 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/6/2024.
  8. May 29 2024
    Rescheduled.
  9. May 14 2024
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/30/2024.
  10. May 10 2024
    Reply of petitioner Allstates Refractory Contractors, LLC filed. (Distributed)
  11. May 01 2024
    Brief of respondents Julie A. Su, Acting Secretary of Labor, et al. in opposition filed.
  12. Apr 01 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is further extended to and including May 1, 2024.
  13. Mar 29 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 1, 2024 to May 1, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
  14. Feb 29 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of Pacific Legal Foundation filed.
  15. Feb 29 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of New Civil Liberties Alliance filed.
  16. Feb 29 2024
    Brief amici curiae of West Virginia, 22 Other States, and the Arizona Legislature filed.
  17. Feb 29 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of Cato Institute filed.
  18. Feb 29 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of Southeastern Legal Foundation filed.
  19. Feb 29 2024
    Brief amici curiae of The Buckeye Institute and the Manhattan Institute filed.
  20. Feb 28 2024
    Brief amici curiae of American Farm Bureau Federation, et al. filed.
  21. Feb 23 2024
    Brief amicus curiae of Americans for Prosperity Foundation filed.
  22. Feb 06 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including April 1, 2024.
  23. Feb 05 2024
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 29, 2024 to April 1, 2024, submitted to The Clerk.
  24. Jan 26 2024
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 29, 2024)