Last week I wrote about what I thought would be a summer SCOTUS decision regarding Amtrak. The case was decided today.
SCOTUS voted 9-0 to vacate and remand. I actually expected this, but didn’t expect the 9-0 vote. If you recall, in 2013 the DC Circuit declared Amtrak was a private entity and that the non-delegation doctrine had been violated. SCOTUS has said otherwise, that Amtrak is indeed an arm of the government, and they’ve sent the case back to the circuit court to reconsider, as there are several unresolved issues.
We’ll see what happens.
Full decision is here. I highly recommend reading it, especially Alito's concurrance.
What's At Stake
Amtrak is not yet out of danger. While all 9 Justices agreed that Amtrak was not a private corporation as the D.C. Circuit Court decided but is indeed part of the Government, several raised issue with how Amtrak is structured, whether Amtrak has the right to set all standards for the entire rail industry passenger or otherwise, and whether the 2008 PRIIA's arrangements for selecting an arbitrator in settling disputes between the frieght industry and Amtrak violates the Constitution via "Congress giving away its delegation authority." Alito seemed rather focused on that. His concurrance spent several pages parsing what Congress meant by arbitrator when it passed the PRIIA back in 2008.
Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSBlog writes:
In 2008, Congress had heard many complaints that passenger trains were running late, and concluded that the regular railroads were the obstacle keeping Amtrak trains from keeping to their schedules. In that year, Congress passed a new law, setting up a complex system in which Amtrak and regular government agencies carrying out transportation policy would set standards for Amtrak’s use of the tracks and other facilities in the industry.
The trade association of the freight railroads — the Association of American Railroads — went to court to challenge that system. It made several constitutional arguments, but the key one was that Amtrak as a private entity could not be given government-like powers to regulate the industry. A federal appeals court agreed, striking down the key parts of the 2008 law after ruling that Amtrak is a private entity.
On Monday, the Supreme Court disagreed on that basic point, ruling that Amtrak is a part of the government. But it then sent the case back to the appeals court to review several remaining constitutional issues over whether Amtrak can exercise some or all of the powers that Congress gave it in 2008.
I'll have a followup on this hopefully later in the week, along with an analysis of the Amtrak reauthorization bill that's currently in the Senate.