The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals invoked a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to invalidate a decision by a federal mine safety administrative law judge.
The case involved penalties against a Tennessee-based construction company over work done as part of a highway repair project. The Sixth Circuit’s opinion, issued July 31, said the Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission judge didn’t have authority to issue a decision upholding those penalties because the judge wasn’t appointed by the president, a court, or the head of a department.
The court cited as its rationale Lucia v. SEC, a ...