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Justices Press Limits on Who May Challenge NRC Licenses; Debate Centers on Hobbs Act and Intervention
Summary
At oral arguments in NRC v. Texas, the Supreme Court fielded competing views on whether Texas and private groups were proper "parties" under the Hobbs Act for challenging Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing decisions and whether prior agency and court rulings preclude later collateral challenges.
The Supreme Court heard arguments over whether Texas and private intervenor groups properly may invoke court review of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license without having been admitted as parties in the agency proceedings.
The question presented to the court was procedural: does the Hobbs Act's requirement that review be brought by a "party aggrieved" bar Texas and other challengers from seeking review in an appellate court when they did not obtain party status (or timely appeal a denial of intervention) in the NRC's licensing process? Petitioners urged the court to dismiss the petitions because they were not parties in the NRC adjudication; challengers countered that the Hobbs Act should be read to include different forms of participation and that collateral challenges may be needed where agency rules prevent meaningful review.
Why it matters: the court's answer will…
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