Opinions

The President is required to make a determination that would trigger sanctions under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 if he is presented with sufficient evidence to compel the determination.

The President may delay making a determination that would trigger sanctions under the Act when the delay is necessary to protect intelligence sources or methods used in counter-proliferation activities.

The President may delay making a determination that would trigger sanctions under the Act when no reasonable alternative means exist to protect the life of an intelligence source.

Under the Antideficiency Act, an officer or employee of the Department of Justice may participate in a congressional hearing during a lapse in appropriations for the Department if he or she is a Senate-confirmed officer, if appropriated funds are available for his or her participation, if he or she is subpoenaed, or if there exists other express or necessarily implied authorization to participate in the hearing.

5 U.S.C. § 8348 empowers the Secretary of the Treasury to suspend the investment of additional contributions to the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund and redeem prior to maturity CSRDF investment assets in order to avoid exceeding the statutory debt limit.

In exercising his CSRDF redemption authority, the Secretary of the Treasury may, during a “debt issuance suspension period,” redeem CSRDF investment assets based on the total amount of civil service retirement and disability benefits authorized to be paid during the period.

The Secretary of the Treasury has discretion to designate the length of a debt issuance suspension period based on factors, identified by the Secretary, that are reasonably relevant to his determination.

The suspension during a debt limit crisis of CSRDF investment and the redemption of CSRDF investment assets would not cause a violation of the public debt limit.

The continuing resolution enacted on September 30, 1995, does not limit or suspend the authority that would otherwise exist for the obligation or expenditure of an Immigration Emergency Fund reimbursement pursuant to section 404(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

The Immigration Emergency Fund may be used to reimburse the State of Florida for its increase in social service and health expenses deriving from the influx of Cuban immigrants resulting from a presidential decision. 

Where the Secretary of Labor exercises statutory power to reassign the duties of a lawfully confirmed Assistant Secretary of Labor whose duties are not otherwise assigned by statute, reconfirmation of the Assistant Secretary is not legally required.

A court applying current precedent is most likely to conclude that the direct award of historic preservation grants to churches and other pervasively sectarian institutions violates the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

The Food and Drug Administration has the discretionary authority under the DES proviso to the Delaney Clause of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to prohibit the use of an additive in animal feed if the FDA concludes that there is no method that can “reliably measure and confirm” whether the additive contains residues of carcinogenic concern at or above the “no residue” level.

Where the FDA has already approved a method for detecting the presence of residues of carcinogenic concern, the DES proviso does not require the FDA to revise its regulations to adopt the “best available” such method.

The FDA lacks the discretion to determine that an edible tissue contains “no residue” when a method of detection reveals the presence of residues of carcinogenic concern that is below the “no significant risk” level.

If the Treasury Department has declared its election to purchase a proposed U.S. Postal Service bond issue pursuant to 39 U.S.C. § 2006(a) prior to the proposed date of issuance and is pursuing good-faith negotiations towards such purchase as of such date, the USPS is not free to proceed with issuance of the bonds to other purchasers solely because Treasury has not completed purchase of the bonds within a 15-day period following USPS’ initial notice of the proposed issue.

If, in the above circumstances, Treasury and the USPS are unable to negotiate mutually agreeable terms for purchase by Treasury within a commercially reasonable period of time following USPS’ proposed date for the issuance of its bonds, then the USPS may proceed with the issuance of such bonds to other purchasers.

Treasury is not authorized to dictate or control the terms of the USPS offering, but it must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to reach mutually agreeable terms with the USPS when the original terms proposed by the USPS are unacceptable. That reasonable opportunity is not rigidly limited by the 15-day period for declaring an election to purchase.

The Antideficiency Act permits the White House Office to employ personnel during an appropriations lapse for functions that are excepted from the Act’s general prohibition: functions relating to emergencies involving an imminent threat to the safety of human life or protection of property; other functions as to which express statutory authority to incur obligations in advance of appropriations has been granted; those functions for which such authority arises by necessary implication; and certain functions necessary to the discharge of the President’s constitutional duties and powers. Such personnel may not be paid, however, until appropriations are enacted.

The President may use his authority under 3 U.S.C. § 105 to create and fill nonsalaried positions in the White House Office during an appropriations lapse, but nonsalaried employees cannot receive an obligation of payment for the services they perform in that capacity.

White House Office employees appointed under 3 U.S.C. § 105 may waive their compensation, and if they do so, their services may be accepted during an appropriations lapse.

The Appointments Clause does not prohibit the federal government from submitting to binding arbitration.

Nor does any other constitutional provision or doctrine impose a general prohibition against the federal government entering into binding arbitration, although the Constitution does impose substantial limits on the authority of the federal government to enter into binding arbitration in specific cases.