Portland Audubon Soc'y v. Endangered Species Committee
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
984 F.2d 1534 (9th Cir. 1993)
After the Bureau of Land Management sought exemptions to auction old-growth timber tracts that were spotted-owl habitat, the Endangered Species Committee (defendant) held a hearing on the exemption requests, but members of President Bush's administration summoned committee members to the White House to pressure them into approving the exemptions; the committee then approved exemptions for 13 of 44 tracts. Environmental groups (plaintiffs) sued for judicial review, arguing the decision was tainted by these ex parte contacts.
Whether the President and his staff may attempt to influence an administrative agency committee's decision through ex parte communications with committee members.