US District Judge Susan Illston has ruled that the Department of Homeland Security exceeded its lawful authority in directing dramatic staffing reductions at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The dispute concerned plans affecting thousands of disaster-response positions. Federal legislation adopted following Hurricane Katrina prevents DHS from substantially reducing FEMA’s statutory authorities, responsibilities or functions.
The judge concluded that decisions over staffing had improperly been driven by DHS rather than FEMA and questioned the basis for the proposed 50 per cent reduction. The precise remedy is to be determined separately.
The litigation also produced an evidence-preservation issue after the court criticised officials for using Signal messages relevant to the staffing dispute and deleting communications.
Beyond FEMA, the case has implications for administrative law generally. Executive departments may supervise agencies, but statutory mandates imposed by Congress can place enforceable boundaries around that supervision.
READ MORE: Reuters
