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Administrative Law Keyed to Cass
Common Cause v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Citation:
674 F.2d 921 (1982)Facts
Common Cause, a public interest organization, sought to attend Nuclear Regulatory Commission budget meetings that the agency had announced would be open to the public. Before the July 18, 1980 meeting, the three Commissioners present voted unanimously to close all budget meetings scheduled within the next thirty days, relying on Exemption 9(B) of the Sunshine Act. The July 18, 1980 meeting involved preliminary staff briefings concerning the Commission’s budgetary needs and relationships between office budget requests and agency guidelines. In July 1981, the Commission again scheduled budget meetings for fiscal year 1983, holding preliminary staff briefings in public but closing the July 27, 1981 markup/reclama meeting where Commissioners decided specific funding levels and considered intra-agency appeals. After submitting its budget to OMB in September 1981, the Commission sought to close an October 15, 1981 meeting to discuss its appeal of OMB-proposed budget reductions. Common Cause challenged all closures, and the District Court ruled in its favor in each instance, though the appellate court found the initial injunction too vague.
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