After CASA, Is Universal Vacatur Next On The Chopping Block?

Last week, the federal government filed a petition for certiorari in U.S. Department of Health & Human Services v. Texas Medical Association (No. 26-491), asking the Supreme Court to decide whether the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) authorizes courts to grant universal vacatur of agency rules. Federal courts of appeals have unanimously agreed that the APA’s direction to “set aside agency action” found unlawful empowers courts to vacate agency rules as to all parties — including those not before the court.

The government has argued with increasing frequency, however, that the APA grants no such authority and that APA relief must be plaintiff-specific. The Supreme Court decided a somewhat related question last year in Trump v. CASA, holding that universal injunctions barring enforcement of federal laws exceed courts’ equitable authority. At the same time, the Court expressly declined to address universal vacatur. Now, if the Court grants the petition in Texas Medical Association a