# McConnell v. United States Department of Agriculture

> District Court, E.D. Tennessee · October 20, 2023

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10435600

## Case

- **Court:** District Court, E.D. Tennessee
- **Decided:** October 20, 2023
- **Opinion:** 100trialcourt
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

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## Opinion text

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE
AT WINCHESTER

JAMES D. MCCONNELL, )
) Case No. 4:23-cv-24
Plaintiff, )
) Judge Travis R. McDonough
v. )
) Magistrate Judge Susan K. Lee
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF )
AGRICULTURE, THOMAS JAMES )
VILSACK, in his official capacity, and )
KEVIN SHEA, in his official capacity, )
)
Defendants. )

ORDER

Before the Court is Plaintiff James McConnell’s motion for an injunction pending appeal
(Doc. 37). For the reasons set forth below, Plaintiff’s motion (Doc. 37) will be DENIED.
I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Plaintiff filed this action on July 14, 2023 (Doc. 1), and moved for a preliminary
injunction, arguing that the United States Department of Agriculture’s (“USDA”) administrative
structure is facially unconstitutional. (Doc. 17, at 9.) Specifically, he argued that the process
“violates the Appointments Clause, the Seventh Amendment, and Article III.” Id. The Court
denied his motion for a preliminary injunction on September 13, 2023 (Doc. 30), and Plaintiff
filed a notice of appeal on September 21, 2023. (Doc. 33.)
Plaintiff now moves for an injunction pending his appeal (Doc. 37), arguing that he is
likely to succeed on the merits of his argument that the USDA Judicial Officer (“Judicial
Officer”) is improperly “exercising principal-officer power.” (Doc. 38, at 4.)
II. STANDARD OF REVIEW
A party “must ordinarily move first in the district court” for an order “granting an
injunction while an appeal is pending.” Fed. R. App. P. 8(a)(1). If the district court denies the
motion for an injunction, a motion may then be made to the court of appeals or one of its judges.1
Fed. R. App. P. 8(a)(2).

In considering whether to grant an injunction pending appeal, courts consider the
following four factors: (1) the moving party’s likelihood of success on the merits, (2) whether
the moving party will suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction, (3) the lack of harm to other
parties if an injunction is granted, and (4) whether the public interest supports granting an
injunction. State of Ohio ex rel. Celebrezze v. Nuclear Regul. Comm’n, 812 F.2d 288, 290 (6th
Cir. 1987). The moving party has the burden of establishing these factors. Id.
These factors are identical to those already considered by the Court in denying Plaintiff’s
motion for a preliminary injunction. (Doc. 30); see Mich. Coal. of Radioactive Material Users,
Inc. v. Griepentrog, 945 F.2d 150, 153 (6th Cir. 1991) (“[T]he factors to be considered are the

same for both a preliminary injunction and a stay pending appeal.”). Nothing has changed in the
Court’s analysis of these factors.2 (See generally Doc. 30.) However, Plaintiff argues that “the
Court did not address the dispositive question of whether the Judicial Officer holds an office

1 Plaintiff filed a motion for an injunction pending appeal with the United States Court of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on October 10, 2023. (Doc. 16 in Case No. 23-5844.)
2 Plaintiff claims that the standard for obtaining an injunction pending appeal is lower than that
for a preliminary injunction. (Doc. 38, at 3, 5.) Plaintiff states that, if he demonstrates that he is
certain to suffer a substantial injury, he does not need to demonstrate “a high probability of
success on the merits,” only “serious questions going to the merits.” (Id.) Defendant disputes
that the “serious questions” standard applies here. (Doc. 40, at 3 n.1.) Regardless of whether
Defendant is correct, for the reasons laid out in the Court’s denial (Doc. 30, at 5–14), Plaintiff
has neither raised serious questions as to the merits nor demonstrated that he is certain to suffer a
substantial injury (id. at 14).
created by statute,” and that he is likely to succeed on the merits of this argument. (Doc. 38, at
5.) The Court will address this argument now.
III. ANALYSIS
A. Officer Status
Plaintiff contends that “[t]he Appointments Clause requires that Officers of the United

States hold offices established by Law.” (Doc. 38, at 5.) (quotations and citations omitted).
Plaintiff claims that the Judicial Officer does not hold an office established by law, and,
therefore, is not an officer who may issue final decisions. 3 (Id. at 6.) However, the Court has no
issue concluding that the Judicial Officer holds an office established by law.
“To qualify as an officer, rather than an employee, an individual must occupy a
continuing position established by law and must exercis[e] significant authority pursuant to the
laws of the United States.” Lucia v. S.E.C., 138 S. Ct. 2044, 2047 (2018) (citations omitted).
Because Plaintiff does not argue that the position of Judicial Officer is not continuous or that he
does not exercise significant authority, the only issue is whether the position is established by

law.
The position of Judicial Officer is established by regulation, pursuant to the statutory
authorization of Congress. 7 C.F.R. § 2.35; 10 Fed. Reg. 13769; 7 U.S.C. § 2204-2. Sixth

3 Plaintiff’s argument appears to stem from a single sentence in United States v. Arthrex Inc., 141
S. Ct. 1970 (2021), in which the Supreme Court stated that, “[o]nly an officer properly appointed
to a principal office may issue a final decision binding the Executive Branch.” 141 S. Ct. 1970,
1985 (2021) (emphasis added). Plaintiff cites no other authority that supports this proposition.
As the Court noted in its denial of Plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction, the Court finds
it unlikely that Arthrex created any new bright-line rule based on this one sentence. (Doc. 30, at
8.) Any single statement must be read in context, and Arthrex did not contain any analysis of the
importance of the distinction between employees and officers as it related to the power to issue
final decisions, since “no party dispute[d] that APJs are officers . . . .” Arthrex, 141 S. Ct. at
1980.
Circuit precedent establishes that a person can be an officer when the person’s office is created
by regulations alone. In Varnadore v. Secretary of Labor, 141 F.3d 625 (6th Cir. 1998), the
Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (“ARB”) was challenged as violating the
Appointments Clause. The ARB was created by a regulation that laid out its organization and
structure. Id. at 629 (citing 61 Fed. Reg. 19979). Despite this fact, the court determined that

“the members of the ARB are, at most, ‘inferior’ officers that the Appointments Clause allows
the heads of departments . . . to appoint” and that “the Appointments Clause was not offended by
the creation of the ARB.”4 Id. at 631. Other circuits have reached the same conclusion. See
e.g., Duenas v. Garland, 78 F.4th 1069 (9th Cir. 2023) (holding that Board of Immigration
Appeals members are officers despite their positions being established by regulation).
Plaintiff nonetheless argues that Lucia v. S.E.C., 138 S. Ct. 2044 (2018), held that for an
office to be “established by law,” it must be “created by statute, down to its duties, salary, and
means of appointment.” (Doc. 38, at 5.) (quoting Lucia, 138 S. Ct. at 2053). However, Lucia
only stated that creating an office by statute was sufficient for that office to be established by

law. 138 S. Ct. at 2053. Lucia did not hold that creation by statute was necessary for an office
to be established by law. Id. Plaintiff’s argument illustrates the problem with such a rule.
Plaintiff argues that “[t]here is no statute creating the office of Judicial Officer,” rather “the
Judicial Officer was created by the Secretary pursuant to statutes permitting the Secretary to

4 In Willy v. Administrative Review Board, 423 F.3d 483 (5th Cir. 2005), the Fifth Circuit also
concluded that the ARB was composed of inferior officers who were properly appointed by the
Secretary of Labor. In Willy, the petitioner argued that “Congress’s generic delegation to the
Secretary of Labor at 29 U.S.C. § 551 contains no officer appointment authority, and there is no
authority in any federal environmental statute to appoint inferior officers for purposes of hearing
employee protection claims.” Id. at 490. However, the court disagreed, stating that “[e]ven
though we recognize that no specific federal statute creates the ARB, we hold that the Secretary
possesses the requisite congressional authority to appoint members to the ARB to issue final
agency decisions.” Id. at 491.
delegate his authority.” (Doc. 38, at 5.) This is a thin distinction which would favor form over
function and would frustrate the intent of Congress.5 The Court cannot adopt such a restricted
view of what it means for a position to be “established by law.”
Because the position of the Judicial Officer is established by law, Plaintiff is unlikely to
succeed on the merits of his argument.

IV. CONCLUSION
For these reasons and the reasons already stated in the Court’s memorandum opinion
denying Plaintiff’s motion for preliminary injunction (see generally Doc. 30), Plaintiff’s motion
for an injunction pending appeal (Doc. 37) is DENIED.
SO ORDERED.
/s/ Travis R. McDonough
TRAVIS R. MCDONOUGH
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

5 The 1940 Schwellenbach Act also could also be viewed as establishing the position of Judicial
Officer by statute, albeit more obliquely. 7 U.S.C. § 2204-2. In this statute, Congress vested the
Secretary of Agriculture with the ability to delegate his final decision-making authority to not
more than two “officers or employees” and allowed the Secretary “to assign appropriate titles to
such officers or employees.” Id. Though the statute does not use the words “Judicial Officer,” if
not for this statute, the position of Judicial Officer could not exist. Id.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/10435600. Public record. Not legal advice.