Ortale Kelley associate Zachary (“Zach”) A. Sterne won the Tennessee Bar Association’s Administrative Law Writing Competition for his thought piece on how the APA’s phrase “set aside” influences national conversations about courts and federal regulations. Below are brief snippets from Zach’s though piece and where to read the original.
Standing Up for Setting Aside: Vacatur’s Valid Role as a Remedy Under Section 706 of the Administrative Procedure Act.
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Language matters. Two words in §706—“set aside”—carry outsized weight in how we discuss rules and remedies.
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Vacatur vs. injunction. Vacatur operates on a rule’s legal status; injunctions operate on parties’ conduct.
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Unusual alignments. The debate doesn’t map neatly onto ideology—important for readers of legal news.
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Judicial economy & redress. Availability of vacatur affects duplicate litigation and third-party relief.
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APA structure. Because “agency action” covers rules and adjudications, the remedy analysis travels with it.
Read Zach’s thought piece here.
