Symons v. Chrysler Corp. Loan Guarantee Bd.
| Decision Date | 04 December 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 80-1599,80-1599 |
| Citation | 670 F.2d 238,216 U.S.App.D.C. 80 |
| Parties | , 216 U.S.App.D.C. 80, 7 Media L. Rep. 2363 Howard SYMONS v. CHRYSLER CORPORATION LOAN GUARANTEE BOARD, Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — District of Columbia Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia (D.C. Civil Action No. 80-1036).
Frank A. Rosenfeld, Atty., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., with whom Alice Daniel, Asst. Atty. Gen., Charles F. C. Ruff, U. S. Atty., and Leonard Schaitman, Atty., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., were on brief, for appellant.
Alan B. Morrison, Washington, D. C., with whom David C. Vladeck and Katherine A. Meyer, Washington, D. C., were on brief, for appellee.
Before McGOWAN, Senior Circuit Judge, and TAMM and WALD, Circuit Judges.
Opinion for the court filed by Circuit Judge TAMM.
In this action the Government challenges the district court's determination that the Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Board (the Board) is an "agency" required to comply with the open meeting provisions of the Government in the Sunshine Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552b (1976) (Sunshine Act or the Act). Because we conclude that the Board does not fall within the Sunshine Act's definition of "agency," we reverse, 488 F.Supp. 874.
In 1976 Congress enacted the Government in the Sunshine Act. 1 The purpose of the Sunshine Act is to provide the public with information regarding the decision-making processes of the Federal Government "while protecting the rights of individuals and the ability of the Government to carry out its responsibilities." Pub.L.No.94-409, § 2, 90 Stat. 1241 (1976). To effectuate this purpose, the Act requires that every "meeting" of a covered "agency" be open to the public, 5 U.S.C. § 552b(b), with but a few limited exceptions. See 5 U.S.C. § 552b(c)(1)-(10). The Act also mandates the public announcement of meetings, 5 U.S.C. § 552b(e), and the maintenance of a complete transcript or electronic recording of meetings closed under any of the section 552b(c) exemptions. 5 U.S.C. § 552b(f).
The definitions of "meeting" and "agency" in the Sunshine Act are quite specific. The term "meeting" applies only to "the deliberations of at least the number of individual agency members required to take action on behalf of the agency where such deliberations determine or result in the joint conduct or disposition of official agency business ...." 5 U.S.C. § 552b(a)(2). In order to be covered by the Sunshine Act, an "agency" must initially fall within the ambit of the definition found in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552(e) (1976), 2 and in addition must be "headed by a collegial body composed of two or more individual members, a majority of whom are appointed to such position by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate ...." 5 U.S.C. § 552b(a)(1) (emphasis added). It is this definition of "agency," and in particular the words "to such position," upon which this case turns.
The Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Act of 1979, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1861 et seq. (Supp. III 1979), was enacted to help the Chrysler Corporation avoid bankruptcy by having the United States provide the company with up to $1.5 billion in loan guarantees. The Chrysler Corporation Loan Guarantee Board, established by Congress to administer the loan guarantee program, 15 U.S.C. § 1862, is authorized to make commitments for loan guarantees and to issue such guarantees if it determines that conditions imposed by the Act have been satisfied. 15 U.S.C. §§ 1863, 1864. The Board must make findings and report them to Congress no less than fifteen days prior to issuing any guarantees. 15 U.S.C. §§ 1864(b), 1873(b).
The Chrysler legislation provides that the Board shall be composed of persons holding particular government posts. 15 U.S.C. § 1862. The Secretary of the Treasury chairs the Board; the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Comptroller General of the United States are the other voting members, while the Secretaries of Labor and Transportation serve as nonvoting members of the Board. Id. Thus, although all Board members have been appointed to some position by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, they were not so appointed to their Board positions. Rather, they serve, according to statutory mandate, by virtue of the other offices they hold.
The facts in this case are straightforward and undisputed. Appellee Howard Symons is a staff attorney and lobbyist with Congress Watch, a public interest organization. On April 23, 1980, counsel for Symons sent a letter to the Board demanding that it comply with the Sunshine Act and stating that relief would be sought in federal court if he was not assured that such compliance would ensue. Joint Appendix (J.A.) at 10-11. The Board responded on the following day that it is not an "agency" required to conduct its business within the contours of the Act since none of its members were appointed to their Board positions by the President. J.A. at 12. Symons subsequently filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on April 25, 1980, and moved for a temporary restraining order directing the Board to comply with the statutory requirements of the Act pending a decision on the merits. 3 On the same day, the district court issued a temporary order enjoining the Board from holding any meeting in a manner inconsistent with the Sunshine Act provisions. J.A. at 13.
On May 14, 1980, after briefing and argument, the district court issued a final order and accompanying opinion holding that the Board is an "agency" for Sunshine Act purposes and directing the Board to comply with the Act in all respects. J.A. at 27-33. It is this decision, now reported at 488 F.Supp. 874 (D.D.C.1980), that the Government appeals.
The only issue before this court is whether the Board is an "agency" subject to the provisions of the Sunshine Act. For the purposes of the Act, the term "agency" applies only to federal bodies "headed by a collegial body composed of two or more individual members, a majority of whom are appointed to such position by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate ...." 5 U.S.C. § 552b(a)(1) (emphasis added). In the Government's view, the phrase "to such position" can refer back only to the term "collegial body." Thus, the Government contends that the Board is not covered by the Act because none of its members were appointed to positions on the "collegial body" (the Board) by the President, as required by the literal terms of the statute. Rather, Board members serve ex officio, by virtue of their appointment, concededly by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, to other high government offices.
The district court rejected the Government's argument, saying it derived from a "crimped, unduly restrictive view of the statute ...." 488 F.Supp. at 876. Although the district court implicitly acknowledged that the Board would not be subject to the Act if the phrase "to such position" were accorded its plain meaning, it believed that the broadly remedial nature of the Sunshine Act mandated liberal construction in order to effectuate legislative goals. Id. at 876-77. In addition, the trial court stated that in passing the Sunshine Act Congress chose to employ a "broad, all encompassing definition of agency ...." Id. at 876. The district court could find no hint in the legislative history of why Congress included the phrase "to such position" in the definition of "agency":
The legislative history is silent as to any purpose served by the distinction excluding an agency from the Act's coverage because its members are statutorily appointed following initial Presidential appointment to their principal executive positions as opposed to an agency whose members are individually appointed by the President at the outset.
Id. Given this silence in the legislative history and the remedial nature of the Act, the district court did not feel obliged to give effect to the plain meaning of the phrase "to such position." Rather, purporting to effectuate the overriding legislative purpose, the court rejected a literal reading of the statute and held that the Act's definitional threshold was met where the agency members were simply "appointed by the President," even if not to the agency itself.
It is axiomatic that in interpreting any statutory provision our starting point must be the language of the statute itself. Consumer Product Safety Commission v. GTE Sylvania, 447 U.S. 102, 108, 100 S.Ct. 2051, 2056, 64 L.Ed.2d 766 (1980). Ordinarily, courts will give effect to the plain meaning of the words used by the legislature, and appellee Symons has presented no convincing argument that the phrase "to such position" can be given any plausible construction other than the one urged upon this court by the Government.
We do not quarrel with the district court's characterization of the Sunshine Act as a broadly remedial statute dedicated to the principles of open government deliberations and the public's "right to know." 488 F.Supp. at 876. The fact that legislation has a remedial purpose, however, does not give the judiciary license, in interpreting a provision, to disregard entirely the plain meaning of the words used by Congress. This court has stated in the FOIA context that, even where a statute is broad in scope, proper deference must be paid to the plain meaning rule. Consumers Union of the United States, Inc., v. Heimann, 589 F.2d 531, 533 (D.C.Cir.1978).
Although Symons initially suggests that the phrase "to such position" could be read to include presidential appointment to positions other than the "collegial body" itself, Brief for Appellee at 7, he relies primarily on...
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