Allstates Refractory Contractors v. Julie Su, 79 F.4th 755

Background

Plaintiff Allstates Refractory Contractors, an industrial general contractor subject to OSHA, brought a facial nondelegation challenge to the OSH Act’s permanent standard–making authority.
The statutory provision at issue defines an "occupational safety and health standard" as one "reasonably necessary or appropriate to provide safe or healthful employment and places of employment" (29 U.S.C. § 652(8)) and authorizes the Secretary to "promulgate, modify, or revoke" standards (29 U.S.C. § 655(b)).
Allstates argued the statutory language supplies no constitutional "intelligible principle," so OSHA lacks authority and employers lack a duty to comply.
The district court granted summary judgment to the government; Allstates appealed seeking reversal and a nationwide injunction.
The Sixth Circuit (majority) affirmed: applying the longstanding intelligible‑principle test, it held the OSH Act provides adequate guidance (in text, purpose, and context) and upheld the delegation as constitutional.
A separate dissent argued the permanent‑standards provision lacks the requisite fact‑finding triggers or sufficiently definite standards and therefore violates Article I.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Congress’s delegation to OSHA to set permanent workplace‑safety standards violates the nondelegation doctrine	The statute gives the Secretary unfettered discretion because "reasonably necessary or appropriate" supplies no intelligible principle; delegation is facially invalid	The Act contains statutory purposes, definitions, procedural safeguards, and textual limits (e.g., "requires", feasibility and significant‑risk constraints as construed by precedent) that supply an intelligible principle	The delegation is constitutional; the statutory text and context supply guiding principles and limits within the scope approved by Supreme Court precedent
Whether §652(8)/§655(b) requires threshold fact‑finding (e.g., "significant risk") before promulgating a permanent standard	Allstates: no mandatory fact‑finding or triggering condition; "may" is permissive and §652(8) alone does not impose a concrete factual prerequisite	Government: the Act’s structure, purposes, and Supreme Court constructions (Industrial Union/Cotton Dust) limit OSHA to acting only when standards are needed to address significant risks and are feasible	Majority: reading §652(8) in context (Act’s purposes, definitions, and precedent) sufficiently constrains OSHA; dissent: statute lacks an enforceable fact‑finding trigger and thus is under‑constrained
Appropriate remedy and scope of challenge (facial relief)	Allstates sought a permanent nationwide injunction declaring the Act invalid	Government opposed invalidation; relied on longstanding precedent upholding similar delegations and on procedural protections in rulemaking	Court affirmed district judgment for defendants; did not invalidate the Act; dissent would have reversed

Key Cases Cited

J.W. Hampton, Jr., & Co. v. United States, 276 U.S. 394 (1928) (established the "intelligible principle" test for permissible delegations)
Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan, 293 U.S. 388 (1935) (invalidated a delegation lacking standards or required findings)
A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935) (invalidated sweeping delegation with virtually unfettered executive discretion)
Mistretta v. United States, 488 U.S. 361 (1989) (upheld broad delegation to Sentencing Commission and explained need for general policy, agency, and boundaries)
Whitman v. American Trucking Ass’ns, 531 U.S. 457 (2001) (upheld EPA delegation and affirmed court’s contextual approach to intelligible principles)
Industrial Union Dept., AFL-CIO v. American Petroleum Inst. (Benzene), 448 U.S. 607 (1980) (plurality) (interpreted OSHA provisions to require a threshold finding of significant risk for certain toxic‑materials standards)
American Textile Mfrs. Inst., Inc. v. Donovan (Cotton Dust), 452 U.S. 490 (1981) (clarified relation of §652(8) and §655(b)(5) and discussed feasibility and significant‑risk constraints)
Yakus v. United States, 321 U.S. 414 (1944) (upheld wartime price‑control delegation where statute supplied sufficiently definite standards and procedures)
Touby v. United States, 500 U.S. 160 (1991) (upheld temporary scheduling delegation with specific statutory limits)
Nat’l Broad. Co. v. United States, 319 U.S. 190 (1943) (upheld broadcast regulation under "public interest" standard construed in context)
Sunshine Anthracite Coal Co. v. Adkins, 310 U.S. 381 (1940) (upheld delegation to set coal prices subject to statutory criteria)
National Maritime Safety Ass’n v. Occupational Safety & Health Admin., 649 F.3d 743 (D.C. Cir. 2011) (D.C. Circuit held OSH Act satisfied nondelegation doctrine)
Blocksom & Co. v. Marshall, 582 F.2d 1122 (7th Cir. 1978) (Seventh Circuit rejected a nondelegation challenge to the OSH Act)