The failure of the EPA to provide eligibility standards is a violation of Section 552(a)(1)(D) of the Administrative Procedures Act. This section requires an administrative agency to publish “substantive rules of general applicability” in the Federal Register for the public’s guidance. 5 U.S.C. §552(a)(1)(D)(2014).
Morton v. Ruiz, 415 U.S. 199 (1974), is a Supreme Court case involving an agency’s failure to provide eligibility standards to the public. Mr. Ruiz was a Native American Indian living near an Indian reservation. When his union went on strike, Mr. Ruiz applied to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for general assistance benefits. However, a BIA policy limited benefits to Native Americans living directly “on” a reservation. Mr. Ruiz was denied benefits because he lived in a Native American community located a few miles off of the reservation.…show more content… In addition to skipping notice and comment procedures when creating the eligibility standard, the BIA never published the standard in the Federal Register. This was a violation of §552 (a)(1)(D) of the APA, which requires that substantive rules be published in the Federal Register for the guidance of the public. The Court also pointed out that one of the goals of the APA was to ensure that administrative agencies follow specified procedures when creating policies that affect individual rights and obligations. Morton v. Ruiz, 415 U.S. 199, 232 (1974). The Court called ad hoc determinations of eligibility “inherently arbitrary nature.” Id. Additionally, the Court stated that the BIA could not deny benefits to Native Americans unless it followed the APA and declared its eligibility