[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] ruled [decision, PDF] Monday in Department of Transportation v. Association of American Railroads [SCOTUSblog backgrounder] that Amtrak [official website], the publicly funded railroad service, is a governmental entity. However, the court remanded to US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to rule on the constitutionality of Amtrak’s joint-authority, with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) [official website], to issue “metrics and standards” addressing the performance and scheduling of passenger railroad services. The Association of American Railroads [association website] brought suit against the FRA arguing that it is unconstitutional for the US Congress to “allow and direct a private entity” like Amtrak to exercise joint authority in formulating “metrics and standards.” In a unanimous decision penned by Justice Anthony Kennedy the court found that Amtrak “was created by the Government, is controlled by the Government, and operates for the Government’s benefit.” The court remanded the DC Circuit to rule on any surviving issues regarding the lawfulness of the metrics and standards including constitutional questions involving the separation of powers and appointment clauses.

The Supreme Court has made a number of railroad focused rulings in recent terms. Last week the court ruled in Alabama Department of Revenue v. CSX Transporation, Inc. [JURIST report] that Alabama should be able to justify its decision to assess on railroads a fuel tax that it does not assess on motor carriers. The case has been remanded to US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website] to consider “whether Alabama’s fuel-excise tax is the rough equivalent of Alabama’s sales tax as applied to diesel fuel,” and would thus justify the motor carrier tax exemption. Last March the court ruled [JURIST report] 8-1 in Marvin M. Brandt Revocable Trust v. United States [SCOTUSblog backgrounder; JURIST op-ed] that a right of way granted under the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875 [Cornell LII backgrounder] is an easement which can be terminated by the railroad’s abandonment, leaving the underlying land unburdened.