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Environmental Protection Agency—Legality of First Assistant Named After Vacancy Serving as Acting General Counsel

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Highlights

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on January 20, 2021, hired Melissa Hoffer as the EPA Principal Deputy General Counsel, a position previously designated by EPA as the first assistant to EPA's General Counsel. Ms. Hoffer also began serving as EPA's Acting General Counsel on that same date. The President has not nominated Ms. Hoffer to permanently fill the position of EPA General Counsel. We conclude that Ms. Hoffer qualifies under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 to serve as EPA's Acting General Counsel because she is the first assistant to the EPA General Counsel and she need not have been the first assistant before the vacancy occurred.

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Shirley A. Jones
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