Section 90 “Hard Look” Review

When reviewing agency policy decisions under the arbitrary or capricious standard, courts will examine whether the agency took a “hard look” at the question decided by the agency. Norton v. S. Utah Wilderness Alliance, 542 U.S. 55, 73 (2004). The decisional genesis of the “hard look” doctrine is found in Greater Boston Television Corp. v. FCC, 444 F.2d 841, 850–51 (D.C. Cir. 1970), cert. denied, 403 U.S. 923 (1971), which announced that agency decisions should be overturned only “if the court becomes aware, especially from a combination of danger signals, that the agency has not really taken a ‘hard look’ at the salient problems, and has not engaged in reasoned decision-making.” It should be emphasized that the “hard...