Under Vermont Yankee, when an agency chooses not to grant additional procedural rights in rulemaking, a reviewing court will generally:

Under Vermont Yankee, when an agency chooses not to grant additional procedural rights in rulemaking, a reviewing court will generally:

• A. Impose those rights anyway.
• B. Uphold the agency's choice and refrain from adding rights.
• C. Require formal rulemaking.
• D. Vacate the rule.

Answer: (B)

The key idea is deference to the agency’s chosen process in informal rulemaking. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC teaches that, in informal rulemaking, the court respects the agency’s decision about how much procedural rights to provide. If the agency conducts notice-and-comment and otherwise follows the statutory framework, the court will not step in to require extra hearings or procedures that the agency has decided not to grant. The reviewing court’s role is to ensure the agency acted within the law and that the process was not constitutionally or statutorily defective, not to micromanage the agency’s procedural strategy. So, when an agency opts not to grant additional procedural rights, the court generally upholds that choice and does not add rights itself, unless there is a statutory directive or a due process requirement that compels more procedure. This is why the best answer is that the court will uphold the agency’s choice and refrain from adding rights.

The key idea is deference to the agency’s chosen process in informal rulemaking. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. NRDC teaches that, in informal rulemaking, the court respects the agency’s decision about how much procedural rights to provide. If the agency conducts notice-and-comment and otherwise follows the statutory framework, the court will not step in to require extra hearings or procedures that the agency has decided not to grant. The reviewing court’s role is to ensure the agency acted within the law and that the process was not constitutionally or statutorily defective, not to micromanage the agency’s procedural strategy.

So, when an agency opts not to grant additional procedural rights, the court generally upholds that choice and does not add rights itself, unless there is a statutory directive or a due process requirement that compels more procedure. This is why the best answer is that the court will uphold the agency’s choice and refrain from adding rights.