Thread by @iampaulgrewal

Power does not recede voluntarily. It's gasps and it gasps until it no longer can. @USTreasury filed yet another late Friday pleading against Tornado Cash. After grudgingly delisting TC, they now claim they've mooted any need for a final court judgment. But that's not the law, and they know it. 1/3

Under the voluntary cessation exception, a defendant’s decision to end a challenged practice moots a case only if the defendant can show that the practice cannot “reasonably be expected to recur.” Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167, 189, 120 (2000). Just last Term, the Supreme Court unanimously held in FBI v. Fikre, 601 U.S. 234 (2024), that the FBI did not moot a case even when it removed the plaintiff from the No Fly List and produced a declaration representing that he would not be placed on the No Fly List in the future. See id. at 242. 2/3

Relying on that decision, the Fifth Circuit rejected an agency’s argument that its withdrawal of a determination “unilaterally and avoid judicial review” did not moot the case, because the agency could decide to revisit the decision and issue a similar determination against the private party in the future.  Lewis v. United States, 88 F.4th 1073, 1078-1079 (5th Cir. 2023). Here, Treasury has likewise removed the Tornado Cash entities from the SDN, but has provided no assurance that it will not re-list Tornado Cash again. That's not good enough, and will make this clear to the district court. 3/3