2021 APPELLATE LAW Q&A

Lucas I. Pangle

Wharton Aldhizer & Weaver PLC, Harrisonburg

Title: Associate

Other legal specialties: Administrative law, occupational safety and health, and bankruptcy

Birthplace: Maurertown in Shenandoah County

Education: Bachelor’s degree in neuroscience, Duke University; law degree, William & Mary School of Law

Fan of: Duke Blue Devils basketball

Recently read book: “The Code of the Woosters,” by P.G. Wodehouse

Favorite vacation spot: Key West, Florida

Career mentors: Tom Ullrich, Steve Milo and Derek Brostek

Why did you decide to enter law after receiving a degree in neuroscience? In college, I opted for neuroscience on the advice of a school counselor who thought freshmen “ought to take what they’d enjoy knowing.” I accepted his advice, but I never lost the inclination to go to law school.

What has been your most interesting case?
I worked with Jeff Adams to successfully challenge Virginia’s one-of-a-kind incumbent protection act — a law that allowed an incumbent officeholder to choose the method of nomination in an upcoming election. The case had all sorts of unique and complicated conceptual issues, and Jeff and I gladly spent hours and hours theorizing about them. That was quite an introduction to appellate practice.

What’s your take on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulation under review regarding COVID-19 vaccination mandates? Simplifying the issue to whether OSHA’s several-month delay renders COVID-19 a “nonemergency” gives OSHA a shot at prevailing. However, a sprawling regulation with broad applicability would invite judges (and maybe even justices) to reconsider the nondelegation doctrine, commerce clause decisions and administrative law principles that presently support a modest mandate.