Dcp Farms v. Clayton Yeutter, Secretary of Agriculture, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Stabilization & Conservation Service

PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:

This appeal raises the question of whether the “mere appearance of bias or pressure” standard adopted in Pillsbury Co. v. FTC, 354 F.2d 952 (5th Cir.1966) applies to claims of improper congressional interference with an administrative determination of eligibility for farm subsidies. We find that contact between a congressman and the U.S. Department of Agriculture involving a pending proceeding that was neither quasi-judicial nor judicial is not governed by the Pillsbury standard. We hold that in such proceedings congressional contact does not go beyond…