Atlantic Fish Spotters Ass'n v. Evans

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

This appeal requires us to determine whether Congress intended to use an annual appropriations bill as a vehicle for enacting permanent law to abolish the use of “spotter planes” by tuna fishermen. The district court held that it did and entered judgment accordingly. Atl. Fish Spotters Ass’n v. Evans, 206 F.Supp.2d 81 (D.Mass.2002). Because the pertinent statutory language does not express Congress’s intent to enact permanent law with sufficient clarity to overcome the presumption that a provision in an appropriations bill applies only to the fiscal year for which it is…