Mullin v. Doe · ¶132

The Government’s opposing argument—that the required consultation occurs whenever the Secretary asks about country conditions—is underwhelming. According to the Government, “consultation” just means “[t]o seek advice or input,” not to receive it. Tr. of Oral Arg. 41; see id., at 38 (“[I]f you’ve asked, you’ve consulted”). So once the Secretary reaches out to an appropriate agency, the statute is satisfied, even if a response never comes back, or if the one that does is “completely unresponsive” like “wasn’t that baseball game tonight great?” Id., at 38–39. But sorry, that is not what “consultation” means. See, e.g., Black’s Law Dictionary 316 (6th ed. 1990) (defining “[c]onsultation” as “[d]eliberation of persons on some subject”). If your doctor tells you, “After consulting with a specialist, I’ve determined that you should have this procedure,” you would think he had an exchange with…

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