Feliciano v. Department of Transportation

A federal civilian employee is entitled to differential pay when called to active duty under any provision of law “during a national emergency,” without needing to show that the service was substantively connected to the emergency. Justice Neil Gorsuch authored the 5-4 majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. The plain meaning of “during a national emergency” imposes only a temporal requirement: that the reservist’s service coincides in time with a declared national emergency. The word “during” typically conveys a contemporaneous relationship, not a substantive one. Other statutes show that when Congress wants to require both a temporal and substantive connection, it does so explicitly using qualifiers like “during and because of.” No such language appears here. Reading in a requirement for a substantive connection would insert an additional element not found in the text and create vagueness about how strong or direct that connection must be. Practical and contextual considerations also support a temporal reading. The differential pay statute interacts with other laws that use similar language, such as 10 U.S.C. § 12302, which authorizes activation of reservists “[i]n time of national emergency” and is understood to require only a temporal link. Requiring a substantive connection would also create confusion for private employers, who could inadvertently violate criminal statutes for providing differential pay in good faith. The Court rejected arguments that its interpretation would make the language superfluous or lead to absurd policy outcomes, emphasizing that any perceived policy flaws lie within Congress’s authority to revise. Justice Clarence Thomas authored a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Samuel Alito, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined.