Fifteen states asked a federal appeals court to throw out the FAA's nationwide approval for drone delivery

The State of New York and fourteen other states filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Monday, September 28. Harris County, Texas, joined them. The other states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. The petition names the FAA, Administrator Bryan Bedford, the Department of Transportation, and Secretary Sean Duffy. It asks the court to review and set aside the FAA's Final Programmatic Environmental Assessment, Finding of No Significant Impact, and Record of Decision for Drone Package Delivery Operations in the United States, dated July 28.

The filing itself is a short notice. It relies on 49 U.S.C. 46110, which sends challenges to FAA orders straight to a federal court of appeals, and on the federal law allowing review of agency action. It quotes the FAA's own statement that the assessment is a final order subject to that review. It says the petition is timely under section 46110 and Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 26(a). The 60th day after July 28 fell on Saturday, September 26, and that rule carries a weekend deadline to the next business day. Venue is in the Second Circuit because New York is a petitioner.