DOT’s Paul M. Geier Wins 2024 Rosenberg Award
April 12, 2024
The D.C. Bar is honoring Paul M. Geier, assistant general counsel for international and aviation-economic law at the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), with its 2024 Beatrice Rosenberg Award for Excellence in Government Service. Geier will receive the award at the Bar’s Celebration of Leadership on June 20.
“I was really thrilled and quite humbled,” said Geier. “There are some extraordinary federal lawyers who have received this honor, and I’m humbled to be included in this category and, at the same time, very pleased to be recognized by the Bar for my lengthy career.”
In his current position, Geier assists in the formulation of U.S. policy as it relates to international transportation and trade issues. Prior to his appointment in August 2023, Geier served as DOT assistant general counsel for litigation and enforcement for more than 30 years, formulating the department’s position on numerous U.S. Supreme Court and lower federal court cases addressing a range of constitutional and administrative law issues. Additionally, Geier continues to lead DOT’s Office of Litigation and Enforcement as acting assistant general counsel. Throughout the pandemic, Geier concurrently served as assistant general counsel for operations.
Geier has directed significant litigation undertaken by DOT, including leading a team of lawyers to persuade the U.S. Department of Justice to seek Supreme Court review in the 2004 case Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen, which reversed appellate decisions undermining presidential authority to lift a moratorium on cross-border Mexican trucking related to North American Free Trade Agreement obligations. At issue was whether the president’s action violated the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 by not adequately considering the environmental impact. The case continues to stand as an important precedent on the issue of preemption, a topic on which Geier is widely regarded as an authority.
“One of the really rewarding things about working with the Department of Transportation has been the high visibility and impact of the work involving transportation safety, which impacts everyone,” Geier said. “Working with the Department of Justice and my colleagues at the DOT, we have been able to establish some important principles that have a continuing effect. The work is really interesting and challenging at the same time.”
Geier was also involved in defending the constitutionality of DOT’s Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program in the U.S. Supreme Court case Adarand Constructors v. Peña (1995). “Adarand is an important case … though a case that we lost,” Geier said.
Despite the loss, Geier views the outcome as positive, since it resulted in changes that have sustained and improved upon the DBE program. DBE regulations were significantly redrafted in response to the Supreme Court’s application of strict scrutiny to them, ensuring that minority- and women-owned businesses are able to fully and fairly participate in the multibillion-dollar federally funded highway and transit construction programs.
In 2011 Geier led a successful effort to mediate a dispute among United Airlines, American Airlines, and the City of Chicago arising from the modernization of O’Hare International Airport. The $1.17 billion agreement allowed the hub to make improvements to positively impact air travel nationwide. And in 2009, Geier negotiated a settlement that continues to serve as the basis for air charter operators providing cross-border transportation between the United States and Canada for teams of the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association.
Geier was also involved in the government’s criminal prosecution of Pacific Gas and Electric Company over a 2010 pipeline explosion that killed eight, injured dozens more, and destroyed more than 100 homes.
Geier has been responsible for significant innovations at DOT, including the creation of DOT Litigation News, a biannual publication reporting the status of all the department’s significant litigation throughout the federal court system. He also served as a facilitator for the Enforcement Practice Group forum and launched the Enforcement Practice Deskbook and its accompanying website, which gather administrative and judicial enforcement decisions, enforcement policies, and bulletins.
“When I arrived, there was no department-wide coordination of these efforts, much less a means of finding out about these things,” Geier said. “It seemed to me that this was something that could be improved by better communication.” The publications serve to communicate important information throughout the agency and also acknowledge the important work done by individuals in the agency, Geier added.
Geier is a two-time recipient of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s Presidential Rank Award, having been acknowledged as a Distinguished Executive in 2011 and a Meritorious Executive in 2003. He received DOT’s Lindy Knapp Award for Distinguished Career Service in 2015 and the U.S. Coast Guard’s Public Service Commendation for his representation of the Coast Guard in the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case United States v. Locke.
“I have been very fortunate in my career to have had some successes and to have some of my achievements recognized, but it must be said that these things don’t happen all by themselves,” said Geier. “They are very much the result of some great lawyers that I have worked with. I don’t look upon these things as my own accomplishments so much as the accomplishments of the team … who work very hard and are very talented.”
Prior to joining DOT, Geier held several other positions with the federal government, including deputy solicitor to the Department of Energy’s Special Counsel responsible for judicial litigation arising out of the petroleum pricing and allocation program, and regional counsel for Region X of the Community Services Administration in Seattle, Washington.
In addition to his government service, Geier volunteers at Bread for the City. He has served as a judge in moot court competitions at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School and American University Washington College of Law. He has also been a course marshal for the Runners Marathon of Reston since 2014.
Granted annually to a Bar member in recognition of their career accomplishments that exemplify the highest order of public service, the Rosenberg Award was established in honor of Beatrice “Bea” Rosenberg, who dedicated 35 years of her career to government service and performed with distinction at the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. She also served on the Board on Professional Responsibility.
