Daniel W. Wolff

Administrative Procedure Act / Constitutional Law / Appellate Litigation 

• Dan is a veteran federal district court litigator against the United States. He has brought numerous actions on behalf of clients against Cabinet-level departments or their sub-agencies challenging agency actions and seeking injunctive and declaratory relief under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) or U.S. Constitution. 
• Dan has secured victories on summary judgment for clients in multiple U.S. district courts in cases arising under the APA, other federal statutes, and the U.S. Constitution.  
• In his appellate practice, Dan is admitted to and practices in all thirteen U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals and has argued more than a dozen cases in the D.C., 4th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and Federal Circuits. He has co-authored merits briefs in two cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, both decided in favor of Crowell’s clients, as well as numerous briefs filed in all of the federal circuit courts of appeals. He has also argued appellate matters in the state and local courts of the District of Columbia and Maryland. 
• Dan also represents clients as amici curiae in federal litigation, including in multiple cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. 
• Dan advises clients on rights and litigation strategies arising under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and litigates FOIA cases in the federal district courts. 
• Dan’s notable cases include:  
  • U.S. Supreme Court: 
    • Learning Res., Inc. v. Trump, 607 U.S. 229 (2026) Aamicus brief on behalf of scholars and former federal government officials in support of importers’ successful challenge to tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act 
    • California v. Texas, 593 U.S. 659 (2021) Amicus brief on behalf of the Alliance of Community Health Plans and the Association for Community Affiliated Plans in support of petitioners' successful petition to uphold the validity of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate 
    • Me. Cmty. Health Options v. United States, 590 U.S. 296 (2020) Merits brief for petitioner in successful challenge to government’s failure to make risk corridor payments under the Affordable Care Act 
    • Bedrock Limited, LLC v. United States, 541 U.S. 176 (2004) Mmerits brief for petitioner in successful challenge to government’s interpretation of the scope of a federal mineral reservation 
  • U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals 
    • Englehardt v. Blanche, 185 F.4th 252 (D.C. Cir. 2026) Obtained reversal of district court’s grant of summary judgment to the government, successfully challenging the U.S. Department of Justice’s refusal to deposit criminal penalties and forfeitures arising from North Korean-related conspiracies into the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund 
    • Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's v. CSX Transportation, Inc. et al, 179 F.4th 1060 (7th Cir. June 25, 2026) Successfully defended on appeal a jury verdict CSX Transportation, Inc. and summary judgment for Evansville Western Railway, Inc., in Carmack Amendment appeal concerning contractual limits on rail-carrier liability for locomotives destroyed in a derailment 
    • Union Pac. R.R. Co. v. U.S. R.R. Ret. Bd., 162 F.4th 908 (8th Cir. 2025) Obtained reversal of district court’s dismissal of APA a case for lack of jurisdiction, persuading the court of appeals that an agency order granting a third-party union “party” status in an agency evidentiary proceeding was final agency action subject to immediate judicial review 
    • Taylor v. Salvation Army Nat’l Corp., 110 F.4th 1017 (7th Cir. 2024) Successfully defended appeal of dismissal of federal forced labor complaint filed by former participants in The Salvation Army’s Adult Rehabilitation Centers 
    • Overbey v. Mayor & City Council of Balt., 930 F.3d 215 (4th Cir. 2019) Obtained reversal of district court’s dismissal of complaint against the City of Baltimore, persuading court of appeals that Baltimore's enforcement of non-disparagement clauses in police-misconduct settlement agreements violated the First Amendment 
  • U.S. District Courts 
    • Tassinari v. The Salvation Army, No. 21-10806-LTS, 2026 WL 1948096 (D. Mass. July 6, 2026) Obtained summary judgment for The Salvation Army, persuading the district court that The Salvation Army has an absolute right under the church autonomy doctrine to prohibit the use of narcotics within its Adult Rehabilitation Centers for the treatment of program participants’ opioid use disorder 
    • Confederated Tribes of Chehalis Reservation v. Mnuchin, 456 F. Supp. 3d 152 (D.D.C. 2020), injunction terminated, 471 F.Supp.3d 1 (D.D.C. 2020), stayed, Nos. 20-cv-01002 (APM), 20-cv-01059 (APM), 20-cv-01070 (APM), 2020 WL 3791874 (D.D.C. July 7, 2020), rev’d, 976 F.3d 15 (D.C. Cir. 2020), cert. granted, 592 U.S. 1163 (2021), rev’d and remanded sub. nom. Yellen v. Confederated Tribes of Chehalis Reservation, 594 U.S. 338 (2021) Obtained summary judgment in support of Treasury Department's distribution of CARES Act Title V funds to Alaska Native Corporations, persuading the court (subsequently affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court) that ANCs qualified as “Indian tribes” for purposes of CARES Act funding 
    • Kinetica Partners, LLC v. U.S. Dep’t of Interior, 505 F. Supp. 3d 653 (S.D. Tex. 2020), appeal dismissed by No. 21-20061, 2021 WL 3377978 (5th Cir. Mar. 22, 2021) Obtained summary judgment on due process grounds for Kinetica Partners, LLC, in a successful challenge to the Interior Department's order assigning offshore pipeline rights-of-way and decommissioning liabilities without notice or an opportunity to be heard 

Contract Disputes, Tort, Civil Litigation, and Trials 

• Dan advocates for clients facing contract and other business disputes, through mediation or litigation, on both the plaintiff and defense sides. He has represented clients in matters arising under breach of contract, fraud, products liability, civil RICO, and a host of federal employment and civil rights laws. 
• Dan has been part of two jury trial teams that went to verdict, has represented clients in more than a dozen bench trials, and has appeared in multiple state-court venues in cases arising under breach of contract and tort theories.