Tennessee woman asks court to void ban on dolphin-assisted therapy issued by unconstitutionally appointed official

Nashville, Tennessee; August 17, 2026: A Tennessee woman filed a lawsuit on Friday challenging a federal rule that blocks access to dolphin-assisted therapy in Hawaii. Catherine Gatzimos alleges that the rule, which bans swimming with or approaching Hawaii’s spinner dolphins within 50 yards, is invalid because it was issued by a career bureaucrat, not a democratically accountable political appointee.

“Government employees can’t make rules. The Constitution is clear about that,” said Michael Poon, an attorney with Pacific Legal Foundation. “Yet the government has tried to work around the Constitution by approving employee-made rules after the fact. The law does not allow that either. The Constitution requires important decisions to be made only by officials appointed by the president, who is accountable to the people.”

After a personal trauma, Gatzimos traveled to Hawaii for dolphin-assisted therapy and found the experience profoundly healing. But by issuing the Approach Rule, a career employee at the National Marine Fisheries Service unilaterally ended dolphin-assisted therapy and cut off access for patients seeking the treatment.

Gatzimos’ lawsuit challenges the rule under the Constitution’s Appointments Clause and asks the court to vacate it. A victory would reaffirm that unconstitutional rules cannot be rescued by after-the-fact bureaucratic approval and would restore access to dolphin-assisted therapy for Gatzimos and others in search of healing.

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Gatzimos free of charge, along with attorney John I. Harris III. The case is Catherine Gatzimos v. Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.