President Donald Trump has made reducing the size and scope of the federal government a central part of his second-term agenda. Toward that end, in recent days the Trump administration has taken aggressive steps toward...more
5/2/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Deregulation ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
SCOTUS ,
Trump Administration
It is rare for the U.S. Supreme Court to construe a statutory phrase on multiple occasions. And yet now, for purposes of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA or the Act), it has rendered no less than four interpretations of the...more
Federal agencies issue hundreds of significant rules each year, affecting virtually all aspects of U.S. economic activity. For decades, businesses, consumers, environmental and labor groups, and others have challenged these...more
7/12/2019
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Ambiguous ,
Appeals ,
Auer Deference ,
Kisor v Wilkie ,
Reasonable Interpretations ,
Remand ,
SCOTUS ,
Stare Decisis ,
Vacated ,
Veterans' Benefits
On June 21, 2018 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lucia et al. v. Securities and Exchange Commission, [1] that the appointment of certain administrative law judges (“ALJs”) was unconstitutional, and that those with matters...more
7/2/2018
/ Administrative Agencies ,
Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Administrative Proceedings ,
Appeals ,
Appointments Clause ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Final Written Decisions ,
Lucia v SEC ,
Officers of the United States ,
Remand ,
Reversal ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Violations ,
Special Trial Judges (STJs)
Imagine this hypothetical: A local fire marshal says to Mary Jones, who runs the residence halls at a major university, “It must be nice having seats at the Saturday football games.” Mary gets the message and thinks that if...more
Over the last three decades, federal agencies have increasingly used “interpretations” to “explain” what a formal regulation means, rather than to go through the more expensive, complicated and slow process of changing the...more
In 2007, the Supreme Court told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) it was wrong to conclude that it lacked the authority to regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs) emitted from vehicles, because GHGs are an “air...more
Two years ago, we reported that the D.C. Circuit vacated and remanded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (“EPA”) second attempt at regulation of air pollution crossing state borders. Facing two strikes, EPA swung for...more