Shortly after taking office, President Trump froze funding already allocated to various parties, citing the Administration’s disapproval of issues including climate change and social equity. Additionally, executive agencies...more
For decades, businesses have focused on “doing more with less,” maximizing efficiency by optimizing resources and streamlining processes to achieve greater output with fewer inputs. This effort often involves leveraging...more
5/21/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Algorithms ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ,
Deregulation ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Trump Administration
Many parties are rightly concerned about the impact of yesterday’s announcement that nearly all federal funds will be frozen for an indeterminate period. Minutes before it was intended to go into effect today, a federal judge...more
1/29/2025
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Funding ,
Federal Grants ,
First Amendment ,
Furloughs ,
Government Agencies ,
Layoffs ,
OMB ,
Regulatory Freeze ,
Reimbursements ,
Trump Administration
In the environmental space, 2024 has been a memorable year with regulatory efforts and court decisions touching on every aspect of environmental and energy regulation, capped out by a closely divided election....more
12/24/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Citizen Suits ,
Clean Air Act ,
Climate Change ,
Coal Industry ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
PFAS ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Reporting Requirements ,
SCOTUS ,
Spokeo v Robins ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
TransUnion LLC v Ramirez
In a departure from past jurisprudence, a recent DC Circuit decision questioned whether the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) had the legal authority to issue key regulations under the National Environmental...more
11/26/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Audubon Society ,
Aviation Industry ,
CEQ ,
Environmental Policies ,
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ,
Government Agencies ,
National Park Service ,
NEPA ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Separation of Powers ,
Statutory Authority
Discussion of administrative law usually doesn’t happen at the dinner table. But a series of recent US Supreme Court decisions may have changed this introducing talk of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and the...more
7/15/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v Food and Drug Administration ,
Chevron Deference ,
Corner Post Inc v Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Ohio v Environmental Protection Agency ,
Public Trust Doctrine ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
SEC v Jarkesy ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Statutory Interpretation
On the final day of its term, the US Supreme Court rejected the principle of “administrative finality,” an additional blow to federal agencies after the Court rejected “Chevron deference” the previous day....more
On the second-to-last day of its term, the US Supreme Court issued its decisions in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Dep’t of Commerce. These decisions overruled Chevron USA. v. National Resource...more
7/2/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Chevron Deference ,
Chevron v NRDC ,
Clean Air Act ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Authority ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
National Marine Fisheries Service ,
Regulatory Authority ,
SCOTUS ,
SEC v Jarkesy ,
Statutory Interpretation ,
West Virginia v EPA
Policy debates normally focus on substance. Is climate change real? How can business entities weigh environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into their decision-making?
...more
3/25/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Appeals ,
Biden Administration ,
Climate Change ,
Declaratory Judgments ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Injunctions ,
New Rules ,
SCOTUS ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Supremacy Clause
Environmental justice (EJ) issues continue to feature prominently in national headlines in 2024. Below, we unpack two Louisiana EJ-focused court decisions and outline seven takeaways for the regulated community....more
Louisiana has been at the center of the Biden Administration’s prioritization of environmental justice (EJ) issues.
In United States v. Denka Performance Elastomer, the Eastern District of Louisiana granted a motion by the...more
9/11/2023
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Biden Administration ,
Clean Air Act ,
Emergency Powers ,
Environmental Justice ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Louisiana ,
NESHAP ,
OMB ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Public Health ,
Rulemaking Process ,
Statute of Limitations
The past year has seen a new star become fixed in the judicial firmament. The US District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division, has found new prominence, most recently retaining a challenge 26 states...more
Regulations matter. Federal executive action is supposed to be rooted in statutes, established through regulatory processes generally tied to the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and — at least conceptually — rooted in the...more
How the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will factor environmental justice (EJ) principles into permitting decisions remained largely an open question throughout 2022. In the waning days of the year, EPA’s Office of...more
“Administrative deference” is a key component to the modern regulatory state. The “Chevron doctrine,” i.e., the concept that the courts should defer to relevant agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes they are tasked...more
The first Monday of October means the Supreme Court begins to hear cases for the new term. As we promised at the end of last term, below we summarize cases the Court could address, including issues involving the federal Clean...more
10/3/2022
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Anti-Commandeering ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ,
Rapanos v US ,
Sackett ,
SCOTUS ,
Spending Clause ,
Tenth Amendment ,
Texas v US ,
Waters of the United States
The US Supreme Court’s decisions of late have been consequential. While headline-grabbing decisions deal with religious liberties, privacy, and gun control, the Court’s impact on administrative law will have major...more
7/7/2022
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Biden v Missouri ,
Chevron Deference ,
Clean Air Act ,
Clean Power Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Jurisdiction ,
Medicaid ,
Medicare ,
National Federation of Independent Business v Department of Labor and OSHA ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS
The Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) “Mask Mandate” was recently vacated by a Florida district court on the grounds that it exceeded CDC’s statutory authority and violated the procedures for executive branch rulemaking set...more
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently updated its guidance on “sue-and-settle” situations – a contentious approach to resolving claims alleging that the agency has failed to perform a required duty. Successive...more
New legislation often starts a cat-and-mouse game between the executive branch and regulated entities related to how statutory language is implemented. While we often write about environmental statutes, the procedural...more