As Justice Kennedy remarked in the landmark decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act: “The Constitution’s guarantee of equality ‘must at the very least mean that a bare [governmental] desire to harm a politically...more
The United States Tax Court skillfully dodged answering the headline question with a holding on standing. The court decided, however, that IRS appeals officers and IRS appeals team managers are not officers of the United...more
As part of the recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit took steps to return to normal operations. It began requiring live oral arguments in August 2022 and, by November,...more
Two major climate change cases were decided in the last month—State of the Netherlands v. Urgenda (Dec. 20, 2019) and Juliana v. United States (Jan. 17, 2020). They illustrate sharply contrasting views about the role of...more
This past Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it has agreed to decide whether the CFPB’s single-director-removable-only-for-cause structure is constitutional. The Court granted Seila Law’s petition for a writ of...more
In July 2018, in Collins v. Mnuchin, a Fifth Circuit panel found that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is unconstitutionally structured because it is excessively insulated from Executive Branch oversight. ...more
Last month we discussed President Trump’s recent executive order entitled “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,” and the legal challenge that followed. The Order called for executive agencies to identify two...more
The legal challenge by PHH Corp. (PHH) to a June 4, 2015, decision by the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Bureau) in connection with the Bureau’s enforcement proceeding against PHH has captivated the...more