A news release from the Competitive Enterprise Institute notes that the attorneys general of Michigan, Oklahoma, and South Carolina have joined their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of portions of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The original suit challenged several Dodd-Frank provisions, including creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Board. The states’ […]
Archive | Administrative Law
Sackett v. EPA and the Due Process Deficit in Environmental Law
Last term, in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, a unanimous Supreme Court rejected the EPA’s effort to deny private landowners an opportunity to challenge the agency’s assertion of jurisdiction over their land. The Sacketts wanted to build a home in a subdivision, but the EPA concluded the Sacketts’ land to contain jurisdictional wetlands under the […]
En Banc Petitions in D.C. Circuit Greenhouse Gas Litigation
By Jonathan H. Adler on August 28, 2012 3:48 pm in Administrative Law, Climate Change, Environment, Standing
Earlier this month, several of the parties challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act filed petitions for panel rehearing or rehearing en banc in Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA, in which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit turned away all of the state […]
Two Big Decisions from D.C. Circuit
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued two significant decisions today. In the first, Sherley v. Sebelius, a unanimous panel affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the federal government rejecting a challenge to federal funding of emryonic stem cell research. Chief Judge Sentelle wrote for the court. Judges Henderson […]
House Hearing to Consider Illegal IRS Rule Implementing Health Care Reform
By Jonathan H. Adler on August 2, 2012 1:37 am in Administrative Law, Health Care, Insurance Exchanges
Today the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is holding a hearing on the Internal Revenue Service’s role in “Enforcing ObamaCare’s New Rules and Taxes.” Among the subjects of the hearing is a recent IRS rule authorizing tax credits and subsidies for the purchase of qualifying health insurance plans in federally-run exchanges. Although the […]
D.C. Circuit Holds Copyright Royalty Board Unconstitutional
By Jonathan H. Adler on July 6, 2012 11:27 am in Administrative Law, Copyright, Separation of Powers
This morning, in Intercollegiate Broadcast System v. Copyright Royalty Board, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit consisting of Judges Garland, Griffith, and Senior Judge Williams declared the Copyright Royalty Board to be unconstitutional under the Appointments Clause, and adopts a narrow fix. This was not a surprising development, […]
RegBlog Symposium on “Romney’s Regulatory Plan”
This week RegBlog is publishing an online symposium on Mitt Romney’s regulatory proposals. Participants include Ronald Cass, William Funk, Jack Beermann, Richard Murphy, and yours truly. One piece will be posted each day. Ron Cass’ essay is here. Mine will appear tomorrow. UPDATE: My contribution is now online here.
Suit Filed Challenging Constitutionality of CFPB
The State National Bank of Big Spring, Texas, the 60-Plus Association, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed suit against the Consumer Financial Protection Board alleging that the CFPB, as currently structured, is unconstitutional. Specifically the suit alleges that the CFPB lacks political accountability because, among other things, the President cannot remove the Bureau’s director save […]
Georgia-Pacific West v NEDC: a good case for certiorari
By David Kopel on June 20, 2012 12:35 pm in Administrative Law, Environment, Supreme Court, Uncategorized
Court-watchers are wondering if Thursday, June 21, will see the release of Supreme Court rulings on Obamacare or Arizona’s laws against illegal aliens. There’s another important decision that the Court almost certainly make on Thursday: whether to grant certiorari in Georgia-Pacific West v. Northwest Environment Defense Center. (All the relevant documents are here, on Scotusblog.) Jonathan […]
Auer Deference Still Up for Grabs?
Today the Supreme Court decidedChristopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., which concerned whether pharmaceutical sales representatives are subject to the “outside sales” exemption from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime requirements. The Department of Labor had claimed pharma reps are not exempt, but how its regulations applied to pharma reps was unclear and the Department’s position and jusitifcation […]
Chevron Deference and Jurisdictional Questions
Should a federal agency receive Chevron deference for its interpretation of a statute of limitations governing violations of the statute it enforces? In AKM LLC v. Secretary of Labor the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied an attempt by the Occupational Safety and Health Commission to fine an employer for failing to […]
The Return of Heckler v. Chaney?
Back in the 1980s, some death penalty abolitionists came up with the clever idea to sue the Food and Drug Administration to force the regulation of drugs used for lethal injection. Because drugs used for lethal injection could not be considered “safe and effective” for this use — at least not as far as the […]
New Executive Order on Regulatory Harmonization
Yesterday the White House released a new Executive Order on “Promoting International Regulatory Cooperation.” The stated purpose of the E.O. is to encourage the harmonization of regulatory requirements to simplify regulatory compliance, reduce costs for transational companies and facilitate international trade. As OIRA Administrator Cass Sunstein explains in a White House release: The new Executive […]
Are Officials in the IRS Appeals Office “Officers” of the United States?
In Tucker v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit made relatively quick work of a constitutional challenge to the authority of the Internal Revenue Service’s Office of Appeals. Senior Judge Stephen Williams’ opinion for the court begins: Taxpayer Larry Tucker appeals a judgment of the Tax Court rejecting […]
Thoughts on Sackett v. EPA
The regulators lost to the regulated today in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency. As Ilya notes below, the Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion held that property owners and other regulated parties may challenge administrative compliance orders issued by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Clean Water Act. This is a small, yet significant, victory guaranteeing a […]