The first weeks of the Trump Administration have been defined by executive orders and new policies that were immediately challenged on constitutional or statutory grounds....more
A Biden-era US Department of Labor (DOL) Rule permitting consideration of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors when choosing investments as a “tiebreaker” was recently upheld by Texas federal Judge Matthew...more
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
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 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
The US Supreme Court has announced it will evaluate whether “impact fees” associated with permits can violate the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution. At stake is the determination of when, how, and under what...more
10/26/2023
/ Appeals ,
Compensation ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Fees ,
Fifth Amendment ,
George Sheetz v County of El Dorado ,
Impact Fees ,
Koontz v St John's River Water Management ,
Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo ,
Permits ,
Regulatory Takings ,
Relentless Inc v US Department of Commerce ,
SCOTUS
This US Supreme Court’s administrative and environmental decisions were somewhat predictable for much of the 2022-2023 term. And then they weren’t – the final weeks of the term especially featured some high-drama decisions....more
7/13/2023
/ 303 Creative LLC v Elenis ,
Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Clean Water Act ,
Department of Education v Brown ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Haaland v Brackeen ,
Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
NEPA ,
Notice of Violation ,
Rapanos v US ,
Sackett v EPA ,
SCOTUS ,
Student Loans ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina ,
Title VI ,
Waters of the United States ,
Wetlands
Last week, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Biden Administration’s efforts to cancel $430 billion in student loan balances was legally unsupportable.
Forty-three million Americans will remember Biden v. Nebraska when...more
7/10/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
Debt Relief ,
Department of Education ,
Department of Education v Brown ,
Haaland v Brackeen ,
Loan Forgiveness ,
OSHA ,
SCOTUS ,
Secretary of Education ,
Standing ,
Student Loans ,
West Virginia v EPA
In a closely watched environmental Clean Water Act (CWA) case, the US Supreme Court adopted a far narrower construction of CWA’s definition of “waters of the United States,” functionally shifting significant authority over...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 concept of “administrative deference” is a key component to the modern regulatory state. An important aspect of administrative deference is the “Chevron doctrine,” i.e. the concept that the courts should defer to relevant...more