Karen Harned
In December, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in two cases challenging the student loan forgiveness program that President Biden announced in August of last year. Biden v. Nebraska was brought by six states: Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Carolina. Department of Education v. Brown was brought by two individuals with student loans.
Read this articleZvi Rosen
On Oct 13, 2022, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals heard argument in a case about whether a publisher is required to deposit copies of books with the Library of Congress, even if they don’t apply for copyright registration.
Read this articleSvetlana Gans and Josh Zuckerman
On November 7, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Axon Enterprise, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission. The case presents a narrow but vital question of administrative law. Do district courts have jurisdiction to hear “constitutional challenges to the Federal Trade Commission’s structure, procedures, and existence?” Or must plaintiffs first raise such constitutional challenges in administrative proceedings before the FTC?
Read this articleJonathan Adler
In West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court correctly concluded that the Obama Administration and U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit embraced an overbroad understanding of the EPA’s authority under Section 7411 of the Clean Air Act. The way the Court reached that conclusion left something to be desired, however. As I discuss in my forthcoming analysis of the case for the Cato Supreme Court Review, the Court front-loaded its consideration of the major questions doctrine and failed to fully engage with the relevant statutory provisions. It also missed an opportunity to refocus the major questions doctrine on what really matters in cases like this: What power did Congress delegate to the agency.
Read this articleDaren Bakst
Even for experts who regularly track energy and environmental regulations, it can be difficult to stay abreast of many important regulations that have been proposed or soon will be proposed across the federal government. This post is intended to help those interested in federal energy and environmental regulations. While by no means comprehensive, its focus is identifying many important rules that have been proposed and are still receiving comments (as of the date of this writing) or that will soon be proposed, that is, they are still under Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) EO 12866 review.
Read this articleNorbert Michel
On Tuesday June 7, I had the privilege of participating in Crypto Wars: Balancing Privacy versus National Security, a Federalist Society panel moderated by Dina Rochkind. The other panelists–Michele Korver, Kathy Kraninger, and Mick Mulvaney–and I discussed a wide range of issues related to the current regulatory environment for digital assets, a bit broader than the title might suggest.
Read this articleJohn Berlau
The recent ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in Jarkesy v. SEC is a victory for limited constitutional government on many levels. As Mario Loyola, professor at Florida International University and senior fellow at my organization, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), writes in The Wall Street Journal, the court “has taken what could be a historic step toward restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances.”
Read this articleSusan Dudley
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Howard Beales and Tim Muris review the results of the Federal Trade Commission’s previous efforts (in the 1970s) to reshape the economy through rushed rulemaking; it is a disastrous history that the FTC’s new majority seems determined to repeat.
Read this articleWayne A. Abernathy
Rule of Law or Rule of Experts? Almost exactly 9 years ago, I spoke to this question, posed by the erosion of the Constitution’s separation of powers. At a legal symposium in Philadelphia, I raised the problem of concentration of say-so in federal financial regulators.
Read this articleNicholas Nelson
In November, the Federalist Society’s Regulatory Transparency Project presented a panel discussion on the history of FTC rulemaking authority.
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