Enforcement & Agency Coercion

Deep Dive Episode 226 – Due Process Protections in Agency Enforcement Actions

Steven Bradbury, Sheng Li, and Beth Williams provided an update on Polyweave Packaging v. Buttigieg and discussed the case’s implications for administrative rulemaking and due process.

Deep Dive Episode 222 – The Return of Supplemental Environmental Projects

Three executive branch veterans with a range of views on the issue joined us for a virtual discussion on the return of SEPs.

Deep Dive Episode 200 – Corporate Social Responsibility, Investment Strategy, and Liability Risks

A distinguished panel joins us to discuss a new paper that examines the legal implications of the rise of “ESG” investing.

Deep Dive Episode 196 – Brace Yourself: Discussing The ATF’s Rulemaking On Forearm Stabilizing

An expert panel debates a proposed rule that could subject almost all firearms with forearm stabilizing braces to the National Firearms Act of 1934.

Deep Dive Episode 172 – Third-Party Payments in Government Litigation Settlements

Experts debate whether third-party payments in government litigation settlements will – and should – be utilized by the new administration.

Deep Dive Episode 129 – Environmental Citizen Suits and SEPs: Do Constitutional and Nondelegation Concerns Outweigh Environmental Benefits?

Are Supplemental Environmental Projects–citizen suits filed alongside the government’s environmental enforcement actions–an unconstitutional infringement on a core executive function?

Deep Dive Episode 101 – Litigation Update: Neora v. FTC

Neora Co-CEO Deborah Heisz and lead litigation counsel Ed Burbach of Foley & Lardner join us to describe their last four years of interactions with the FTC and the ultimate “fencing in” proposal that lead them to file suit.

Explainer Episode 4 – Civil Rights and Vanity Plates

A USC professor was barred by the California DMV from putting a soccer slogan on his vanity plate; were his free speech rights violated?

Deep Dive Episode 59 – Cedar Point Nursery v. Shiroma

A recent Ninth Circuit decision held that a California regulation allowing labor organizers to spend time on an employer’s property for the purpose of soliciting union membership did not count as a ‘physical taking’ under the 5th Amendment. Wen Fa and Bethany Berger discuss the implications of this decision.

Deep Dive Episode 54 – Department of Interior Considers Rulemaking on the Right to Use Eagle Feathers in Religious Exercise

It is currently a federal crime, under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, for many Native Americans to possess eagle feathers for religious use. In the 53rd episode of the Fourth Branch podcast series, Joe Davis addressed the proposed rulemaking and its relationship to evolving First Amendment jurisprudence.

Deep Dive Episode 23 – En Banc D.C. Circuit Upholds CFPB Constitutionality

Amb. C. Boyden Gray and Adam Gustafson (Boyden Gray & Associates) discuss the recent en banc decision in PHH v. CFPB, which considers the constitutionality of the CFPB, and whether the case is likely to reach the Supreme Court of the United States.

Deep Dive Episode 11 – Heimlich Maneuver on Operation Choke Point?

Listen to Pete Patterson (Cooper & Kirk) discuss Operation Choke Point, the recent Department of Justice letter denouncing its participation in this initiative, and litigation against federal agencies who have participated in it.

Deep Dive Episode 8 – Cardiac Arrest: A Cautionary Tale

Listen to Howard Root’s story of going from the CEO of Vascular Solutions, Inc. to defending himself and his company in court.

Deep Dive Episode 3 – SEC Increased Use of Administrative Proceedings and “The $2,200 Man”

Michael Kelly (Hogan Lovells) and Eric Wanger (Wanger Investment Management) discuss the SEC’s use of administrative proceedings in this episode of Fourth Branch.

SCOTUS Strikes Down Structure of CFPB’s Director Position

John Shu

Today, in Seila Law, LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Supreme Court struck down the CFPB’s leadership structure of a single director with a five-year term, removable only for inefficiency, neglect, or malfeasance, because it violates the separation of powers.

It Shouldn’t Be Illegal to Wear a T-shirt

Wen Fa

It shouldn’t be illegal to wear a t-shirt. Yet several states, including California, Colorado, and Tennessee, have established buffer zones in which political expression is forbidden when it matters the most. On Election Day, voters in these states are forbidden from wearing t-shirts or buttons that ostensibly express political messages. In some states, Americans are even prohibited from displaying political yard signs on their own property if they happen to reside too close to a school or a church that’s being used as a polling place.

Speech Police at the DMV: Regulation and Arbitrary Rule

Wen Fa

Vague laws invite arbitrary power. Laws that require regulators to censor speech they find offensive, for example, give them free rein to make decisions that are arbitrary, biased, and unjust.