If you care about administrative law judges (and who doesn’t?*), you ought to follow Kent Barnett on Twitter (ugh). He knows more about ALJs — and their cousins, administrative judges — than anyone I know. And if you care about the Appointments Clause (and, again, who doesn’t?**), you ought to follow Jenn Mascott on Twitter. […]
Yesterday the Supreme Court ruled in Lucia v. SEC, evaluating whether the Securities and Exchange Commission had used improper methods to hire its administrative law judges. A fairly lopsided 7-2 margin of justices concluded that it had. Standing alone, Justice Stephen Breyer found that the SEC had committed a statutory violation by improperly delegating appointments […]
In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 2018 WL 2465172 (June 4, 2018), the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a Colorado Civil Right Commission decision requiring a bakery to sell a cake in connection with a same-sex couple’s wedding reception, despite the owner’s religious opposition to same-sex marriage. It held that unconstitutionally anti-religious bias infected […]
The Supreme Court tossed a proverbial squib into the administrative law world this morning, and the takes, hot and otherwise, are sparking everywhere. It handed down three decisions with implications for administrative law: Lucia v. SEC, Pereira v. Sessions, and Wisconsin Central Ltd. v. United States. Lucia, which already had its own symposium on this […]
In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 2018 WL 2465172 (June 4, 2018), the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a Colorado Civil Right Commission decision requiring a bakery to sell a cake in connection with a same-sex couple’s wedding reception, despite the owner’s religious opposition to same-sex marriage. It held that unconstitutionally anti-religious bias infected […]
In recent years, several posts on this blog have analyzed how individual judges on President Trump’s Supreme Court shortlist approach questions of administrative law. (See here and here.) To our knowledge, however, no one has written about one of the leading contenders—Judge Raymond Kethledge. This two-part series attempts to fill that gap. The first post […]
Senator Mitch McConnell recently announced that he intends to eliminate much of the August recess so that the Senate has more time to confirm nominees and pass funding legislation. Senate Republicans want this extra time because even if Republicans have the votes (i.e., 60 for legislation and 50 for nominations), they still need 30 hours […]
In my April 9 guest blogpost, “Auer Deference with a Foreign Twist,” I discussed the issues before the Court in Animal Science Products, Inc. v. Hebei Welcome Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. The case involved a federal class action antitrust and price-fixing jury trial verdict for $147 million against two Chinese vitamin C manufacturers that was overturned […]
In Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), the Supreme Court held that the Free Exercise Clause did not require governments to exempt religious adherents from generally applicable laws, even when those laws prohibited self-regarding actions performed as a part of a religious ceremony (namely ingesting peyote). Id. at 877-79. Resolving a claim […]
A slew of amicus briefs were filed yesterday in the Texas lawsuit, almost every one of them pushing back on the argument that the Affordable Care Act should be invalidated, in whole or in part. (I filed one myself, together with a bipartisan group of law professors.) Today, I wanted to highlight one of those […]
From time to time I indulge my theoretical side. At heart, however, I’m a pretty practical person. That’s why I love being a lawyer. Law requires theory. But it isn’t just theory; it is theory applied to very practical problems.* The D.C. Circuit, like the Supreme Court, is a theory-heavy court. But it also is […]
The Trump administration’s refusal to defend portions of the Affordable Care Act is shocking enough. Equally shocking is how little it seems to care what happens if it gets what it’s asking for. One question in particular: what about legal protections for the 160 million people who get insurance through their employers? Will their insurance […]
Today was a bad day for insurers seeking more than $12 billion in risk corridor money from the United States. Over a dissent, the Federal Circuit ruled that the federal government doesn’t owe them a cent. (I’ve been following the litigation for a long time; you can catch up on my prior posts here.) The […]
Together with a bipartisan group of law professors—Jonathan Adler, Abbe Gluck, Ilya Somin, and Kevin Walsh—I submitted an amicus brief today in the Texas litigation over the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Joe Palmore at Morrison and Foerster graciously helped to pull the brief together; he did characteristically excellent work. The amicus brief doesn’t […]
In an unexpected move, the Justice Department filed a brief this evening urging a Texas court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act’s crucial insurance reforms—including the prohibition on refusing to cover people with preexisting conditions. Although the ACA is not in immediate peril, the brief represents a blow to the integrity of the Justice Department. […]