The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is codified with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) as part of Title 5 of the U.S. Code, and FOIA law is uncontroversially considered a subset of administrative law. At the same time, FOIA is unique, with its own judicial review provision and standards, as well as rather unconventional litigation […]
On March 25, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two related Clean Air Act cases: Oklahoma v. EPA and EPA v. Calumet Shreveport Refining LLC. The question before the Court in both cases relates to the administrative-law hot topic of venue shopping: Specifically, whether the EPA final action under review may be challenged in […]
In 2023, I used this blog to criticize the Supreme Court’s decision in Calcutt v. FDIC as “unnecessary, unfortunate, and unpersuasive, all at the same time.” So I felt vindicated when, last week, in FDA v. Wages & White Lion Investments, the Court clarified that it didn’t really mean what it said in Calcutt. Along […]
As Judge Griffith covered last week, the motions panel at the D.C. Circuit has remained busy of late. It appears this month will be no exception. Last week, the D.C. Circuit administratively stayed much of the district court’s preliminary injunction in National Treasury Employees Union v. Vought, No. 25-5091, which had prevented the government from […]
Excessive deregulation creates harmful uncertainty for AI innovators. America needs a principles-based approach balancing clear guidelines with room for experimentation.
Intentionally or not, the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Bondi v. VanDerStok has the potential to dent the arc of administrative law. As Justice Alito observed in his dissent, the case could end up being a “huge boon for the administrative state.” Below, we explain why. At issue in VanDerStok was a 2022 rule […]
As Eloise Pasachoff, Zachary Price, and I describe in a forthcoming essay, the second Trump Administration is implementing unilateral executive control over federal spending—or “appropriations presidentialism”—with a breadth and magnitude that is unprecedented. Much of the recent public discourse around this appropriations presidentialism has focused on DOGE’s “efficiency” efforts and OMB Director Russ Vought’s assertion […]
The Trump Administration has ushered in a new regulatory landscape in the Fifth Circuit. It is relatively peaceful, as most new litigants have brought their claims in forums perceived to be more liberal than that court (which has long been dominated by Republican-appointed judges). As Damonta Morgan and I continue to bring you the latest […]
Things don’t move fast in Washington—until they do. Just hours after we published our piece explaining why EPA waivers of Clean Air Act preemption are subject to congressional review under the CRA, GAO published a memo of “observations” taking the opposite view. In addition, UC Berkeley Professors Dan Farber and Eric Biber have explained in […]
All eyes were on the D.C. Circuit this week for J.G.G. v. Trump, No. 25-5067. The case arises from President Trump’s March 15, 2025 Proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act (“AEA”), ch. 66, 1 Stat. 577 (1798) (codified as amended at 50 U.S.C. §§ 21-24) to order deportation of Venezuelan nationals that the federal government alleges […]
For several months in 2022 and 2023, I wrote a series of blog posts called “The Major Questions Doctrine Reading List.” These posts came in the aftermath of several high-profile cases involving the MQD. My hope was that I could spotlight good scholarship and provide a shared language for talking about the MQD. For the […]
The D.C. Circuit did not decide a nondelegation case last week. But while I have you, and the nondelegation doctrine and fee-setting are surely on your mind, I commend to your attention a recent article Professor Erika Lietzan: User Fee Programs. It surveys fee programs across the federal government and touches on the question whether […]
Today’s Ad Law Reading Room entry is “Rethinking the Administrative-Remand Rule,” by Matthew J. Sanders, which is forthcoming in the Stanford Law Review. Here is the abstract: With a few exceptions, the federal courts of appeals have jurisdiction over—and only over—“final decisions” of the district courts. There is a little-known but highly consequential rule, known […]
FCC v. Consumers’ Research (set to be argued on March 26) presents the Supreme Court with its latest chance to revitalize the nondelegation doctrine. The case centers on the multi-billion dollar universal service fund (USF) that, by statute, the FCC funds with fees from interstate telecom carriers to pay for various subsidy programs. The en […]
On January 20, 2025, President Trump’s first act was to end birthright citizenship by executive fiat with the “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” executive order. On March 13, 2025, after four federal courts enjoined the implementation of the executive order, the Trump Administration petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to allow him to […]