Like many immigration law professors, I have long thought that President Obama’s deferred action programs are within the Executive’s statutory and constitutional authority. But as I re-read the Fifth Circuit opinion and the briefs in US v. Texas, I am becoming persuaded that the states challenging DAPA may have a valid point about one aspect […]

In his influential dissent in Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority , 469 U.S. 528 (1985). Justice Lewis Powell offered up a harsh take on federal administrative governance. “The administration and enforcement of federal laws and regulations,” he wrote, “necessarily are largely in the hands of staff and civil service employees. These employees may […]

On the seventh anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, President Obama and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced new actions to advance equal pay for equal work. President Obama, EEOC Chair Jenny Yang, and EEOC Commissioner Charlotte Burrows announced on Friday, January 29 that the EEOC, White House, and U.S. Department […]

My co-blogger Andy Grewal expresses skepticism that the Obama administration can cure the notice-and-comment problem in United States v. Texas by initiating notice-and-comment proceedings now and then promulgating its Deferred Action for Parents of Americans policy as a new final rule. In aprior post, I said it seems “pretty clear” that such an approach would […]

Both the NYT and Connor Raso’s post below warn darkly of rumored new regulatory reform legislation. But any new bill will be a breath of fresh air, compared to its archly-partisan predecessor, the Financial Regulatory Responsibility Act of 2011. Connor and I roundly denounced the FFRA in the SSRN draft of our Rational Boundaries article. […]

In a characteristically thoughtful post, my co-blogger Daniel Hemel considers a puzzle raised by the ongoing battle over the Obama administration’s decision to offer relief to some unlawful aliens. The Supreme Court, in United States v. Texas, will soon consider the legality of the administration’s actions under the “Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and […]

I have written more than my share about clerkship hiring and the collapse of the national hiring plan.* Long story short, about three years ago, the D.C. Circuit abandoned the plan because it had become an open secret that judges and applicants around the country were not abiding by it. Following the D.C. Circuit’s decision, […]

Over the weekend, as part of my weekly review of D.C. Circuit decisions, I included a footnote listing many articles written by D.C. Circuit judges. Without question, this list is incomplete, but it is a good place to start for scholars or advocates seeking to get a sense of the Court’s judges and their scholarly […]

OIRA, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, located in the White House Office of Management and Budget, is the nation’s gatekeeper over federal regulatory activity. All executive branch agencies are prohibited from releasing economically significant regulations without first submitting their regulations to OIRA for review. In the performance of this duty OIRA is often […]

A bipartisan group in the Senate is working on a large package to reform the rulemaking process. Negotiations are ongoing but the New York Times reported last week that the package is likely to require agencies to engage in additional cost-benefit analysis that would be subject to judicial review. In joint work, I have argued […]

I’ve got a new essay coming out as part of a symposium on executive power at the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Here’s the intro: Accusations of illegality have dogged the Obama administration’s efforts to implement the Affordable Care Act, the most ambitious piece of social legislation since the advent of Medicare and Medicaid. Some […]

In many respects, the Supreme Court’s cert grant earlier this week in United States v. Texas was utterly unsurprising. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a nationwide injunction blocking a Department of Homeland Security policy that would have allowed approximately 4 million parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents to seek “deferred action” […]

Every year the federal government decides three major economic matters 1) the amount of money that the government will spend 2) the amount of money it will raise in taxes and 3) the amount of money that it will require the private sector and states, municipalities and tribes to spend on regulatory compliance costs. The […]