Politico just broke the news that the Trump administration will terminate the Affordable Care Act’s cost-sharing payments, further destabilizing the already-fragile exchanges on the eve of open enrollment. Although state regulators and insurers have taken steps to protect themselves (see this great explainer from David Anderson, Charles Gaba, Louise Norris, and Andrew Sprung), the abrupt […]
This is an interesting time in the D.C. Circuit. Last night, the Trump Administration likely mooted the House of Representatives v. Burwell/Price/Wright litigation. Last week, the Department of Justice sought rehearing en banc in Allina Health Services v. Price/Wright. The Trump Administration has also begun the process of undoing the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan, […]
As part of a discussion in preparation of a panel at the upcoming 2017 ABA Administrative Law Conference on “The State of Regulatory Reform in Congress,” it occurred to me that around these parts (Congress) “reg reform” is a widely used shorthand with no universally accepted meaning. Going back to last Congress, when Sen. Johnson […]
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has played a prominent role in the recent debate regarding Obamacare repeal and replace proposals. Many Republicans likely hoped that they could have voted on the proposals without first having CBO’s estimates bolster opposition to the proposals. After this failure to repeal and replace Obamacare, Senate Republicans plan to include in […]
My first CD was Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ Greatest Hits — perhaps the greatest CD of all time (and I’m only half kidding). I was 13 years old and listened to that disc about 800 million times. Soon thereafter I signed up with Columbia House to get 8 CDs for a penny and quickly […]
This morning, HHS released two rules that will allow many more employers to exclude contraception from the insurance plans they offer to their employees. The first expands an existing religious exemption; the second allows employers to exempt themselves by invoking a freestanding “moral objection.” As I explained when a draft of the rules first leaked, […]
Yesterday in his Supreme Court Relist Watch, John Elwood highlighted the Supreme Court’s unusual action this past summer on a cert petition regarding Chevron deference. Mr. Elwood observed that the Supreme Court relisted—again— Scenic America, Inc. v. Department of Transportation, 16-739, which garnered attention this summer when the court called for a reply . . […]
In his latest column, Cass Sunstein welcomes the new Supreme Court term by laying down a marker for Justice Gorsuch: When people challenge Trump’s executive branch for having crossed legal lines, how will Gorsuch vote? On the basis of what we know, my hunch is good news for the rule of law: No matter who […]
Last year the Administrative Conference of the United States adopted a recommendation for special procedural rules for social security litigation in the federal district court, based on an incredible empirical study on by Jonah Gelbach and David Marcus. (All of the ACUS project documents are collected here.) The study focused on, among other things, judicial remand […]
Each year the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice publishes Developments in Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. The print version of the book covers developments in agency adjudication, constitutional law and separation of powers, judicial review, and rulemaking. Additional chapters are included in the e-book version. Although I am not an […]
With the deluge of immigration law news, it is hard for every development to get the attention it deserves. Here I hope to draw some attention to a lawsuit filed on September 19, 2017 that challenges the Trump Administration’s delay of a start date of an Obama-era notice and comment rule. Days before President Trump […]
The D.C. Circuit did a noteworthy yet routine thing this week — it denied rehearing en banc in Wrenn v. District of Columbia, the Court’s recent Second Amendment case. No judge even called for a vote. Why is this “noteworthy”? Because Wrenn addressed a constitutional issue and the panel opinion prompted a dissent. So why […]
In Chamber of Commerce et al. v. IRS et al., the plaintiffs scored a major victory in their challenge to the validity of some “anti-inversion” regulations issued under Section 7874 of the Internal Revenue Code. That statute, generally speaking, limits the tax benefits that might otherwise arise when a U.S. company re-incorporates as a foreign […]
The following is an op-ed that I was shopping around for publication prior to the demise of Graham-Cassidy. It’s obviously less urgent now, but I wanted to put it out there as a time-capsule in case the bill is revived. The op-ed relates to the penultimate version of the bill, not the one that finally […]
The revised bill was leaked last night and will apparently be unveiled today. The reporting has suggested that it’s worse than before. Not only is Graham-Cassidy now full of bribes and giveaways to lure hesitant senators, but it also makes it much easier for states to avoid the application of the ACA’s insurance regulations. That’s […]