Notice & Comment

Notice & Comment

Notice & Comment

Should Congress Impeach Obama for His Emoluments Clause Violations?

My prior post explained how ordinary business transactions between foreign governments and the Trump Organization would not automatically create violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause regarding President-elect Trump. That post concluded that the term “emolument” refers only to payments made in connection with the performance of services for a foreign government (whether as an officer or employee), […]

Notice & Comment

Promoting the Alternative to the Alternative to Courts, by Renée M. Landers

In A Report to the President-Elect of the United States 2016, the ABA’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice calls attention to the opportunity to enhance to the efficiency of, and satisfaction with, the outcomes of agency adjudications by expanding the government’s commitment to using ADR techniques. Any discussion of ADR in the context […]

Notice & Comment

What Is a FOIA “Record”? Some Thoughts on D.C. Circuit’s Decision in AILA v. EOIR

One of the cases I discussed during my presentation on developments in agency adjudication at the annual ABA Administrative Law Conference last week was the D.C. Circuit’s decision in American Immigration Lawyers Association v. Executive Office for Immigration Review. In this case, the D.C. Circuit addressed a number of important issues related to a Freedom of Information […]

Notice & Comment

Republicans and the Russians: What Sen. McConnell’s inquiry has to do with Fed independence

Today Senator Mitch McConnell, in an apparent reversal, launched what he described as a bipartisan inquiry into whether the Russian government sought to interfere with the US election. Given that President-elect Trump hasn’t been too fond of this theory of the election, and that Sen. McConnell forcefully defended the CIA and intelligence community while the […]

Notice & Comment

ABA Section of Administrative Law Recommends Research Projects for ACUS, by Levon Schlichter and Lynn White

In addition to sending robust recommendations to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team on administrative law issues for the new administration to consider, the ABA Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice (“Section”) also recently sent several recommendations for potential research projects to the Administrative Conference of the United States (“ACUS”). These recommendations are very timely […]

Notice & Comment

ACUS Project on Self-Represented Parties in Administrative Hearings – Understudied But Important, by Connie Vogelmann

Each year, diverse federal agencies conduct millions of hearings, making determinations that can have a profound impact on the parties participating in them. For instance, agency hearings can decide eligibility for disability or veterans’ benefits or can determine immigration status, with decisions impacting a party’s financial security or right to remain in the United States. […]

Notice & Comment

Where It Hurts

It’s unclear how many Americans fully understand the meaning of the U.S. (and many other countries’) “one China policy” and the history behind it, but Donald Trump’s recent phone call with Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwanese president who won this year’s elections in part on an interpretation of “one China” that included greater autonomy for Taiwan, […]

Notice & Comment

Introducing the Congressional Clerkship, by Abbe R. Gluck & Dakota S. Rudesill

In this era of gridlock and difficult politics, a bipartisan group of Senators has done something worth celebrating. On Monday, with the introduction of the Daniel Webster Congressional Clerkship Act, S. 3499, the Senate has taken the first step not only toward busting the judicial clerkship monopoly on mentoring fresh young law graduates but also […]

Notice & Comment

Boom goes the ACA?

Republicans may have the votes pass a reconciliation bill that will hollow out the ACA in a few years. They pinkie swear that, at that point, they’ll pass some kind of replacement. But for that to work, they’ll need Democratic support. Chuck Schumer is already saying they won’t get it: “We’re not going to do […]

Notice & Comment

What DOJ Opinions Say About Trump and the Foreign Emoluments Clause

My prior post explained how the Foreign Emoluments Clause probably would not apply to ordinary business transactions between foreign governments and Donald Trump’s businesses. That post assumed, as a threshold matter, that the Foreign Emoluments Clause, which applies to holders of an “Office of Profit or Trust,” reaches the President. However, as noted in the […]

Notice & Comment

Tracker of Trump Administration Nominations

Excellent resource for adlaw geeks interested in transition. Per the Washington Post here: The Post and Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, are tracking these 662 executive branch appointments through the nomination process. These positions include Cabinet secretaries, deputy and assistant secretaries, chief financial officers, general counsel, heads of agencies, ambassadors and other […]

Notice & Comment

The rich are about to get a big tax cut.

Shortly after his nomination as Treasury Secretary was announced, Steven Mnuchin went on television to offer some tax-reform principles that would guide the new administration: Any reductions we have in upper income taxes will be offset by less deductions so that there will be no absolute tax cut for the upper class. There will be […]