The Trump administration’s draft contraception rule would not only allow employers to drop contraception coverage for religious reasons. It would also allow employers who have moral objections to do the same. That gives rise to a puzzle. The lawsuits over the contraception mandate have focused on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which requires the […]

The Administrative Conference of the United States will hold its 67th Annual Plenary Session on Friday, June 16th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.  The Assembly will consider proposed recommendations on two subjects.  From the Federal Register notice: Adjudication Materials on Agency Web sites. This proposed recommendation provides guidance regarding the online dissemination of administrative […]

Next Wednesday, June 7, at 10:00AM the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) will hold its hearing on the nomination of Neomi Rao to serve as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs — a position which is been dubbed the President’s “regulatory czar.” This morning we submitted to HSGAC a letter from […]

This looks like a terrific event, with some of my favorite adlaw scholars speaking.  From the D.C. Bar website: Administrative Law: Year in Review Date & Time: Wednesday, June 7, 2017 from 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm CLE Credit: No Event Description From key court decisions, to Congress’s unprecedented use of the Congressional Review Act, […]

Yesterday, Dylan Scott and Sarah Kliff at Vox got their hands on a leaked version of a draft rule from HHS that, if adopted, would make it much easier for employers to drop contraception coverage for their employees. The rule is under review at the Office of Management and Budget; it could be approved any […]

The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee reported out S. 591, the Regulatory Accountability Act of 2017. The bill’s proposed addition of section 553(c)(6) to the Administrative Procedure Act warrants attention. The provision has already been the focus of consideration in The Regulatory Review: Daniel E. Walters, Ditch the Flawed Legislative Proposal to Police […]

Yesterday, the Court decided Esquivel-Quintana v. Sessions, an immigration case implicating Chevron. Under Chevron, of course, courts and agencies are bound by unambiguous statutes. But if a statute is ambiguous, courts must defer to reasonable interpretations of that statute rendered by the agency charged with interpreting that statute.   One issue underlying Chevron is identifying what […]

Prosecutorial discretion refers to the decision made by employees of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) about whether and to what extent immigration laws should be exercised against a person or group of persons. When DHS chooses to not pursue arrest or detention of an undocumented mother living in the United States for many years […]

This week the D.C. Circuit sitting en banc heard arguments in its blockbuster (by Washington standards) double-header featuring the appointments and removal implications of Article II. In a nutshell, the cases address whether Article II’s transparency and accountability requirements mean (i) a single head of an executive branch agency must be removable at will (PHH […]