The nondelegation doctrine prevents Congress from giving away too much of its legislative power to other entities. After a strong showing in 1935, the nondelegation doctrine has remained dormant, with the Supreme Court...more
Individuals and businesses regulated by independent federal agencies may find immediate changes in agency leadership following a May 22, 2025, ruling by the United States Supreme Court....more
With May having begun, we have entered the zone in which the Supreme Court will be announcing decisions in the most important cases of this term. Among them is Federal Communications Commission v. Consumers’ Research, a...more
These are trying times for those of us who are looking to see whether American rule of law can survive its current challenges. As our executive branch tests the limits of Congressional authority, and bucks the traditions of...more
A recently leaked and apparently genuine Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Budget “Passback” memorandum—the OMB’s official feedback mechanism for budget submissions from federal agencies—signals major changes to the...more
In a realignment of judicial review standards, the Kentucky General Assembly overrode Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) veto of Senate Bill (SB) 84, effectively abolishing judicial deference to all agency interpretations of...more
On Friday, March 28, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson took the “extraordinary step” of broadly enjoining the newly installed leadership of the CFPB from “eliminat[ing] the agency before the Court has the opportunity to...more
On March 20, President Trump signed an Executive Order titled Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos, which calls for federal officials “to have full and prompt access to all unclassified agency...more
On March 28, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that President Donald Trump likely has the authority to remove National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit...more
On March 13, 2025, twenty states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration to stop its plans to cut the U.S. Department of Education’s workforce by roughly half. The case is in the U.S. District Court for the...more
Citing forfeiture, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the dismissal of a complaint against the US Patent & Trademark Office (PTO). The complaint sought director review of a 2018 Patent Trial & Appeal Board...more
By the narrowest of margins, the New York Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (“COELIG”) fended off a separation of powers challenge brought by former Governor Andrew Cuomo. The Court of Appeals, in a 4-3 decision...more
On February 21, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued a preliminary injunction pausing enforcement of several provisions of President Trump’s DEI-related executive orders on Ending Radical and...more
New York’s Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government will retain its enforcement power the Court of Appeals has ruled, dealing a blow to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s attempt to strip the state ethics board of its power...more
The United States Tax Court skillfully dodged answering the headline question with a holding on standing. The court decided, however, that IRS appeals officers and IRS appeals team managers are not officers of the United...more
On February 3, 2025, the city of Baltimore and three organizations filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland opposing the recent Trump administration executive orders (EO) focused on eliminating...more
Just eight (8) days into President Trump’s second term (and following other headline-making Executive Orders which Goodwin has covered here and here), the Acting Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) Director issued...more
In a departure from past jurisprudence, a recent DC Circuit decision questioned whether the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) had the legal authority to issue key regulations under the National Environmental...more
Clients regulated by, or who have contracts with government agencies regulated by, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) should be aware of a major, recent court decision. On November 12, 2024, the D.C. Circuit Court...more
In a surprise monumental decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) has no authority to issue regulations implementing NEPA and that CEQ’s NEPA...more
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) lacks statutory authority to issue binding regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). While the decision does not invalidate any actions...more
On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the long-standing Chevron test in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The Chevron test gave deference to a government agency’s expertise when a law is ambiguous regarding...more
The U.S. Supreme Court issued two blockbuster decisions last week, both of which likely will curtail the ability of federal agencies, including the NLRB, to prosecute cases and expand the law. In a 6-3 decision announced...more
On April 11, 2018, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2238, which eliminates the judicial doctrine commonly known as “Chevron deference.” One of the most well-known doctrines of administrative law, “Chevron...more
In a landmark decision issued last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) structure violated the Constitution’s separation-of-powers requirements. In...more