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Case Status: Closed
Focus Area:
Agency: Rhode Island Department of Health
Jurisdiction: D. R.I.
Role: Counsel
Case Status: Closed
Focus Area:
Judicial Deference
Deference doctrines require judges to defer to an administrative agency’s fact finding, or its interpretation of statutes and regulations. Thus, judges surrender their independent judgment and, where the government is a party, must exhibit systematic bias in the government’s favor, which denies due process of law to the other litigant.
Agency: Internal Revenue Service
Jurisdiction: Fed. Cir. | Fed. Cl.
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: February 22, 2024
Focus Area:
Scope of Authority / Nondelegation
The structure of the Constitution allows only Congress to legislate, only the Executive to enforce laws, and only the Judiciary to decide cases. But the Administrative State evades the Constitution’s avenues of governance when executive agencies issue regulations without statutory authorization from Congress.
Agency: Department of Energy
Jurisdiction: W.D. Tex.
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: December 5, 2023
Focus Area:
Administrative Speech Controls
The Administrative State tries to squelch speech, especially through licensing, speech bans, and speech mandates. Licensing requires one to get the government’s permission prior to speaking. Nothing was more clearly forbidden by the First Amendment than prior restraints on speech, but such controls are now commonplace.
Agency: U.S. State Department
Jurisdiction: E.D. Texas
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: April 21, 2023
Focus Area:
Scope of Authority / Nondelegation
The structure of the Constitution allows only Congress to legislate, only the Executive to enforce laws, and only the Judiciary to decide cases. But the Administrative State evades the Constitution’s avenues of governance when executive agencies issue regulations without statutory authorization from Congress.
Agency: Judicial Council of the Federal Circuit
Jurisdiction: D.C. Cir. | Fed. Cir. | D.C.
Role: Counsel
Case Status: Closed
Focus Area:
Scope of Authority / Nondelegation
The structure of the Constitution allows only Congress to legislate, only the Executive to enforce laws, and only the Judiciary to decide cases. But the Administrative State evades the Constitution’s avenues of governance when executive agencies issue regulations without statutory authorization from Congress.
Agency: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
Jurisdiction: M.D.Tenn.
Role: Counsel
Case Status: Closed
Focus Area:
Agency: Office of Management and Budget | President of the United States | Safer Federal Workforce Task Force
Jurisdiction: W.D. Mich.
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: September 18, 2018
Focus Area:
Guidance Abuse
Agency guidance is easier to promulgate than formal rules and regulations, so agencies prefer to issue it. Such “guidance” supplies relatively informal indications of how an agency interprets rules and statutes. Although guidance is not permitted to bind Americans (unlike laws made by elected legislators), agencies treat guidance as binding and courts often fail to stop them.
Agency: Department of Education
Jurisdiction: 2nd Cir. | N.D. NY
Role: Counsel
Case Status: Closed
Focus Area:
Agency: Texas Attorney General
Jurisdiction: SCOTUS | N.D. Tex.
Role: Counsel
Case Status: Closed
Focus Area:
Judicial Deference
Deference doctrines require judges to defer to an administrative agency’s fact finding, or its interpretation of statutes and regulations. Thus, judges surrender their independent judgment and, where the government is a party, must exhibit systematic bias in the government’s favor, which denies due process of law to the other litigant.
Scope of Authority / Nondelegation
The structure of the Constitution allows only Congress to legislate, only the Executive to enforce laws, and only the Judiciary to decide cases. But the Administrative State evades the Constitution’s avenues of governance when executive agencies issue regulations without statutory authorization from Congress.
Guidance Abuse
Agency guidance is easier to promulgate than formal rules and regulations, so agencies prefer to issue it. Such “guidance” supplies relatively informal indications of how an agency interprets rules and statutes. Although guidance is not permitted to bind Americans (unlike laws made by elected legislators), agencies treat guidance as binding and courts often fail to stop them.
Agency: Consumer Product Safety Commission
Role: Counsel
Case Status: Closed
Focus Area:
Administrative Speech Controls
The Administrative State tries to squelch speech, especially through licensing, speech bans, and speech mandates. Licensing requires one to get the government’s permission prior to speaking. Nothing was more clearly forbidden by the First Amendment than prior restraints on speech, but such controls are now commonplace.
Agency: Rhode Island College
Jurisdiction: SCOTUS
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: November 14, 2022
Focus Area:
Unreasonable Searches
The Fourth Amendment forbids warrantless searches and seizures of information, yet the Administrative State violates this right to privacy through administrative subpoenas and warrants, automated information collection devices, civil investigative demands, and “voluntary” requests for information.
Agency: Massachusetts Department of Public Health
Jurisdiction: D. Mass.
Role: Counsel