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Case Opened: December 20, 2023
Agency: Securities and Exchange Commission
Jurisdiction: S.D. Texas
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: October 5, 2021
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: Securities and Exchange Commission
Jurisdiction: 3rd Cir. | 5th Cir.
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: New Mexico Secretary of State
Jurisdiction: N.M.
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: August 27, 2021
Focus Area:
Agency: Michigan State University
Jurisdiction: 6th Cir. | W.D. Mich.
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: Arizona Department of Child Safety
Jurisdiction: Ariz. Ct. App
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: Department of Transportation
Jurisdiction: W.D. Ky.
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: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration | Department of Transportation
Jurisdiction: 6th Cir.
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: March 28, 2024
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: Securities and Exchange Commission
Jurisdiction: 9th Cir.
Role: Counsel
Case Status: Closed
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 Agriculture
Jurisdiction: SCOTUS | 10th Cir. | D. Wyo.
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: May 3, 2021
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: James Madison University
Jurisdiction: 4th Cir. | W.D. Va.
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: March 4, 2020
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: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration | Department of Commerce | National Marine Fisheries Service
Jurisdiction: SCOTUS | 1st Cir. | D. R.I.
Role: Counsel
Case Opened: December 20, 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: Securities and Exchange Commission
Role: Counsel