In the News

U.S. District Judge John Barker in Texas Ruled That the National Ban on Evictions Is Unconstitutional
Now, this is a step in the right direction for landlords, because the last time the case made it to the federal district court in October of 2020—just following after the Trump administration had announced the moratorium from the CDC at the time and a judge, District...

In Bump Stock Case, Tenth Circuit Dismisses Grant of Rehearing En Banc As Improvidently Granted
In May 2020, a divided three-judge panel on the 10th Circuit upheld President Trump's executive action that prohibited possession of bump stocks. In September 2020, the 10th Circuit granted rehearing en banc in Aposhian v. Barr. The case was fully briefed, and was...

10th Circ. Cancels Rehearing On Bump Stock Ban Challenge
The Tenth Circuit on Friday reversed course and rescinded an en banc rehearing of a lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' rule banning bump stocks over the dissent of five circuit judges. According to the court's opinion, a...

Wyoming Legislators Introduce Bill to Preserve Rancher Choice When Identifying Cattle
Billings, Mont. – Today, State of Wyoming legislators Representative Chip Neiman and Senator Cheri Steinmetz introduced House Bill 229 in the Wyoming Legislature. The Bill preserves for Wyoming ranchers the choice of selecting among various lawful forms of animal...

Biden’s EO on Title IX is Unjust and Counterintuitive
NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel Harriet Hageman joins Philadelphia's AM 990 The Answer's show, "Philadelphia's Morning Answer," with Chris Stigall. Harriet Hageman has been a trial attorney for almost 30 years and is licensed to practice law in Wyoming, Michigan,...

Disappointing Changes to Title IX Under Biden Administration
NCLA Senior Litigation Counsel Harriet Hageman joins News Talk 600 KCOL’s show, “KCOL Mornings," with Jimmy Lakey. Harriet Hageman has been a trial attorney for almost 30 years and is licensed to practice law in Wyoming, Michigan, Colorado, and Nebraska, and has been...

Amici and Practitioners Attempt to Read the Arthrex Tea Leaves
Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the most closely-watched patent case of the term, United States / Smith & Nephew v. Arthrex. IPWatchdog reached out to some of the amici in the case, as well as patent practitioners and other stakeholders, to...

Biden’s Hurdle: Courts Dubious of Rule by Regulation
President Biden is moving swiftly on his agenda to remake large parts of the economy by wielding the powers of the executive branch. He signed more than 30 executive orders in his first month, nearly as many as the past four presidents combined at this point in their...

Supreme Court To Hear Challenge To HHS Nominee Xavier Becerra’s Attempt To Sic Mobs On Conservative Donors
On Monday, the New Civil Liberties Alliance filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court supporting petitioners against Joe Biden’s Health and Human Services nominee Xavier Becerra’s attempt as attorney general of California to out nonprofit donors for leftist...

Wyoming Supreme Court Overturns Ruling Using “Guidance” to Block Mining
In a victory for property rights with nationwide implications, the Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled that county regulators cannot restrict people’s conduct based on nonbinding guidance documents. The court’s decision is a setback for public officials accustomed to...

Professor Punished by Kangaroo Court Asks Supreme Court to Let Him Punish University Officials
Can a professor hold university officials personally accountable for violating his constitutional rights when they deliberated with lawyers before doing it? The New Civil Liberties Alliance posed the question to the Supreme Court in a petition seeking review of a 5th...

A Return To Rule By Guidance Document?
In a step backward for due process, the Biden Department of Labor has revoked a Trump‐era policy meant to rein in the use of informal guidance documents to issue regulatory commands. Per Allen Smith at the Society for Human Resource Management, this raises the...

Xerox Executive’s Appeal Asks 2nd Circuit to Void SEC Lifetime ‘Gag’ Order
An attorney with the New Civil Liberties Alliance asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Friday to lift an 18-year-old gag order that barred a former Xerox executive from speaking out about his long-ago prosecution by the U.S. Securities and...

Getting Ready for Arthrex: What the Amici Are Saying
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear, on March 1, 2021, whether administrative patent judges (APJs) of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are “inferior” officers properly appointed under the Appointments...

Biden Continues the CDC’s Eviction Moratorium Despite Constitutional Violations
CDC has now extended its one-sided eviction moratorium order until March 31st as a stop-gap solution to the eviction crisis sweeping the country. NCLA has filed a complaint against CDC's order for leaving housing providers in the lurch and for prohibiting them from...

Trainers Given Fines for ‘Sored’ Horses Will Get New Hearings
WASHINGTON (CN) — In the fall of 2017, federal agricultural authorities took aim at a trio of horse trainers, Joe Fleming, Sam Perkins and Jarrett Bradley, accused of entering injured animals into competition for an unfair advantage. The Horse Protection Act of 1960...

Constitutional Concerns of CDC’s Eviction Moratorium
NCLA Litigation Counsel Caleb Kruckenberg joins Greta Wall on OAN to discuss the CDC's unlawful eviction moratorium.

USDA’s Action on RFID Tags Challenged in Court
In a Wyoming federal district court, Harriet Hageman, senior litigation counsel for the New Civil Liberties Alliance, filed an opening brief related to R-CALF USA's Federal Advisory Committee Act lawsuit against the USDA regarding its mandate of radio frequency...

How a Lawsuit Against the IRS Is Trying to Expand Privacy for Crypto Users
The Department of Justice, representing the IRS, has responded to pushback on its motion to dismiss the ongoing James Harper v. Charles P. Rettig, et al. lawsuit over allegations by Harper that the IRS violated his constitutional rights. Harper’s case may have...

Eviction Moratorium Gave Renters Relief But Property Owners Face Billions in Unpaid Rent
WASHINGTON (Sinclair Broadcast Group) — President Joe Biden extended the nationwide pause on evictions through March 31 as one of his first official actions and he aims to extend it further through the end of September in the American Rescue Plan, a proposal pushed...

Biden Admin. Seeks to Extend the CDC’s Eviction Moratorium Through September 2021
NCLA Litigation Counsel, Caleb Kruckenberg, joins the Florida Round Table on Real Radio 104.1 FM to discuss the CDC's unlawful eviction moratorium.

IRS Rules Shouldn’t Thwart Couple’s Refund Bid, Fed. Circ. Told
The Court of Federal Claims wrongly dismissed a couple's tax refund claim after deferring to IRS regulations on what constitutes an on-time filing, and the Federal Circuit should reverse the ruling, the court was told. Regulations governing how the Internal Revenue...

Impact of Biden’s Title IX Orders on Women’s Sports
NCLA's Executive Director and General Counsel, Mark Chenoweth, joins The Lars Larson radio show to address how Biden's Title IX orders will impact women's sports.

Bump Stocks Have a Day in Court Again — This Time in Colorado
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver heard oral arguments on Wednesday in a case challenging the federal government’s ban on bump stocks. The lawsuit involves complex-sounding legal principles like the Chevron doctrine and the rule of lenity, but the plaintiff...

Utah Gun Advocate Still Fighting to Overturn Federal Bump Stock Ban
SALT LAKE CITY — A federal ban on a plastic accessory that makes a semi-automatic weapon work like a machine gun remains at issue as a Utah gun enthusiast continues to press his case to overturn the rule. A lawyer for Clark Aposhian and a government attorney faced...