Gov. Charlie Baker filed a court brief on Friday defending his use of a 1950 Civil Defense Law to declare a COVID-19 state of emergency, equating the virus to the “natural causes” referenced in the law and pointing out that the Legislature has not balked at his use of emergency powers to shut down the state’s…

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unveiled two interim final rules intended to deal with enforcement activities in connection with policies enunciated over the past four years, including the so-called Brand memo, which banned federal prosecutors from using federal agency guidance as leverage in prosecutions of private-sector entities. While the terms of the Brand memo…

Lawyers for Michelle Cochran, a CPA in Texas who originally settled an SEC enforcement action for allegedly skirting PCAOB audit standards, vow a fight to the U.S. Supreme Court over their client’s continuing claims that the Commission’s ALJ system remains unconstitutional. Read the full article  

In July the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a rule that won’t take effect until January. It will require charter boat captains to buy and maintain a GPS tracking system on their boat. “We spend a lot of time and effort out there trying to find our spots to be consistent every single day,”…

Help arrived in the form of the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonprofit set up by legal scholar Philip Hamburger that defends constitutional rights against overreach by the administrative state. The NLRB proposed a settlement: I delete the joke, I post information on the rights of employees to unionize, and the complaint goes away. I…