Infant cushion safety rule challenged in D.C. Appeals Court
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission routinely passes new rules to protect consumers from various safety risks, a process that sometimes doesn’t go over well with the manufacturers of those products.
Such is the fate of a rule enacted on May 5 to protect infants from suffocating. The commission took the action after it found that “infant support cushions” had contributed to unsafe sleep conditions, leading to 17 known deaths in 2020 and at least 17 more deaths in 2021.
“Today marks momentous progress in CPSC’s efforts to keep sleeping babies alive,” said CPSC Commissioner Richard Trumka after the commission enacted the rule.
The new safety standard, said Trumka, would “make the world safer for a lot of babies.”
Taking issue with the rule is The New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA), which is urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to vacate the new safety rule, claiming the CPSC overstepped its authority and used an improper process to enforce the regulation.
Trumka and two other commissioners, Mary Boyle and Alexander Hoehn-Saric, were ousted from their positions by Trump Administration officials earlier in May and have contested their dismissal on the grounds that the action was illegal. A judge last week denied their motion that they be returned to their positions while the case is litigated.
Procedural matters at issue
The case, Heroes Technology (US) LLC d/b/a Snuggle Me Organic v. CPSC, centers around a CPSC rule that created a new product category—“infant support cushions”—and imposed mandatory safety standards on items like the Snuggle Me Infant Lounger, a cushion used to cradle infants when they are awake.
NCLA argues that CPSC misclassified these textile-based products as durable goods, such as cribs or strollers, in order to fast-track regulation through an expedited rulemaking process. It argues that the shortcut is only permitted for traditional durable infant or toddler products, not for soft fabric items like loungers, the group contends.
“CPSC chose a regulatory shortcut that not only ignores the limits of the agency’s power but also used less rigorous methods than required,” said Kara Rollins, litigation counsel at NCLA. “When it comes to infant safety, the Commission should be focused on the best rules, not the fastest process.”
As a result of the rule, Heroes Technology had to halt production of its top-selling lounger, impacting its business and potentially thousands of similar products from other small companies, NCLA alleges…
June 4, 2025
Originally Published in Consumer Affairs