April 2024

The New Civil Liberties Alliance continues its unwavering fight for your liberties! This month, NCLA hosted an administrative law conference to celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of Philip Hamburger’s book “Is Administrative Law Unlawful?” It brought together esteemed scholars to discuss the expansion and looming threats posed by the Administrative State.

Additionally this month, NCLA took aim at the SEC’s shady mass data collection tactics, questioned the legality of the “remand without vacatur” doctrine, called out FINRA’s shady ‘private’ enforcement sanctions, and gave voice to those silenced by the SEC’s oppressive Gag Rule.

Thank you for being a part of the New Civil Liberties Alliance and for your support. Keep scrolling to learn about these cases and everything else happening at NCLA. Don’t forget to click the link below to provide our attorneys with the resources they need to keep winning!

The Latest

Philip Hamburger delivers remarks at NCLA’s administrative law conference

NCLA Hosts Administrative Law Conference

April marks the 10th anniversary of Philip Hamburger’s book, “Is Administrative Law Unlawful?” To celebrate, NCLA hosted an administrative law conference. The growth of the Administrative State is changing how our government operates and is violating our constitutional freedoms daily. As our experts discussed, Administrative Law isn’t just a modern invention; it’s a step backward toward unchecked power, contrary to what the Constitution intended. It’s time to rethink the legality of the Administrative State! More >>>

NCLA’s Peggy Little moderates a panel with clients who have been silenced by SEC and a reporter who wants to tell their stories

WATCH: A Full Court Press on SEC Gag Rule

When the SEC charges Americans, it issues inflammatory press releases setting out a litany of misdeeds and fraud. While these are just allegations, these alarming releases instantly destroy lives, reputations and future occupations. Imagine that these charges are untrue or that the government cannot carry its burden on what prove to be novel and untested theories of liability unheard of at law. BUT, a successful defense will cost you millions and many years of your life—against an agency that can outlast and outspend you. In our latest Lunch and Law series, NCLA Senior Litigator Peggy Little moderates a panel featuring NCLA clients Thomas Powell and Cassandra Toroian who want to tell their stories and Christopher Rausch of the Cape Gazette of Delaware who wants to publish those accounts telling both sides of the story of an SEC settlement—just like the First Amendment guarantees. Watch >>>

The King George III Prize is your chance to vote for the worst abusers of civil liberties

VOTE: NCLA’s King George III Prize Is Calling Out the Worst Government Abusers of Civil Liberties

The Fourth Annual King George III Prize has arrived! It’s time to determine the worst abuser in the Censorship Bracket and the most egregious in the Runaway Regulator Bracket. In the Censorship Championship, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas squares off against Secretary of State Antony Blinken, while in the Runaway Regulator Championship, Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona competes against EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. The King George III Prize is exposing these regulators’ constitutional misdeeds! Vote here >>>

Cases to Watch

The CAT database puts every American’s financial data and security at grave and needless risk from cybersecurity breaches

NCLA Unleashes Lawsuit to Take Down SEC’s Illegal Mass Data Collection Machine

NCLA launched a Complaint against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) challenging the agency’s unconstitutional “Consolidated Audit Trail.” The CAT is the largest government-mandated mass collection of personal financial data in American history. Without any statutory authority, SEC is forcing brokers, exchanges, clearing agencies and alternative trading systems to capture and send detailed information on every investor’s trades in U.S. markets to a centralized database, which SEC and private regulators can access forever. NCLA is asking the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas to stop this unlawful, unprecedented seizure and mass surveillance scheme in its tracks. Read more >>>

A vague standard means businesses don’t know what the law requires, while bureaucrats enjoy power to penalize them for unpredictable violations

NCLA Lawsuit Seeks to Set Aside the Department of Labor’s Unlawful New Independent Contractor Rule

NCLA has filed a Complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, challenging the U.S. Department of Labor’s vague new independent contractor rule. Promulgated earlier this year, the rule distorts the standard for determining if someone hired by a company can be classified as an independent contractor, instead of an employee subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) wage and hour requirements. Representing the family-owned company Colt & Joe Trucking, NCLA asks the court to overturn this rule, which leaves small businesses like theirs completely unable to hire independent contractors without risking FLSA liability. Read more >>>

SEC only has authority to protect investors and foster fair markets in securities transactions

NCLA Asks Appeals Court to Stop SEC’s Unconstitutional New Climate Disclosure Rules

NCLA filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit requesting review of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules that would require public companies to disclose their climate-related business risks and mitigation procedures. SEC has exceeded its statutory authority by making these intrusive rules, which run roughshod over core constitutional rights. Representing the National Center for Public Policy Research, NCLA demands an immediate end to the SEC’s illegal pursuit of climate activism at the cost of civil liberties. Read more >>>

Click here for more cases to watch

Friends of the Court

The ‘remand without vacatur’ doctrine licenses administrative agencies to act contrary to law with the court’s (unintentional) blessing

NCLA Amicus Brief Tells D.C. Circuit It Must Avoid Remanding Regulations While Not Vacating Them

NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in Cigar Association of America v. FDA, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to reject the “remand without vacatur” legal doctrine. This dubious practice allows administrative agencies to continue enforcing rules the court has just declared unlawful. The doctrine creates a legal category unknown to the law: unlawful but enforceable rules. Instead of sending them back, courts must set aside unlawful rules. Read more >>>

Congress may not divest to an agency legislative power that the Constitution vests in it, also known as the nondelegation doctrine

NCLA Amicus Brief Asks Fourth Circuit to Nix FINRA’s Unlawful ‘Private’ Enforcement Sanctions

NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to set aside the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s partial affirmance of a sanction the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) illegally imposed on a North Carolina securities firm and its principal owner. FINRA investigates, prosecutes, and punishes hundreds of securities firms and brokers every year for alleged violations of federal securities laws and rules, all without meaningful supervision by a presidentially appointed federal officer. In Black v. SEC and FINRA, NCLA urges the Fourth Circuit to end this dumbfounding, extra-constitutional exercise of unsupervised governmental power. Read more >>>

Where the fundamental interest in one’s liberty is involved, skepticism of agency-claimed power should be at its highest

NCLA Amicus Brief Asks Ninth Circuit to Stop Bureau of Land Management from Writing Criminal Laws

NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in U.S. v. Pheasant, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to affirm a decision barring the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from wielding legislative power to criminalize activity on public lands. Gregory Pheasant was charged with three violations of BLM rules for allegedly failing to use a taillight on his dirt bike at night on federal land in Nevada. A federal district court dismissed the charges, ruling that Congress unconstitutionally delegated “virtually unfettered” legislative power to criminalize activities on BLM-managed lands. NCLA asks the Ninth Circuit to uphold this decision and reasoning. Read more >>>

Click here for more amicus briefs to watch.

In the News

???? Supreme Court to hear Starbucks case about fired pro-union employees, Gray TV

???? Meet the Lawyers Taking Big Government to the Supreme Court—And Winning, The Epoch Times

???? SEC hit with new lawsuit alleging ‘mass surveillance’ of Americans through stock market data, Fox News

???? Lawsuit Seeks To Stop The SEC’s Decade-Long Assault On Your Investment Data And Basic Rights, The Federalist

???? The Securities and Exchange Commission Is Watching You, WSJ Opinion

???? State of the Nation, TNT Radio

Click here for more media mentions.

Administrative Cartoon