Arizona court strips agencies of the right to supply their own facts in court
Under Arizona law, when a government agency asserted something as fact, courts were required to accept it, as long as any evidence supported it—even a shred, even if the weight of the evidence pointed the other way. That standard, known as substantial evidence review, gave agencies something no ordinary litigant enjoys: the ability to lose on the ...
How agencies make law without making law
"Nonbinding." In government parlance, it means a document doesn't carry the force of law—that it's guidance, not a mandate. So why did an agency "guidance document" carry enough legal weight to prevent a family-owned Alaska business from moving its pipe storage operation to a larger lot—land bordered by a junk car dealer, a scrap metal deale ...
Washington ranchers get their day in court—to fight for their day in court
The King family has worked the same stretch of Central Washington for more than 70 years, running cattle across Grant and Douglas counties on land they've ranched since the 1950s. On May 21, a Grant County Superior Court judge heard oral argument on whether the Kings are entitled to defend that legacy before a jury—or whether Washington State ...
Reason : The Federal Government Tried To Spy on Your Financial Transactions. A Texas Court Just Said No.
Let's say you've worked hard, saved money, and decided to buy a house to rent out. You want to purchase it outright, with cash, through an LLC to save thousands on financing costs and limit your personal liability. You're not laundering drug money. You're not funneling proceeds from some shadowy foreign government. You're doing exactly what million ...
Washington Examiner : How Congress can claw back its oversight power
After decades of Congress delegating its responsibility to pass laws to unelected bureaucrats, legislators in the current session are flexing their oversight powers. To date, 22 rules coming from the executive branch have been directly struck down by the legislative branch. An impressive number, to be sure, but that should just be the opening salvo ...
Yale Journal on Regulation : Doomsday Predictions About Jarkesy Just Don’t Add Up
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2024 decision in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, a NYU Law Professor wrote in The Atlantic, "Jarkesy continues the Court's attack on the federal government's capacity to do many of its most basic jobs." This captured the sentiment among many who felt that this decision, which affirmed the ri ...
With Jarkesy’s dire consequences unfounded, restoring due process is now both essential and manageable
In 2024, the Supreme Court handed down its ruling in SEC v. Jarkesy and held that when federal agencies seek to punish Americans, those Americans have the right to have their case heard by a real judge and jury—not the agency's own in-house tribunal. Some legal commentators predicted catastrophe. And some law professors warned the decision thr ...
Judge’s ruling protects due process rights of Californians caught in federal registration trap
On April 9, a federal judge issued a permanent injunction blocking the Department of Justice from prosecuting California residents under a federal sex-offender registration law without first confirming with the state that those individuals are required to register in the first place. PLF represents a group of plaintiffs who are caught in a bind ...
A court finally tells FinCEN there is nothing questionable about buying in cash
When a federal court struck down FinCEN's real estate surveillance rule, Celia Flowers finally got an answer to the question that had been haunting her business for two years: Could the government force her to hand over her clients' private information? In 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) finaliz ...