Separation of Powers

On July 24, the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit broke with the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits (as well as the original Fifth Circuit panel) in a case about the delegation of legislative power to the Federal Communications Commission and sub-delegation to a private entity—the Universal Service Administrative Company.   I wrote ...

In the days since a Pennsylvania man attempted to assassinate Donald Trump, barrels of ink have been spilled lamenting the heat of political rhetoric, entreating restraint from all sides. The precise motivation of the would-be assassin is unknown, but the rapidly forming consensus is that our overheated election rhetoric makes political violenc ...

In recent decades, the scope of federal law has grown massively. And with that growth has come the risk that Americans will be ensnared in criminal or civil proceedings for activities they had no idea were illegal.   It is often said that ignorance of the law is no excuse, and in general that is true enough. But the government has an obligation ...

When Jamie Leach got the news that the Consumer Product Safety Commission was coming after her business, she imagined a years-long legal battle in the Commission's in-house tribunal, enormous legal fees, and a devastating blow to her company's otherwise-sterling reputation. Even if she managed to win, the ordeal could have buried her business. But ...

What a way to head into the July 4th holiday: The Supreme Court announced big decisions on the penultimate day of the term—including an end to the doctrine responsible for decades of executive overreach.   Supreme Court overturns Chevron in Loper/Relentless  In today's decision in Loper Bright Enterprises/Relentless, the Supreme Court overtu ...

"I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing."   —Stubb, the second mate, in Herman Melville's Moby Dick    In New Bedford, Massachusetts, sits an old chapel: the Seamen's Bethel, built in 1832 for sailors to visit and pray before heading out to sea. Herman Melville visited the Bethel before going ...

The Supreme Court's recent blockbuster cases have had to do with hot-button issues like abortion, racial preferences and guns. But this year, one of the court's most highly anticipated cases has to do with fishermen and administrative law. Don't be fooled. It may sound dry, but it's a fascinating case that could upend a deep injustice in the way ...

In a recent news broadcast, WDIV Local 4 and other NBC affiliates reported on the ripple-effects of the Supreme Court's ruling last year in Sackett v. EPA. But the segment muddies the waters by distorting the true stakes, and the media's overwrought narrative won't wash. The piece opens with weatherman Bryan Schuerman intoning, "Today marks the ...

Update: On June 17, the parties in the D.C. Circuit appeal mentioned below filed a Stipulation of Voluntary Dismissal. The Fifth Circuit case remains pending On June 10, the Supreme Court declined to take up two similar cases that would have provided an opportunity for the Court to reinvigorate the nondelegation doctrine, which enforces the Cons ...