- “Heir hunters” chase missing relatives entitled to inherit unclaimed fortunes, for a share of the recovery. Some relatives might not even be relatives [James Fanelli, New York Daily News first, second stories]
- Put up a statue of Clarence Darrow for the Scopes case? OK, but then take it back down for the L.A. Times case [Mark Pulliam, Law and Liberty]
- Lawyer who founded Prenda Law is disbarred [Joe Mullin, ArsTechnica]
- “Escaping the ICWA Penalty Box: In Defense of Equal Protection for Indian Children” [Timothy Sandefur, Children’s Legal Rights Journal]
- “Russian bank owners sue BuzzFeed over Trump dossier publication” [Josh Gerstein, Politico]
- On OMB regulatory management, Trump administration is headed in its own new direction [Andrew Grossman]
Posts Tagged ‘regulation and its reform’
“The Permission Society”
Should law have as a fundamental organizing principle that persons have a general right to embark on enterprises not specifically prohibited, or that a wide range of activities should require advance permission by official gatekeepers? New Timothy Sandefur book reviewed by Josh Windham [Libertarianism.org]
March 29 roundup
- “SEAT Act: Top Senators Sponsoring Bill to Outlaw Low Cost Carriers, Raise Airfares” [Gary Leff, View from the Wing]
- “Trump’s Safe and Sane ‘Regulatory Reform’ Idea” [Cass Sunstein/Bloomberg, earlier Sunstein on Trump regulatory initiatives]
- Changing law and economics shape street protest [Tyler Cowen] Arizona’s bad idea on protestors involves racketeering charges, forfeiture, and more [Coyote]
- “Rights And Reality: Georgia Cop Jails Ex-Wife For Facebook Gripe” [Ken White, Popehat]
- “Opponents of same-sex marriage cynically…manufacture[d] a baseless controversy in the Texas Supreme Court” to attack City of Houston’s spousal benefits, but as the Hon. Jerry Smith of the Fifth Circuit had already stated in persuasive guidance, Obergefell “is the law of the land.” [Mark Pulliam, Law and Liberty; a second view from Josh Blackman]
- Idea making some headway: adapting use of class action and similar aggregate litigation procedures to administrative adjudication [Sergio Campos, Jotwell]
Regulation magazine turns 40
“Forty years and going strong: Regulation magazine.” I look back with enormous fondness at the years I spent there. [Cato Institute Tumblr; anniversary issue with overview essay by Peter Van Doren and Thomas Firey; David Henderson on the hopes for further deregulation]
March 15 roundup
- A workplace hazard? Push in Britain to “make it illegal for a company to require women to wear high heels at work.” [Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Reason]
- Service dogs on planes: “a ‘credible verbal assurance’ books Fido a trip to San Francisco for the weekend” [David Post, Volokh Conspiracy] Australia, too, sees trend toward exotic service and emotional-support animals [Workplace Prof; earlier]
- Trial lawyers would like Supreme Court to squash the arbitration alternative, but few signs Judge Gorsuch is on board with that plan [Edith Roberts, SCOTUSBlog]
- New York radical lawyer Lynne Stewart, not a favorite in these columns, dead at 77 [Scott Johnson, PowerLine, earlier]
- Baltimore police scandal, “yes means yes” bill for MoCo schools, homicide rap for overdose suppliers?, school wi-fi scare, Tom Perez, and more in my Maryland policy roundup [Free State Notes]
- Suing so soon over White House regulatory reform, Public Citizen, and with so little show of injury? [Brian Mannix, Law and Liberty]
Podcast on Congressional Review Act
Federalist Society podcast with David McIntosh and Todd Gaziano on the law of the hour, the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which Congress is using to overturn a number of big Obama administration regulations (earlier).
March 1 roundup
- Online accessibility demands under the ADA: “Surge in website lawsuits continues” [Retail Law Advisor, background]
- Even with no trade war yet, jitters affect livestock growers through slump in cattle futures [Richard Parker, Dallas News] Federalist Society/American Branch of the International Law Association panel on trade law in Trump era [part of symposium with panels on international law generally, alliances and interventions]
- “There is yet another more level of nerdiness, courtesy of Professor David Noll. Anne Gorsuch signed the rule at issue in Chevron.” [Josh Blackman]
- Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act reintroduced as H.R. 522 and likely again to command majority support in House Judiciary Committee [Rep. Bob Goodlatte, earlier (in face of veto prospect, committee approved bill last term by 18-6 vote), more: Fox News, earlier]
- Did Obama DoJ civil rights chief Vanita Gupta act without lawful authority? [Thomas Berry, Cato Legal Policy Bulletin]
- A second Trump executive order on regulation establishes reform officials within agencies [Brian Knight, Reuters, text, earlier on first order]
Trump’s regulatory reform
Cass Sunstein, who headed up regulatory review under President Obama, is favorably impressed with the attention to detail of a document that helped flesh out President Trump’s recent executive order on regulation. [Bloomberg] “Other countries have gone much further than Trump’s ‘two-for-one’ order, without any ill effect.” [Hans Bader, CEI; Ryan Bourne, Cato] For 2-for-1 deregulation to work, maybe agencies should get transferable reduction credits to sell to each other [Daniel Takash and Nick Zaiac, The Hill] “Regulatory Reform: A new approach for the Trump era” [Christopher DeMuth Sr., The Weekly Standard via Michael Greve]
More on the fast Trump pace on deregulation in this new Cato podcast in which Caleb Brown interviews Susan Dudley and Peter Van Doren:
Bonfire of the Obama regs: the Congressional Review Act
“The revival of Congressional activity under the CRA is a welcome development and shows that Congress is taking seriously its responsibilities both as ultimate lawmaker and in oversight of federal agencies,” said Olson. I’m quoted among other regulation-watchers [Aileen Yeung, Western Wire] More on the belated vitality of the Congressional Review Act: Brian Mannix/Law and Liberty; Kim Strassel/WSJ; Paul Larkin/Heritage.
Witching hour for midnight regulations
There’s hope for stopping some of the regulations that the Obama administration began dropping in its last months before heading out the door, including the arguably worst of all, overtime for mid-level workers, now blocked by a federal judge in Texas [Kathy Hoekstra/Watchdog, McClatchy, Brittany Hunter/FEE; Virginia Postrel (“Not every workplace is, or aspires to be, the civil service. Not every worker longs to be on an assembly line.”)]