Compliance Stuff

A Feb. 19 executive order, “ Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative ” calls on agencies to review all their regulations “for consistency with law and administration policy.” The executive order seeks to end “federal overreach” by ordering agency heads to, in consultation with the attorney general, identify:  Unconstitutional rules. Regulations based on unlawful delegations of legislative power. Regulations based on “anything other than the best reading of the underlying statutory authority or prohibition.”  Rules that implicate matters of social, political, or economic significance that are not authorized by clear statutory authority. Regulations that impose significant costs on private parties that are not outweighed by public benefits. Regulations that harm the national interest by “significantly and unjustifiably impeding technological innovation, infrastructure development, disaster response...

  Executive orders . As with many new administrations, the Trump administration is likely to begin with a flurry of executive orders. For newly inaugurated President Trump, such executive orders could be related to immigration (likely focusing on the border and travel), diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) in the federal government and federal contracting community, energy, regulatory reform, and international trade, among other topics. Agency rulemaking may be required to implement some of these executive orders, which will take time. Personnel . Confirmation hearings for judicial and agency appointments are likely to be a focus for the Senate in 2025. Because agency officials can be confirmed with a majority vote in the Senate, President Trump will have a relatively easy time getting people confirmed, though this is never a guarantee (see Julie Su and  David Weil ). “Personnel is policy” in Washington, D.C., and these officials will play an outsized role in shaping labor a...