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Supreme Court

Supreme Court sidesteps Trump’s effort to remove watchdog agency head

The Supreme Court on Friday left in place for now an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that instructed President Donald Trump to temporarily reinstate the head of an independent federal agency tasked with protecting whistleblowers from retaliation. The justices did not act on a request from the Trump administration to block the order by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, which had restored Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel for 14 days, … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Trump asks court to allow firing of watchdog agency official

The Trump administration on Sunday asked the Supreme Court to block an order by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., that would require the president to temporarily reinstate the head of an independent agency tasked with protecting federal employees, and in particular whistleblowers, from retaliation. The order by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris told the justices, was an “unprecedented assault on the separation of powers that warrants immediate relief.”

Sunday’s filing was the … Read the rest

Civil Law

Firing of thousands of health agency employees will undermine food safety

— OPINION —

The cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services today make a mockery of the “Make America Healthy Again” slogan by arbitrarily decimating new staff in key public health agencies who might actually implement the slogan.

The firings impact staff across HHS and affect thousands of people on “probationary” status.

The mass firings will undermine the work of two of the agencies that solve and prevent foodborne outbreaks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the … Read the rest

Civil Law

U.S.- Immigration agency updates guidelines for officials’ treatment of Red Notices (part 2 of 3)

On September 29, 2023, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued new agency-wide guidelines regarding how its employees will address cases in which Red Notices and Diffusions.

The complete guidelines are found here, and the most relevant provisions (in my estimation) are listed in our last blog post.

In part one of this series, we referenced the fact that some of the new provisions would likely be more impactful in a practical sense than others. The provisions that are … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Another federal agency challenges adverse ruling by 5th Circuit

The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

Next term the justices will hear the government’s appeal of a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit that found the funding mechanism for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau unconstitutional. This week, we highlight cert petitions that ask the court to consider, among other things, whether … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices seem receptive to opening up early challenges to agency proceedings

The justices heard nearly three hours of arguments Monday in a pair of cases challenging the traditional framework of agency review: Axon Enterprise v. Federal Trade Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission v. Cochran. If those arguments tell us anything, several justices are strongly inclined to accept the invitation of these cases to reshape the traditional framework, under which challenges to agency proceedings have to wait until the end of those proceedings before they can get into … Read the rest

Civil Law

The federal agency won’t say if it sent a warning letter to makers of Jif peanut butter

The FDA won’t comment on a key element in its investigation into the conditions at a peanut butter plant linked to an outbreak of infections from Salmonella Senftenberg.

Warning letters are routinely sent to companies after inspections turn up deficiencies or illegal conditions at food facilities, especially if the problems are so severe that they result in the issuance of a 483 Form. The warning letters detail problems found at food facilities.

However, the Food and Drug Administration will not … Read the rest

Civil Law

Portuguese agency involved in several operations against unsafe food

Authorities in Portugal have carried out a series of recent operations to crackdown on businesses not complying with food rules.

The Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE) helped to seize 500 kilograms of fish and meat products with limited traceability at a cold store facility this past month.

The inspection was to verify compliance with food storage and handling. Products were destroyed after being sent for analysis and criminal proceedings were opened.

A separate visit to a cold store in … Read the rest