Litigation

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit will hear oral argument Aug. 5 in public interest groups’ challenge to the constitutionality of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), teeing up a decision that could limit or even block lawmakers’ ability under the 1996 law to revoke rulemakings from OSHA and other agencies.

Appellate judges appear to agree with EPA lawyers that labor and other groups generally lack standing to challenge the agency's framework rule for evaluating risks of existing chemicals under the revised toxics law, but they left the door open to sue over officials' decision to preclude legacy uses from the scope of any evaluation.

On the eve of a key appellate hearing, EPA and environmentalists are sparring over the groups' standing to challenge one of EPA's framework rules for implementing the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), responding to a court order that asks the parties to address the issue in the upcoming oral arguments.

An Arizona-based group is stepping up its effort to have a federal appellate court overturn the Congressional Review Act (CRA), the law Republicans and President Donald Trump used to repeal a suite of Obama-era worker safety policies issued by OSHA.

Labor advocates and environmental groups are asking an appeals court to review EPA's recent Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) rule that bans consumer uses of paint strippers containing methylene chloride, attempting to broaden the ban to include workplace exposures.

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts' currently unknown position on when courts should defer to EPA and other federal agencies' interpretations of their regulations will largely determine whether and to what degree the current standard remains, according to legal experts.

Homebuilders and other industry groups have amended their pending complaint challenging the anti-retaliation provisions in OSHA's recordkeeping rule to account for Trump administration rollbacks though their revised suit maintains most of the claims the groups made in their original complaint.

Supreme Court justices at March 27 oral argument appeared unlikely to completely overturn a key precedent granting deference to OSHA and other federal agencies' interpretations of their regulations, though several of the justices appeared open to the Trump administration's call to narrow the deference.

A federal court in Oklahoma has agreed to a joint request from OSHA and industry groups to review the agency's revised recordkeeping and reporting rule, opening the door to a court split on the issue as another court in Washington, DC, prepares to review competing claims over the rule from state officials and citizen groups.

A Marine Corps veteran asking the Supreme Court to scrap its practice of deferring to OSHA and other agencies on their regulatory interpretations says the justices should reject the Trump administration’s push for a scaled-back deference doctrine, arguing such an outcome would have “bizarre, if not destructive” consequences.