After Four Years of Some Self Restraint, Will the Administrative State Leap Back into Aggressive Regulation and Over-Enforcement?

For the last four years, the Department of Justice quietly advanced a regulatory reform agenda aimed at reining in the Administrative State, curbing regulation by guidance and rulemaking by enforcement; preventing the practice of piling on with duplicative penalties; exercising more control over aggressive qui tam litigation under the False Claims Act; and setting proper limitations on the use of consent decrees in enforcement actions against state and local governments.  The Department’s example served as a model for other agencies, which took similar actions to show restraint. Are these reforms sufficiently baked in, or will they be set aside with the stroke of a pen?

Featuring:

• Stephen Cox, Former US Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas