In a development that will impact postsecondary institutions of higher education throughout the country, yesterday the United States Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) issued a guidance letter explaining that the Department will no longer enforce a controversial Trump-era amendment to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. § 1681 (“Title IX”), shortly after the provision was vacated by a Massachusetts federal district court and remanded to the Department for further consideration and explanation.
Continue Reading Department of Education Ceases Enforcement of “Arbitrary and Capricious” Trump-Era Title IX Regulation

The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled this week that a controversial Title IX amendment by the Trump-era Department of Education was “arbitrary and capricious” under the Administrative Procedure Act and ordered that the rule be vacated and remanded to the Department for further consideration and explanation.
Continue Reading District of Massachusetts Rules Controversial Trump-Era Title IX Regulation “Arbitrary and Capricious”

Each year, the California Chamber of Commerce identifies proposed state legislation that the Chamber believes “will decimate economic and job growth in California.”  The Chamber refers to these bills as “Job Killers.” In March, the Chamber identified the first two Job Killers of 2019: AB 51 and SB 1.
Continue Reading California Chamber of Commerce Identifies First “Job Killer” Bills of 2019

Federal agencies need not go through the formal and drawn-out “notice-and-comment” process when altering an interpretation of a regulation. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association stated that the Administrative Procedure Act (the “APA”) does not mandate notice-and-comment rulemaking for interpretive rules.
Continue Reading The United States Supreme Court’s Decision in Perez v. Mortgage Bankers Association and its Potential Impacts on Federal Agencies’ Rulemaking Authority