Dominique L. Casimir and Christina Manfredi McKinley ●
We previously wrote about President Trump’s February Executive Order identifying deregulation as a top administration priority (here and here). That Executive Order, 14219 (the “Deregulation EO”), directed all executive departments and agencies to identify regulations falling within certain enumerated categories of regulations. More recently, on April 9, 2025, the President issued a memorandum providing further direction to executive departments and agencies regarding implementation of the Deregulation EO (available here). This memorandum addresses how the President envisions that Executive Branch agencies will go about rescinding regulations. And—spoiler alert—the vision for rescinding regulations is a departure from the typical notice-and-comment process.
The Specifics
Emphasizing adherence to recent Supreme Court decisions and the use of the “good cause” exception in the Administrative Procedure Act for expedited rulemaking (that is, rulemaking/rescission without the constraints of notice and comment), the memorandum instructs agencies, first, as part of the review-and-repeal efforts required by the Deregulation EO, to assess each existing regulation’s lawfulness under the following United States Supreme Court decisions:
- Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024);
- West Virginia v. EPA, 597 U.S. 697 (2022);
- SEC v. Jarkesy, 603 U.S. 109 (2024);
- Michigan v. EPA, 576 U.S. 743 (2015);
- Sackett v. EPA, 598 U.S. 651 (2023);
- Ohio v. EPA, 603 U.S. 279 (2024);
- Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, 594 U.S. 139 (2021);
- Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181 (2023);
- Carson v. Makin, 596 U.S. 767 (2022); and
- Roman Cath. Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 592 U.S. 14 (2020).
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