Blog
Judge Cain’s Injunction Concerning Social Cost of Carbon Is Reasonable
Jonathan Adler’s recent article on a preliminary injunction by Judge James D. Cain makes it sound like it’s crazy, but I’m afraid…
E&E News
Group Asks EPA to Nix Fuel Rule that Relied on Climate Metric
E&E News cites Attorney Devin Watkins on the EPA’s social cost of carbon: A conservative think tank is asking EPA to…
News Release
Court Stops Biden Admin from Transformative Expansion in Regulatory Authority
A federal court blocked the Biden Administration from implementing “social cost of carbon” regulations today. CEI experts reacted to the decision. Senior…
News Release
Supreme Court Blocks Biden Vaccine Mandate, Cites CEI-Related Case on Separation of Powers
The U.S. Supreme Court today blocked the Biden administration’s controversial test-or-vaccine mandate to be imposed on countless employers nationwide – and cited to a…
News Release
Biden Energy Department Blocks Faster Dishwashers That Consumers Want
The Biden administration today undid a useful, consumer-friendly reform put in place by Biden’s predecessor, reinstating energy restrictions that make household dishwashers take much…
Blog
CEI in Amicus Brief Asks Supreme Court to Block the Clean Power Plan that Congress Rejected
People often talk about the undemocratic and illegitimate administrative state, of which the Clean Power Plan (CPP) is the perfect example. The Supreme Court…
News Release
Biden EPA Fuel Standard Will Impose All-Pain, No-Gain Policies on Consumers
The Biden administration today announced a final rule raising fuel economy standards for cars and small trucks, reversing a more sensible Trump-era rule. The…
Blog
Request to OIRA to Ensure Peer Review of Agency’s Medical Marijuana Claims
For two years, CEI has been trying to get the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to…
Blog
Another Court Rejects Federal Attempt to Impose a Vaccine Mandate
Shortly following the Fifth Circuit blocking the private employer mandate from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Judge Matthew Schelp of the…
News Release
CEI Attacks FDA Salt Guidelines for Failure to Undergo Peer Review, Charges Violation of Federal Information Quality Act
The Competitive Enterprise Institute today formally requested the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to peer review nutrition guidelines on sodium…
News Release
Court Blocks Enforcement of Biden/OSHA Vaccine Mandate Citing Serious Flaws
Statement by Devin Watkins, CEI attorney: “The Fifth Circuit’s decision to temporarily block enforcement of the OSHA vaccine mandate on Saturday is…
News Release
OSHA Vaccine Mandate — Trouble for Employers, Rough Time in Courts
The Biden administration today published its much-anticipated vaccine mandate for businesses that employ 100 or more people. This “emergency temporary standard” by the…
New York Times
Supreme Court to Hear Case on E.P.A.’s Power to Limit Carbon Emissions
The New York Times cites CEI attorney Devin Watkins on the Supreme Court hearing a case on the EPA’s power to limit…
News Release
Supreme Court Will Review EPA Over-Reach on Energy Rule
The Supreme Court today has agreed to review the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal’s rejection of the Trump administration’s repeal of the Clean Power…
Comment
CEI’s Devin Watkins Comments on DOE’s Dishwasher Rulemaking
Hello, my name is Devin Watkins from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. It was CEI’s petition for rulemaking that caused the Department of Energy to…
The Washington Examiner
OSHA Cannot Constitutionally Coerce People into Vaccinations
President Joe Biden says he will have federal regulators make employers require workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, or else…
News Release
Supreme Court Strikes Down CDC Eviction Moratorium, Upholds Rule of Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the nationwide eviction moratorium imposed by the Centers for Disease Control, which was ostensibly aimed…
News Release
CDC Eviction Moratorium Back In Court After Biden Defies Supreme Court Ruling
On the heels of the CDC extending its eviction moratorium at the behest of the Biden administration, a group of realtor plaintiffs have asked…
Blog
CDC’s Eviction Moratorium Extension Another Example of Ends-Justify-the-Means Policy
The Constitution requires all of Congress and the president to swear to uphold the Constitution. Yet, too often today, public officials of both parties…
News Release
Everyone Loses in CDC Eviction Ban
In the wake of court rulings against the Centers for Disease Control nationwide eviction ban, the White House today called on Congress to pass…
The Daily Press
Moderate Decisions Could Prompt GOP to Rethink Court Nominations
Justice Amy Barrett’s confirmation to the Supreme Court would spell doom for the Affordable Care Act, Roe v. Wade, and the 2015 Obergefell ruling…
News Release
Supreme Court Ruling in California Donor Disclosure Case Protects Right of Association
The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled against California’s law requiring charitable organizations to disclose the identities of their major donors to the attorney general’s…
NPR
The Supreme Court Throws Out a State Law Requiring Nonprofits to Name Rich Donors
NPR cites attorney Devin Watkins on the Supreme Court’s ruling against California’s law requiring charitable organizations to disclose the identities of their major donors…
News Release
Supreme Court Ruling in Fannie/Freddie Case – Helpful on Questions of Presidential Removal Powers, Unhelpful to Shareholders
Today, the Supreme Court ruled on a much-anticipated case related to the federal government policy of seizing the net profits for government-sponsored entities Fannie…
Blog
Supreme Court Requires Involvement of Principal Officers Before Final Decisions
Today, the Supreme Court issued a decision in United States v. Arthrex that has massive implications for the limits on the administrative state.
News Release
Supreme Court Ruling Could Impact Who Wields Government Regulatory Powers
The Supreme Court today ruled in United States v. Arthrex, Inc. that Administrative Patent Judges, in order to exercise unreviewable executive power, must be…
E&E News
NEPA may spur lawsuits over ANWR leasing freeze
E&E News cites attorney Devin Watkins on ANWR leases: But Devin Watkins, an attorney with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, suggested that…
The Washington Times
Appeals Court Upholds Federal Eviction Moratorium
The Washington Times cites attorney Devin Watkins on an eviction moratorium issued by the CDC: Devin Watkins, an attorney with the…
News Release
Supreme Court Should Decide on CDC Eviction Ban
Today a federal appeals court denied a request by landlords to resume evictions, leaving in place a temporary, nationwide eviction moratorium imposed by the…
News Release
Biden Administration Move to Cancel ANWR Leases Raises Serious Legal Questions
The White House today announced it plans to cancel several leases for energy exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska.
The New York Times
Biden Suspends Drilling Leases in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
The New York Times cites CEI Attorney Devin Watkins on ANWR leases: Conservative groups contend that Mr. Biden’s suspension of the…
The Washington Times
CDC Lacked Authority To Halt Evictions, Judge Rules
The Washington Times cites attorney Devin Watkins on the CDC and a nationwide eviction moratorium: Devin Watkins, an attorney for the…
News Release
Unlawful CDC Eviction Ban Defeated in Court
A federal judge today vacated a nationwide freeze on evictions imposed by regulators at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) ostensibly to stave off…
CNBC
It’s Time For Biden’s Financial Regulators To Face The Senate Spotlight
CNBC cites attorney Devin Watkins on President Joe Biden’s choice of Rohit Chopra to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: “Rohit…
News Release
CEI Files Amicus Brief in Thompson v. Marietta Education Association Appeal for Cert at Supreme Court
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed an amicus brief in support of a petition for cert at the Supreme Court in the…
Inside Sources
Counterpoint: Fix the Court, but Justice Should Not Be Random
Calls for “judicial reform” have too often been code for seeking changes to the courts for partisan advantage. This is why “reform” is rarely…
News Release
CEI and FreedomWorks Foundation Intervene to Protect Faster Dishwashers and Consumer Choice
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and the FreedomWorks Foundation intervened today in lawsuits from eco-groups and their allies seeking to overturn…
News Release
Senate Should Question Biden’s Choice to Head CFPB, Rohit Chopra, on Fair Process for Regulating Businesses
The Senate should question President-elect Biden’s nominee to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau out of concern that businesses get fair treatment in the…
News Release
CEI Files Opening Brief in Case Seeking More Lenient CAFE standards
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed its opening brief in CEI v. NHTSA, contending the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the…
News Release
Energy Department Reforms #Neverneeded Regulations on Consumer Washers, Dryers, Showerheads
Today the U.S. Department of Energy issued a set of two new rules that, respectively, allow the sale of faster clothes washers and…
Blog
Judge Rules in Favor of Retroactive Unapportioned Tax
In 2006, Charles and Kathleen Moore invested in a business aimed at providing affordable equipment to small-scale Indian farmers. No dividends have been returned…
USA Today
Invalidate Entire Affordable Care Act
The fate of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act is, once again, before the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the justices will hear arguments…
Blog
Government Is Asking if We Want Faster and More Effective Appliances. Say Yes!
For more than 50 years, Americans have used washing machines to clean their clothes and dryers to dry them. Manufacturers built highly effective products that…
Blog
CEI Opposes Federal Government Coercing a State into Assisting with Federal Law Enforcement
Last Friday, CEI took a stand for federalism and separation of powers through an amicus brief. These constitutional principles are critical to the constitutionally limited…
Bloomberg Law
Trump Social Media Liability Order Opens Partisan Divide at FCC
Bloomberg Law cites attorney Devin Watkins on President Trump’s executive order on social media: “Because this comes directly from the president, this obviously…
The Wall Street Journal
The Incredible Shrinking Quorum
How can Congress do its work in a time of social distancing? The Senate has remained in session as usual, but the House took steps…
Blog
DEREGULATION IN AN EMERGENCY: The President’s Emergency Powers Include Not Just Imposing Regulations on Industry, but also Suspending Regulations
Across the country, governors have suspended harmful regulations on an emergency basis due to the COVID-19 crisis. The improvements that have resulted have got people…
News Release
CEI Appeals NASA’s Non-responsive Rejection of Request for Correction of Flawed 97 Percent Claim
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today filed an appeal of NASA’s non-responsive adjudication of a Request for Correction (RFC) under the Information Quality Act. In…
Products
CEI Letter to OMB: Petition for Rulemaking on Enforcement of the Information Quality Act
We are writing to you about the problem of the non-compliance by two agencies with OMB’s memorandum of April 24, 2019 on its Information Quality…
Comment
Comments on Proposed Rule Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), we are pleased to provide the following comments on the Department of Commerce’s proposed regulation concerning the…
Blog
Year in Review 2019: Supreme Court
The nature of the term ending in June 2019 was set at the end of 2018 when the cases were selected. When the term opened…
Blog
Best Books of 2019: A Republic, If You Can Keep It
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch explains in vivid detail the purpose of the separation of powers in his 2019 book "A Republic, If You Can…
Inside Sources
Consumer Choice Is Not Elitist
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-New Jersey, thinks it’s fine that your new dishwasher takes more than 2 hours to complete a cycle — we think consumers…
Inside Sources
Consumer Choice Is Not Elitist
Rep. Frank Pallone, D-New Jersey, thinks it’s fine that your new dishwasher takes more than 2 hours to complete a cycle — we think…
The Heartland Institute
Supreme Court Allows Fast Tracking of Property Rights Case
The Heartland Institute cites Attorney Devin Watkins on the Knick decision. The Knick decision should help ensure states play fair with takings claims, says Devin Watkins, an…
Watts Up With That
CEI Files Formal Complaint Regarding NASA’s Claim of 97% Climate Scientist Agreement on Global Warming
Watts Up With That cites Attorney Devin Watkins on a recent CEI petition to correct a climate science statistic on NASA’s website. The…
InsideSources
The Cycle of the Dishwasher Goes On and On…And On and On
InsideSources cites CEI’s recent petition for dishwasher efficiency. Enter the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and its never-ceasing war against burdensome, wasteful and sometimes…
PJ Media
Libertarian Group Demands NASA Remove False ’97 Percent Consensus’ Global Warming Claim
Pajama Media cites CEI’s recent petition to correct a climate change statistic on NASA’s website. On Tuesday, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) sent…
Washington Free Beacon
Group Asks NASA to Remove Dubious Climate Change Stat
The Washington Free Beacon cites CEI’s petition to correct a climate change statistic on NASA’s website. The petition from the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
News Release
CEI Files Formal Complaint Regarding NASA’s Claim of 97% Climate Scientist Agreement on Global Warming
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) petitioned NASA to remove from its website the claim that 97 percent of climate scientists agree humans are responsible for…
PJ Media
Your Dishwasher Takes Too Long and It’s the Government’s Fault. Here’s the Solution
PJ Media cites CEI’s recent petition for dishwasher efficiency. In 1978, the average dishwasher only took an hour to wash plates, cups, and…
The Daily Caller
Here’s The Next Obama-Era Reg Trump’s Energy Department Is Preparing To Nix
The Daily Caller cites CEI’s recent petition for dishwasher efficiency. “CEI’s petition, for dishwashers that benefit consumers by cleaning fast and well, was…
News Release
CEI Applauds DOE for Granting Its Petition to Speed Up Dishwashers
Responding to a petition from the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the Department of Energy (DOE) today announced a new rulemaking related to the problem of…
Blog
‘Gundy’ Decision Could Signal Fundamental Reform of Administrative State
It is hard to describe how important the Supreme Court decision last week in Gundy v. United States is. In one sense, nothing changed—no case…
News Release
Roberts Keeps Auer Deference on Life Support
The U.S. Supreme Court today handed down its decision in Kisor v. Wilkie, a case that centered on the principle of Auer deference, the precedent…
News Release
Supreme Court’s Landmark Decision Ensures Property Ownership is Equal with other Rights
The U.S. Supreme Court today announced a decision in Knick v. Township of Scott, Pennsylvania, a case centered property rights and the Fifth Amendment. The Court…
News Release
In Gundy Case, Supreme Court Postpones Fight over Congressional Accountability to Another Day
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an important case concerning what powers Congress can delegate to executive branch agencies – effectively postponing a big…
News Release
HHS Evaluation of Medical Marijuana Illegally Skipped Peer Review, CEI Argues in Data Quality Petition
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute submitted a request to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that exposes a major flaw in the…
Comment
CEI Correction Request under Information Quality Act Regarding HHS Scientific Assessment of Medical Marijuana
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) submits this request for correction of this agency’s 2015 scientific evaluation of medical marijuana. We submit this under the Information…
News Release
Court: EPA Failed to Let Public Weigh in on Waters of the United States Rule
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has remanded the controversial ‘waters of the United States’ rule back to the Environmental Protection…
News Release
CEI Invokes New Data Quality Guidelines in Challenge to EPA’s 2009 Endangerment Finding
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today petitionedthe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop utilizing its 2009 Endangerment Finding until it subjects it to the high-level peer…
Legal Brief
CEI Submits Request for Correction Under the Information Quality Act
Information Quality Act Correction Request Regarding EPA’s 2009 GHG Endangerment Finding …
SCOTUS Blog
Wednesday Round-Up
SCOTUS Blog cited Senior Fellow Devin Watkins on Kisor v. Wilkie. At the Competitive Enterprise Institute blog, Devin Watkins suggests that after last week’s…
Blog
Support Builds for EPA to Reconsider Endangerment Finding
In the 2007 case Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court held that Environmental Protection Agency had the power to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant…
Blog
Supreme Court Likely to Limit Administrative State’s Ability to Interpret Rules
Last week the Supreme Court heard a case on limiting the powers of the administrative state that could be one of the most important this…
Law & Liberty
The Unenumerated Rights of the Privileges or Immunities Clause
Does the Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause include unenumerated rights, like the right to earn an honest living or make contracts? Professor Kurt Lash…
Blog
News Media Go Along with Greenpeace’s Attempt to Pretend Patrick Moore Not a Founder
For years Greenpeace has pretended that Patrick Moore was not one of the original co-founders of the radical environmental pressure group. More recently, a number of…
Blog
Agencies Failing to Follow Law on Key Financial Regulation
The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 is one of the worst pieces of legislation to have become law in recent history. It created the Consumer Financial…
Blog
Confusing Poll Clouds Public Perception of Trump Emergency Declaration
President Trump’s national emergency declaration is constitutional, as I explained in a recent op-ed in the Washington Examiner. That’s an important fact, because we trust…
The Washington Examiner
Why Trump’s Border Wall National Emergency is Constitutional
Democratic congressional leaders claim President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency to spend additional money on a border wall is unlawful, with some even saying this maneuver looks more like…
Fox News
Elizabeth Warren’s ‘Wealth Tax’ Faces Constitutional Questions
Fox News cited Attorney Devin Watkins on a proposed wealth tax: The tiny number of rich people in State B would have to…
News Release
Court Ruling Against Soda Warning Labels Praised by CEI Experts
Today, a federal appeals court blocked a San Francisco law mandating health warning labels on ads for soda and other sugary drinks, saying the law…
Blog
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down Soda Labeling Ban for Wrong Reasons
This week the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held unconstitutional the size requirement in San Francisco’s soda warning labeling regulation. However, there are broader…
Blog
Warren Wealth Tax Proposal Raises Constitutional Questions
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has proposed a new wealth tax. We don’t know a lot of details on what is being proposed, but what little…
Blog
Courts Should Protect Economic Liberty Rights As Originally Understood
The prohibition on taking a person’s liberty without due process of law is enshrined in the Constitution’s Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. But what does this…
Blog
Supreme Court Should Review Oregon’s Discriminatory Fuel Pricing Rules
Last week, American fuel manufactures filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to review a lower court decision upholding an Oregon law…
News Release
CEI Urges Supreme Court to Hear Lawsuit Against Exclusive Union Representation Mandate
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) in an amicus brief asked the Supreme Court to hear a lawsuit arguing that exclusive labor union representation violates the…
Legal Brief
Brief of Amicus Curiae of CEI in Support of the Petitioner in Uradnik v. Inter Faculty Organization, et al.
View Full Document as PDF In Janus v. AFSCME, this Court recognized the importance of this issue in its holding…
LifeZette
Civil Rights Commission Faces Legitimacy Questions
LifeZette cited CEI’s recent letter to the acting attorney general of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights concerning legitimacy questions. The Competitive…
News Release
CEI Calls for Acting Attorney General to Recognize that Commission on Civil Rights Lacks Legal Authority to Operate
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) today formally requested the acting Attorney General to find that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR) has no legal…
Products
Letter to USCCR
We are writing to call your attention to the fact that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (“USCCR”) is currently operating without any legal authority…
News Release
Supreme Court Agrees to Reconsider Deference to Agency’s Interpretation of Regulations
Today, the Supreme Court agreed to consider overturning Auer (or Seminole Rock) deference in a case called Kisor v. Wilkie. Under Auer (or Seminole Rock)…
Real Clear Policy
Can DOJ Define the Crimes It Prosecutes? The Court Must Decide.
Herman Avery Gundy was convicted of sexual assault in Maryland and served time in the state’s prison system. After his prison term ended, Gundy failed…
Comment
CEI Comments on Joint DOT/EPA Proposed SAFE Vehicles Rule
The Competitive Enterprise Institute hereby submits these comments on the joint DOT/ EPA proposed SAFE Vehicles Rule. We support this proposal, which would (1) reduce…
RealClear Policy
Can DOJ Define the Crimes It Prosecutes? The Court Must Decide.
Blog
Looking Back at the Success of ‘Free Enterprise Fund’
In the last decade there has been a kind of separation of powers renaissance in the courts. Previously, separation-of-powers cases were rare and usually occurred…
McClatchy DC
Kavanaugh in Line to Decide ‘Sleeper Case’ that Could Rein in EPA, Other Agencies
McClatchy DC cited CEI on the Supreme Court case Gundy v. United States. Numerous business-backed groups — including the Cato Institute, Competitive Enterprise…
News Release
Supreme Court Refuses to Consider If Searching Internet IPs Requires Warrant
The Competitive Enterprise Institute is disappointed that the Supreme Court has refused to consider if the government can search what websites a person accesses online…
News Release
CEI Comments on Supreme Court Lucia Ruling Upholding Democratic Accountability
The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling today in Lucia v. SEC held that Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) are officers who must be appointed by, at least,…
Comment
CEI Comments on The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s RIF Regarding Rulemaking Processes
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), we are pleased to provide the following comments on the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection’s (bureau or…