President Trump yesterday issued a memo directing agency heads to move forward with drafting a list of “unlawful and potentially unlawful regulations” and take steps to immediately repeal them.
In the memo, Trump cites his February executive order in which he directed agencies to draft a list of allegedly unlawful regulations within 60 days and begin plans to repeal them. To guide that effort, the memo lists 10 U.S. Supreme Court cases the agencies should use to determine which regulations should be repealed. “In recent years, the Supreme Court has issued a series of decisions that recognize appropriate constitutional boundaries on the power of unelected bureaucrats and that restore checks on unlawful agency actions,” the memo states. “Yet, despite these critical course corrections, unlawful regulations — often promulgated in reliance on now-superseded Supreme Court decisions — remain on the books.”
Trump also exempted the repeals from public notice and comment requirements, citing an Administration Procedure Act clause that allows for exemptions when taking comment would be “impracticable, unnecessary or contrary to the public interest.” Agencies have the legal authority to immediately repeal unlawful regulations, according to the memo.
