Recently I joined a Federalist Society forum dedicated to exploring emerging applications of the Congressional Review Act. The event featured Michael Buschbacher of Boyden Gray, PLLC, and Professor Alan B. Morrison of George Washington University Law School, with Laura Stanley of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP serving as moderator.
The conversation centered on employing the Congressional Review Act to overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s grant of preemption waivers to California for its greenhouse gas vehicle emission standards. The Government Accountability Office had concluded that these waivers did not qualify as “rules” under the CRA. Michael Buschbacher took a contrary position, details of which appear in his op-ed. Congress likewise rejected GAO’s view and used the CRA to rescind the waivers.
Throughout the forum we reviewed the decision to revoke the waivers, the attendant legal and political implications, California’s lawsuit challenging the rescission, and what this action (along with other recent developments) suggests about the CRA’s future role as a tool to curb administrative agencies. The video of the discussion follows below.
