Allstates Refractory Contractors v. Su

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed amicus curiae briefs in Allstates Refractory Contractors LLC v. Su, et al., challenging the constitutionality of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970…

Alpine Securities Corporation v. FINRA

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is a nominally private non-profit corporation that regulates the securities brokerage industry subject to oversight by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But it wields vast legislative, executive, and adjudicatory powers…

American Securities Assocation v. SEC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to strike down an SEC order requiring financial industry broker-dealers to fund its government-mandated “Consolidated Audit Trail” (CAT).

Black v. SEC and FINRA

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA asks the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside SEC’s partial affirmance of a sanction FINRA illegally imposed on a North Carolina securities firm and its principal owner, Frank Black.

CFPB v. CFSA

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau operates with an illegitimate funding method, outside of direct Congressional control. The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed an amicus curiae brief joined by The Buckeye Institute and the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research in the case…

Cigar Association of America v. FDA

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA urges the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reject the “remand without vacatur” doctrine, which allows administrative agencies to continue enforcing rules the court has just declared unlawful.

Consumers’ Research v. FCC, U.S.A.

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The Federal Communications Commission administers the Universal Service Fund, which provides telecommunications services to rural and impoverished areas of the United States as well as to schools, libraries, and healthcare providers. However, in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Congress wrote an “evolving” and open-ended statute, leaving FCC to set its own policies and extract money from Americans to fund the…

Consumers’ Research v. FCC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – Every year the Federal Communications Commission collects billions of dollars from telecommunications customers to fund “universal service.”

Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the dismissal of Corner Post’s lawsuit challenging a Federal Reserve regulation, ruling that the six-year statute of limitations to challenge the rule had already expired. However, Corner Post did not exist until more than six years after the rule issued, and it filed suit less than four years after opening for business.

Darby Development Company, Inc., et al. v. United States

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – In this case, dozens of rental property owners assert that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Eviction Moratorium effected either a compensable taking or an illegal exaction under the Fifth Amendment. NCLA argues that a dismissal of owners’ takings claims will encourage the government to take private property worth billions of dollars, for public use.

In re Bystolic Antitrust Litigation

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – In connection with its settlement of patent-infringement litigation, Forest Labs (the patent holder) had paid a substantial amount of cash to seven other drug companies (the alleged patent infringers). In subsequent litigation, the antitrust plaintiffs asserted that Forest’s large payments proved that Forest had paid the other companies in return for their agreement not to compete with the marketing of its patented blood-pressure medication (Bystolic) and thus had violated the antitrust laws…

Jarkesy v. SEC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – George Jarkesy was adjudicated by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) who was improperly insulated from removal. Mr. Jarkesy was also denied his jury trial rights and equal protection of the law, among other problems.

Johnson v. Smith

Loffman v. California Department of Education

Loper Bright v. Raimondo

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – Relentless Inc., Huntress Inc., and Seafreeze Fleet LLC, corporations operating in the herring fishery off the coast of New England, have filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Loper Bright Enterprises’ petition for a writ of certiorari in Loper Bright Enterprises, et al. v. Raimondo, et al…

National Association of Private Fund Managers v. SEC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – SEC promulgated a rule restricting—and in some cases prohibiting—certain common contractual agreements between private investment funds and their investment advisers.

NRA v. Vullo

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in NRA v. Vullo calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to determine that New York Department of Financial Services Superintendent Maria Vullo abridged the National Rifle Association’s rights to free speech and association. Vullo issued…

Starbucks Corporation v. McKinney

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The National Labor Relations Board has deprived Starbucks of property without due process of law via an administrative enforcement proceeding, utilizing a preliminary injunction it obtained without even establishing that the company likely broke the law.

Tesla, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Board

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in support of Tesla, Inc.’s lawsuit against NLRB. Tesla Inc. v. NLRB challenges the Board’s March 2021 ruling that Tesla violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and further that the electric vehicle manufacturer would be required to “direct Musk to delete [his] unlawful tweet.”

U.S. v. Pheasant

CASE SUMMARY – NCLA urges the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to affirm a decision barring the Bureau of Land Management from wielding legislative power to criminalize activity on public lands.

U.S. v. Vargas

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in United States v. Vargas, urging the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to decide that Stinson deference should not be applied when it results in a more severe criminal sentence…

Volokh v. James

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – A New York state law would force social media companies to create and display a policy on their websites detailing how they will respond to…

Adir International v. Starr Indemnity and Liability Company

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA’s principal interest participating in this litigation was to vindicate Petitioner Adir International’s due process rights and the rights of any individual or entity defendant whose business actions had been or might be chilled because its insurance coverage could be turned off at will by California enforcers…

Aguila v. Ducey

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – “Police Power” in the hands of the governor does not include the power to legislate, argued the amicus brief filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group, in the Arizona Supreme Court. 

American Home Furnishings Alliance, et al. v. CPSC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in support of manufacturers, importers, and retailers of clothing storage units challenging a Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) rule regarding the stability of these pieces of furniture.

American Honda Motor Co. v. Walther

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to stop judges in the state from giving “great deference” to the Department of Finance and Administration in a post-2009 Arkansas tax procedure case…

American Hospital Association v. Becerra

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA argued that the D.C. Circuit improperly applied Chevron deference to HHS’s interpretation of a statute that allowed the agency to set reimbursement rates for the plaintiffs, a group of hospitals participating in the Section 340B Drug Pricing Program.

American Institute for International Steel Inc. v. U.S.

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the American Institute for International Steel, Inc. AIIS filed a petition seeking a Writ of Certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court in American Inst. for International Steel, Inc. v. U.S., claiming that a tariff law improperly divested legislative power…

Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The question presented in this case was whether the holding of NAACP v. Alabama ex rel. Patterson would be applied to modern state attorneys-general compelling disclosure of supporter lists of unpopular organizations without articulating a substantial state interest in obtaining the information…

AMG Capital Management v. FTC; FTC v. Credit Bureau Center

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court admonishing the FTC for its unlawful practice in applying the agency’s statutory provisions. FTC had transformed its limited statutory right to enjoin into an absolute right to secure any “equitable remedy.”

Apartment Association of Los Angeles County v. City of Los Angeles

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA found disturbing the trend, epitomized by this case, of lower courts deferring to states and cities in their flimsy justifications for substantially impairing landlord-tenant contractual obligations. NCLA request the Supreme Court’s immediate intervention to rescue the Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Axon Enterprise v. FTC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona in support of Axon Enterprise Inc. in the body camera company’s fight to keep its constitutional claims against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in federal court…

Beshear v. Goodwood Brewing Company

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The amici curiae, NCLA, the Southeastern Legal Foundation, and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, argued that the Kentucky Constitution denies the governor dictatorial power. To ensure such power does not develop in any branch, the Kentucky Constitution separates government power and vests the legislature with law-making authority, which the legislature can always reclaim once delegated.

Borrello v. Hochul

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in George Borrello, et al. v. Kathleen Hochul, et al. New York State Senator George Borrello and New York State Assemblymen Christopher Tague and Michael Lawler sued state and federal actors, including Governor Kathleen Hochul, for their role in promulgating 10 NYCRR § 2.13 establishing isolation and quarantine procedures for those suspected of having a communicable disease…

BST Holdings v. Occupational Safety and Health Administration

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – OSHA’s ETS was expected to force 84 million employees nationwide—over half the U.S. workforce—to either take a novel vaccine against an infectious disease, navigate weekly costly testing, or forfeit their jobs. Nothing in the Occupational Safety and Health Act, however, suggests that OSHA has authority to issue…

Buffington v. McDonough

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – Mr. Buffington, who suffered service-connected disability (tinnitus) while serving for the U.S. Air Force, sought disability benefits in a lawsuit against V.A. The law is clear that when one asks for resumption of disability payments to which one is entitled, the resumption should begin as of the date one leaves active service.

Burgess v. FDIC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to redress the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s unlawful enforcement action against Cornelius Campbell Burgess, which the agency pursued through its in-house administrative court.

Calcutt v. FDIC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – Congress has long protected federal agency Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) from removal, thus depriving Americans of their constitutional freedom to live under a government in which executive power is accountable to them through the President. NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in a case addressing whether certain Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) officers, including the agency’s ALJs, were protected by multiple layers of tenure protection in violation of the “Take Care” clause of the Constitution…

Campaign Legal Center v. Federal Election Commission

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Campaign Legal Center v. Federal Election Commission. The Campaign Legal Center alleged that the Federal Election Commission had taken no action on an administrative complaint CLC filed and that FEC’s “failure to act” was “contrary to law.” 

Carr v. Saul; Davis v. Saul

AMICI BRIEF SUMMARY – The case concerned whether claimants seeking disability benefits under the Social Security Act had to “exhaust” constitutional challenges to their benefits determinations before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) at the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) in order…

Children’s Hospital Association of Texas v. Azar

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the petition for a writ of certiorari filed by a group of children’s hospitals from around the country. NCLA believed the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals erred in reversing the district court’s decision in this case, which had struck down a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) formula for hospital payments that violated the statute.

Clarke v. CFTC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The PredictIt Market provides a platform for investors to trade contracts that predict the likely outcome of elections and other significant political events. In 2014, CFTC authorized the trading market’s establishment and assured its creators that the market could operate lawfully under the Commodities Exchange Act. Now, after millions of dollars and years of sweat equity have been invested to build and operate the market, CFTC pulled the rug out from under its operators and told them to shut everything down by the apparently arbitrary date of February 15, 2023—or else…

Cleveland County v. Conner

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA was particularly disturbed by the Fourth Circuit’s decision to grant “considerable deference” to the U.S. Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) non-binding interpretation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) without undertaking the basic step of determining whether that interpretation was consistent with the statutory language.

Collins v. Yellen

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court taking aim at the unconstitutional structure of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). NCLA asked that the Court to (1) set aside the final agency action FHFA took against Petitioners while it was unconstitutionally structured and (2) grant them meaningful relief…

Community Housing Improvement Program,  v. City of New York

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA believes that the lower court erred when it declared that the New York Rent Stabilization Law (RSL) does not violate the due process rights of the Plaintiffs-Appellants related to their property, when in fact, it does. Plaintiffs-appellants, NCLA argued, have a fundamental right to their property under the U.S. Constitution, so the RSL should have been subjected to strict scrutiny.

Consumers’ Research; By Two, L.P. v. Consumer Product Safety Commission

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA is particularly disturbed by government officials not answerable to the President who are purportedly authorized by statute to usurp his Article II power to enforce the law.

Dr. A v. Hochul

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief encouraging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant review and hold that New York’s administrative Covid-19 vaccine mandate for healthcare workers denied the free exercise of religion to the Petitioners by allowing secular exemptions while denying religious ones. New York’s policy was inherently unequal, prejudiced, and violative of the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

Elkhorn Baptist Church v. Brown

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the Oregon Supreme Court in Elkhorn Baptist Church, et al. v. Katherine Brown. A broad coalition of local churches brought the case after being seriously disturbed by Governor Katherine Brown’s restrictions on religious gatherings in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The Federal Election Commission (FEC) urged the Supreme Court to adopt a new, heightened standard for establishing that an injury was “fairly traceable” to complained‑of conduct, a showing required of all plaintiffs in order to establish their standing to sue. Adopting FEC’s theory of standing would have significantly restricted judicial challenges to all kinds of unlawful federal government action.

Feds for Medical Freedom v. Biden

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – To grant such a vast and uncabined power over the health decisions of federal employees to the agencies on such vague language implicated the non-delegation doctrine and major questions doctrine…

Fleming v. USDA

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – In this case, NCLA took issue with the United States Department of Agriculture’s (“USDA”) use of Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”) violating Article II and the separation of powers…

Francis v. Kings Park Manor

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Donahue Francis v. Kings Park Manor, Inc., et al., on rehearing en banc. NCLA’s brief, which supported neither party, asked the bench to eschew Chevron deference in its decision, respect the rule of lenity, observe the principle of party presentation, and avoid the appearance of bias in this case.

FTC v. Walmart

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY –  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lacked constitutional authority to bring a lawsuit for monetary damages and injunctive relief against Walmart Inc., argued NCLA in an amicus curiae brief submitted in the case FTC v. Walmart…

Fulton v. City of Philadelphia

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of the United States in Sharonell Fulton, et al. v. City of Philadelphia, et al. In 2018, Philadelphia abruptly terminated foster placement through Catholic Social Services (CSS) leaving foster parents like Sharonell Fulton, who has fostered more than 40 children…

Goldwater Institute v. HHS

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The Constitution requires federal judges to exercise independent judgment and refrain from bias when interpreting the law. These are foundational constitutional requirements for having an independent judiciary. Article III gives federal judges life tenure and salary protection to ensure…

Greenberg v. Lehocky

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed amicus curiae briefs in opposition to a rule creating an unconstitutional speech code for lawyers. Pennsylvania’s Rule 8.4(g) exposes attorneys to discipline—including sanctions that deprive lawyers of the ability to earn a livelihood—if, while in the practice of law, they knowingly communicate in a manner “constituting harassment or discrimination.”

Guedes v. ATF

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – Chevron deference is bad enough on its own, for it unconstitutionally requires judges to abandon their independent judgement and, where the government is a party, requires them to engage in systematic bias in favor of the most powerful of parties. But the D.C. Circuit’s decision expanded Chevron deference…

Gundy v. U.S.

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA argued that the court of appeals’ judgement should be reversed for four separate and independent reasons. First, 34 U.S.C. § 20913(d) violates the Constitution by divesting Congress of legislative powers and transferring those powers to the Attorney General…

Gun Owners of America v. Garland

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – Amici wrote separately to focus on an independent reason why Chevron was inapplicable: the government’s interpretations of criminal statutes are not entitled to deference. When construed without placing a thumb on the scale in favor of either party, § 5845(b) does not include non-mechanical bump stocks within the definition of machine guns.

Haaland v. Brackeen

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – This case was particularly important to NCLA. It was disappointed that three judges on the Fifth Circuit would eschew their fundamental duty “to say what the law is” and defer to agency interpretations of statutes under the Chevron doctrine…

Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – This case addressed what Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 means by prohibiting employment discrimination “because … of sex.” Specifically, the Supreme Court answered whether that language encompasses discrimination because of sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or transgender status.

 Jane Doe v. White

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – As part of its efforts to enforce Title IX, the U.S. Department of Education has routinely pressured schools to deny due process to the accused in sexual-misconduct investigations. NCLA filed an amicus brief in support of Jane Doe’s petition for a writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court in her case against the California State University system and various Title IX administrators.

Jessop v. City of Fresno

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – In this case, NCLA was particularly disturbed that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had willfully opted out of deciding a matter as simple—but gravely consequential— as whether it is unconstitutional for a police officer to use the cover of a search warrant to steal from a suspect. By choosing not to decide the issue, the panel granted immunity…

The Judge Rotenberg Educational Center v. FDA; Aponte v. FDA

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed this amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit supporting a challenge to a Final Rule issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Rule banned “electrical stimulation devices” (ESDs) for aversion therapy, in use in only one treatment facility in the United States—the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Massachusetts.

Kemp v. U.S.

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – When the Supreme Court adopted the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in the 1930s, it provided that Rule 60 should be available to correct judicial errors of law. The Court granted cert in Kemp because it presented an ideal opportunity to remedy a decades-long split dividing courts of appeals over how Rule 60(b) applies to “legal error.”

Kisor v. Wilkie

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The Constitution requires federal judges to exercise independent judgment and refrain from bias when interpreting the law. These are foundational constitutional requirements for an independent judiciary. Article III gives federal judges life tenure and salary protection to ensure that judicial pronouncements…

Lent v. California Coastal Commission

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The case was the first to challenge a CCC’s penalty order issued under section 30821. The Commission sought deference to its interpretation that sections 30820 and 30821 permit consideration of deterrence in its administrative civil penalty determination.

Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA stated that in adopting the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Pub. L. 111-148 (2010), Congress improperly delegated to the administrative state the power to write laws governing the conduct of health insurance providers. Administrative agencies responded…

Liu v. SEC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – It is undisputed that the “disgorgement” remedy appears nowhere in the SEC’s enabling statutes. History reveals that the disgorgement remedy was created and expanded by an strategic enforcement and litigation process allowing SEC to arrogate to itself powers not granted by Congress. This process built…

Lovato v. U.S.

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in U.S. v. Daniel Lovato, urging the federal court to re-examine the circuit’s treatment of “Stinson Deference.” The case presented an opportunity for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to join…

Lucia v. SEC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The petitioners in this case and the Solicitor General had capably explained why SEC administrative-law judges qualify as “officers of the United States,” who must be appointed in accordance with the process described in Article II of the Constitution. NCLA wrote as amicus to explain that…

McDonald v. Lawson; Couris v. Lawson

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in support of plaintiffs challenging a California law. Assembly Bill 2098 empowered the Medical Board of California to discipline physicians who disseminated information regarding Covid-19 that departed from the “contemporary scientific consensus.” 

Monex Deposit Company v. Commodity Futures Trading Commission

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in support of the petitioners’ request for a Writ of Certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court in Monex Deposit Company, et al. v. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In this case, CFTC was testing the furthest reaches

Murphy Company v. Biden

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – Presidents do not have the power to dispense with statutes. NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief emphasizing that point and urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant certiorari in…

Musk v. SEC

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief urging the Supreme Court to grant Elon Musk’s cert petition and strike down SEC’s “Gag Rule” censoring every American with whom it settles a regulatory enforcement case. For over 50 years, SEC has forbidden all enforcement targets from even truthfully criticizing their cases in public.

Oracle America Inc. v. U.S. Department of Labor

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in support of Oracle’s case against the Department of Labor (DOL). Oracle challenged a portion of the regulations that set up the enforcement and adjudication system in the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).

Premier Healthcare Investments v. UHS of Anchor

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court of Georgia in the case of Premier Healthcare Investments, L.L.C. v. UHS of Anchor, L.P. NCLA submitted a neutral brief in support of neither party that solely focused on the constitutional arguments for rejecting judicial deference…

SEC v. Murphy

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – In November 2022, SEC announced record-breaking enforcement results, boasting a staggering $4.2 billion in civil penalties imposed during just the past fiscal year—the agency’s “highest on record.

Seila Law v. CFPB

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – The precedent of this Court did not compel an outcome for either side. Although decisions such as Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, 295 U.S. 602 (1935), and Morrison v. Olson, 487 U.S. 654 (1988), approved statutes insulating administrative officers from presidential removal, each of those rulings…

Skyworks v. CDC

State of Kentucky and State of Tennessee v. Yellen

State of Nebraska v. Biden

State of Ohio v. Yellen

State of West Virginia v. Department of the Treasury

Sun City Home Owners Association v. Arizona Corporation Commission

State of Texas v. Yellen

Tiger Lily v. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – In a joint amicus brief filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, NCLA condemned an eviction moratorium order imposed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to purportedly prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Torcivia v. Suffolk County

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a petition for certiorari urging the high court to resolve a circuit court split regarding whether and when a “special-needs exception” to the Fourth Amendment justifies home entry and seizure by the government without a warrant.

TWISM Enterprises v. State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA argued that the Hamilton County Court of Appeals erred by deferring to the Ohio Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Surveyors’ “reasonable interpretation” of what the court characterized as “ambiguous statutes and administrative rules.”

U.S. Department of Education v. Brown

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting two cases challenging the Biden Administration’s unlawful student loan debt cancellation plan. Biden v. Nebraska and Department of Education v. Brown contested the government’s invocation of the HEROES Act to rewrite statutory provisions and cancel some half a trillion dollars owed to the Treasury, which violated both the Vesting and Appropriations Clauses of Article I of the Constitution…

U.S. v. Arthrex Inc.; U.S. v. Polaris Innovations; Smith & Nephew Inc. v. Arthrex Inc.

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – ​At issue in the consolidated set of cases was whether administrative patent judges (APJs) could be appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce or whether the Constitution required the President to appoint these judges and the Senate to confirm them.

U.S. v. Havis

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – Jeffery Havis was sentenced to federal prison in reliance on a provision of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual that was passed without required Congressional approval…

U.S. v. Moses

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – This Court’s correct decision in U.S. v. Campbell conflicted directly with the panel’s decision in this case, as Judge King acknowledged in dissent. Creating an intra-circuit split, the panel also split from the Third and Sixth Circuits, which correctly recognized that Kisor v. Wilkie necessarily limited deference to genuinely ambiguous rules and regulations in all applications of Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co.

U.S. v. Nasir

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in U.S. v. Malik Nasir, urging the federal court to re-examine the circuit’s treatment of “Stinson Deference.” The case presented an opportunity for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to join…

U.S. v. Tabb

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in U.S. v. Zimmian Tabb, urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to abandon “Stinson Deference,” the judicial deference doctrine requiring federal judges to defer to United States Sentencing Commission (U.S.S.C.) commentary interpreting the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines (U.S.S.G.).

​West Virginia v. EPA

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA argued that the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit should be reversed. The Constitution vests all legislative power in Congress. This means that national policy decisions are to be made by Congress, not by administrative agencies.

Williams Alaska Petroleum v. State of Alaska

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA asked the court not to defer to a legal interpretation made by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Instead, NCLA argued that Alaskan courts needed to interpret the law without deferring to the agency’s interpretation.  

Window Covering Manufacturers Association v. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus curiae brief in Window Covering Manufacturers Association v. CPSC, a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The Window Covering Manufacturers Association WCMA was challenging a Consumer Product Safety Commission CPSC rule governing the length of cords for custom-made blinds…

Wolf v. Scarnati

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA’s brief argued that the Governor’s argument was flawed. “The concurrence of both houses” was not “necessary” for a termination of disaster emergency under § 7301(c) of the Emergency Management Services Code authorizing the Governor to declare or proclaim a disaster emergency…

Wynn v. U.S.

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in Jayren Wynn v. United States of America, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to grant Mr. Wynn’s petition for certiorari and either discard Stinson deference altogether or at least rule that Stinson deference could not increase criminal sentences.

Young v. State of Hawaii

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in George K. Young, Jr. v. State of Hawaii, et al. in support of Mr. Young. NCLA’s brief urged the full court against deferring to state administrators’ factual speculations and to their interpretations of the U.S. Constitution or of state statutes and regulations.

YU Pride Alliance v. Yeshiva University

AMICUS BRIEF SUMMARY – NCLA filed an amicus brief in support of Yeshiva University’s Supreme Court application seeking an emergency stay pending appeal of a court order to “immediately” approve an official “Pride Alliance” student club. NCLA argued that the constitutional harms stemming from the injunction were substantial and could continue possibly for years with case proceedings. The denial of one’s First Amendment rights, even for short periods, constitutes irreparable harm and necessitates correction by the courts.