Category: Federal
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Washington Supreme Court Justice Wiggins to retire, governor to select replacement
Washington Supreme Court Justice Charles K. Wiggins is retiring at the end of March 2020. In a prepared statement, Wiggins said he wished to spend more time with his wife, Nancy, and his family. Wiggins was elected to the state supreme court in 2010 and re-elected in 2016. He was previously a Division 2 judge…
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Univ. of Washington employee sues SEIU over membership opt-out provisions
On Jan. 20, an employee of the University of Washington filed a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court, alleging that her union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 925, had unconstitutionally barred her and other employees from opting out of union membership. Who are the parties to the suit? The lead plaintiff is Charlene Wagner, a…
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10th Circuit hears oral argument in case challenging ATF bump stock ban
The United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit on January 22 heard oral argument in Aposhian v. Barr, a case claiming that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) violated Article I of the U.S. Constitution when they issued a 2018 rule redefining bump…
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Federal Register weekly update; 2020 page total continues to outpace 2019 and 2018
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. From January 20 to January 24, the Federal Register grew to 4,568 pages. Over the same period in 2019 and 2018, the Federal…
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Congressional filing deadline to pass in Maryland
The major-party filing deadline to run for elected office in Maryland is on January 24, 2020. In Maryland, prospective candidates may file for the following congressional offices: All eight U.S. House seats Neither U.S. Senate seat is up for election in 2020 The primary is scheduled for April 28, and the general election is scheduled…
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U.S. Supreme Court accepts three new cases for October 2019-2020 term
On January 17, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear three new cases during its October 2019-2020 term: Ford Motor Company v. Montana Eighth Judicial District Court (consolidated with Ford Motor Company v. Bandemer), Chiafalo v. Washington (consolidated with Colorado Department of State v. Baca), and Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul…
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Bernie Sanders leads Democratic pageviews for second consecutive week; Deval Patrick sees biggest increase in pageviews
Each week, we report the number of pageviews received by 2020 presidential campaigns on Ballotpedia. These numbers reflect the time investments of our community of thousands of readers who visit a Ballotpedia because they think the candidate is worth knowing more about, whether they believe the candidate has a strong chance of winning or is…
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FTC faces due process challenge to adjudication, administrative law judges
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on January 3 became the latest federal agency to face a constitutional challenge to its adjudication procedures, including the role of administrative law judges (ALJs). Axon Enterprises Inc. filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona arguing that the FTC’s adjudication procedures vest the…
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U.S. House passes CRA resolution to block Department of Education student loan rule
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 231 to 180 on January 16 to pass a resolution under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to block a final rule related to government forgiveness of certain student loan debt. Two hundred and twenty-five Democrats and six Republicans voted to pass the resolution while 179 Republicans and Justin Amash…
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Lawsuit claims new SNAP work requirements are unlawful
A group of states, the District of Columbia, and New York City filed a lawsuit on January 16 against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The lawsuit argues that a December 2019 rule violated federal law and arbitrarily reversed decades of policies governing when states…