Editor's Note What's New

• Jurisdiction: United States,Federal
• Citation: Vol. 1 No. 4
• Publication year: 2023

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Victoria Prussen Spears ^*

What's new in the realm of federal agency action? Plenty! Just look at the titles of the articles in this issue. Nearly half use the word "new"—one uses it twice. Another uses the word "first," which, practically speaking, is another word for "new."

And even the articles that do not reference "new" in their titles cover timely, and important—and, yes, "new"—subjects.

ALJs

Our first article, "U.S. Supreme Court Deals Latest Setback to Federal Government's Use of Administrative Law Judges," is by Michael D. Birnbaum, Haimavathi V. Marlier, Gerardo Gomez Galvis, and Justin Young of Morrison & Foerster LLP.

In this article, the authors explain that a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court created doubt about the administrative law judge procedure on which the Securities and Exchange Commission so critically relies.

APA

Next, Steven D. Gordon of Holland & Knight LLP explains in his article, "Expanding the Administrative Record in Administrative Procedure Act Litigation," that in most Administrative Procedure Act cases, there is no issue about the completeness of the administrative record. The basis for the agency's action is fully disclosed in the record that it produces. And when an administrative record is incomplete, the matter can sometimes be resolved through discussions between counsel. Litigation over expanding the administrative record is unusual. But, Mr. Gordon concludes, it can be vital to the outcome of the case.

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HHS

Shannon K. Cohall and Susan R. Huntington of Day Pitney LLP are the authors of the next article in this issue, "New Warning for Providers: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Issues New Guidance on Data Risks Associated with Websites and Portals."

In this piece, the authors discuss a bulletin issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office for Civil Rights that provides a broad interpretation of what constitutes electronic protected health information and how "Regulated Entities" may gather, use and disclose, knowingly and unknowingly, that information using online tracking technologies through websites and portals.

Treasury

The article titled "U.S. Treasury Department Risk Assessment Emphasizes That Decentralized Crypto Companies Have Anti-Money Laundering and Sanctions Compliance Obligations" is next.

The authors, Jonathan R. Davey, Troy K. Jenkins, Stephen R. Heifetz, and Amy B. Caiazza, of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, explain that decentralized...