Caroline Wolverton Quoted in Law360 on Efforts to Amend Administrative Procedure Act

Law360 has quoted Akin Gump litigation senior counsel Caroline Wolverton in the article “DOJ’s Administrative Law Goals Face Long Odds In Congress.” The article reports on calls by some top Justice Department officials to amend the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which dictates the process for making federal regulations.

According to Law360, the changes being sought do not appear to have the bipartisan support they would need in Congress. There are currently two bills pending in the GOP-led Senate, but companion bills introduced in the Democratic-controlled House have not garnered support of the majority.

Wolverton said that for industries that have to follow rules set by Congress and federal agencies, the immediate concern is about assurances that agencies are following the current rules and making sure to provide proper notice and consider all the proper feedback they get from interested parties. There is less concern, she said, about structural reform of the APA, and any suggestions of more congressional oversight, for example, could raise new headaches for entities navigating the regulatory process.

“At the end of the day, what private litigants are concerned about are the impacts of what the agencies are doing, and the substance,” said Wolverton. “And it’s hard to see that congressional oversight is necessarily going to translate into better rulemaking. It seems to inject politics into it.”