Week in Review

IN THE NEWS

• Anthropic, an artificial intelligence company, filed two lawsuits against the Trump Administration in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. Anthropic alleged that recent sanctions against the company are unlawful retaliations because Anthropic refused to allow unlimited use of Claude, its large language model, for domestic mass surveillance and fully automated weapon systems. The lawsuits challenge Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s designation of Anthropic as a supply chain risk for national security and President Donald J. Trump’s order for all federal employees to cease using Claude. Anthropic claimed that these restrictions violate the Administrative Procedure Act, as well as Anthropic’s freedom of speech under the First Amendment and its right to due process under the Fifth Amendment.
• Liberty Justice Center, a libertarian public interest law firm, sued President Trump over his latest 10 percent global tariff after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down most of his earlier tariffs last month. The complaint alleges that section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 permits temporary tariffs only to address international payment imbalances, not the trade deficits President Trump has cited. Filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade on behalf of Burlap & Barrel, a spice and e-commerce company, and Basic Fun!, a toy company, the suit followed a similar challenge by Democratic state attorneys general and came as litigation over refunds for previously invalidated tariffs continued.
• The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sued the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Defense, and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, alleging that the agencies failed to respond to Freedom of Information Act requests about potential federal involvement in election administration. The DNC said that it submitted requests in October 2025 seeking records related to any plans to deploy federal agents or troops to polling places, ballot drop boxes, or election offices. The complaint alleges that the agencies did not provide responsive documents or a list of withheld records within the time required by the statute. The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring the agencies to produce the requested records, warning that the possible deployment of federal officers at election sites could interfere with state-run election administration and intimidate voters.
• The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that West Virginia may exclude gender-affirming surgeries from coverage under its Medicaid program. The court reversed a district court ruling that found the exclusion unlawful under federal anti-discrimination law and the 14th Amendment. The group that filed the lawsuit argued that the exclusion denies transgender Medicaid beneficiaries coverage for medically necessary care. The court, however, concluded that the state’s policy targets specific medical procedures rather than transgender status. The ruling arrived amid similar litigation over other states’ restrictions on gender-affirming medical care.
• Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), challenging the agency’s approval of state waivers that restrict the purchase of items such as sugary drinks, energy drinks, and candy with SNAP benefits. The plaintiffs argue that the restrictions—approved in 22 states—exceed USDA’s statutory authority and were adopted without reasoned decision-making. They also claim that the limits destabilize food access by forcing participants to spend scarce cash on restricted items or sacrifice other necessities. The lawsuit claims that certain restricted foods are necessary to manage medical conditions or dietary limitations. USDA declined to comment on the pending litigation. Officials from USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have supported the waivers as part of the Trump Administration’s broader Make America Healthy Again initiative.
• A federal judge vacated energy-efficiency standards adopted in 2024 by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and USDA for federally financed affordable housing. Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas held that the standards conflicted with section 109 of the Cranston-Gonzalez Affordable Housing Act because the agencies had already updated the standards once in 2015 and because the agencies’ own findings showed that the new rules would reduce affordable housing availability by 1.5 percent. Although the Trump Administration urged the court to dismiss the case while it reconsidered the standards, USDA welcomed the ruling.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention, stating that the Taliban—the fundamentalist Islamic group controlling the country—uses unjust detention of foreign nationals as a tool to force diplomatic or political concessions. Secretary Rubio referenced the cases of Dennis Coyle, a researcher detained in Afghanistan since January 2025, and Mahmoud Habibi, a telecommunications contractor missing since 2022, in making the determination. Mike Waltz, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, also referenced the alleged practice of wrongful detention, calling into question the Taliban’s motivations for continuing to participate in the Doha Peace Deal, which ended the U.S. war in Afghanistan.
• The Trump Administration fired Todd Inman, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), due to alleged misconduct including harassment, alcohol abuse, and failure to attend required meetings. Inman denied the allegations and stated he would fight the dismissal. President Joseph R. Biden, a Democrat, nominated Inman to the NTSB in March of 2024 to fill one of the Republican seats on the board. Inman argued that his firing was politically motivated and without cause, and stated he would use “all legal means possible” to defend himself against the allegations.

WHAT WE’RE READING THIS WEEK

• In a recent report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined the Office of Management and Budget’s efforts to create a comprehensive inventory of federal programs. GAO found that the inventory remains incomplete and lacks key information about many programs’ spending and performance. GAO explained that the inventory does not yet include certain programs—such as foreign assistance and defense programs—and contains data quality issues, including missing spending data and inactive programs. GAO recommended that the Office of Management and Budget take additional steps to fully meet statutory requirements and improve the inventory’s transparency and usefulness for policymakers and the public.
• A new report by GAO found that the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Federal Student Aid weakened its oversight of federal student loan servicers after major staffing reductions in 2025. GAO explained that although four of five servicers failed to meet performance standards for record accuracy and incurred about $850,000 in penalties, the office stopped assessing accuracy and call quality in February 2025 because of reduced staff capacity. GAO warned that without these reviews, borrowers could face incorrect billing, improper repayment statuses, and poor customer service. GAO recommended that the Education Department resume assessing servicer accuracy and call quality to better protect borrowers and avoid paying contractors for deficient performance.
• In a recent report, GAO examined the deferred maintenance and repair costs for museums in the United States. GAO found that about 77 percent of museums experience some building issue that puts their collections at risk of damage, and 73 percent of museums have infrastructure issues that potentially affect health and safety. Although many museums are eligible for federal funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, funding cannot be used for construction costs, leaving many institutions reliant on fundraising. GAO found that 85 percent of museums face financial barriers to completing building maintenance and repairs, and concluded that these limitations can force closures and limit operations.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

• In an essay for The Regulatory Review, Roslyn Layton, a regulatory scholar at Aalborg University, argued that technological innovation and infrastructure design can significantly improve safety in freight transportation. Layton explained that although aviation and rail deaths have declined over the past four decades, roadway fatalities have increased in recent years, in part because of growing trucking activity and changing incentives for drivers. She contended that advanced technology such as sensor systems, predictive analytics, and automation—along with regulatory reforms that better align safety incentives across trucking and freight rail—could help reduce accidents and improve transportation safety.