Week in Review

IN THE NEWS

• President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to accelerate the rebuilding of homes and businesses destroyed by the 2025 California wildfires by providing exemptions from certain state and local permitting requirements. The order instructs the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration to consider regulations that would allow builders to self-certify compliance with health and safety standards. The order also calls for audits of California’s use of federal hazard mitigation funds and proposals to address delayed recoveries. California officials reportedly criticized the order as federal overreach and questioned its legal and practical impact.
• President Trump signed an executive order extending the existence of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council. The council—chaired by the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense—is tasked with evaluating FEMA’s disaster responses, comparing federal and state roles, and recommending reforms. The council was set to terminate after one year, but the new order extends the council until March. The council’s final report, containing its evaluations and recommendations for FEMA, remains unpublished following the cancellation of a planned December meeting.
• A federal appeals court declined to reinstate limits on the actions of federal agents at Minnesota protests. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit denied the request of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Minnesota after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent last weekend. The court stated that a district court order restricting agents was too broad and too vague. U.S. District Judge Katherine Menendez previously barred federal agents from retaliating against peaceful demonstrators and using pepper spray and similar crowd control munitions. In the appellate ruling, Judge Raymond Gruender wrote separately that he would have kept the pepper spray restriction in place because it was specific enough.
• A federal judge ruled that the Trump Administration unlawfully suspended funds that Congress earmarked for states to build electric vehicle chargers. The court also barred the U.S. Department of Transportation from rescinding awards or canceling approved plans. U.S. District Judge Tana Lin held that the Transportation Department and the Federal Highway Administration exceeded their authority after Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy paused the $5 billion electric vehicle charger program. Twenty Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia filed the suit last February. The Sierra Club, a nonprofit environmental association, reportedly praised the ruling, calling it a win for states building the electric vehicle charging network.
• The U.S. Senate voted down a budget appropriations bill, creating the potential for a federal government shutdown. Eight Senate Republicans crossed party lines and joined their Democratic colleagues in voting against the bill. In addition to funding agencies including the Department of Defense, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services, the bill would have also funded Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Following the killing of two protesters in Minneapolis by federal immigration law enforcement agents, Democrats pushed for reforms of the agency, refusing to appropriate funding in the interim. Senate Democrats initiated negotiations with President Trump to decouple ICE funding from the bill, and fund the agency through separate legislation.
• U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replaced all 21 members of a federal advisory committee that guides national autism policy. The reconstituted committee includes several individuals affiliated with groups that promote disputed claims linking vaccines to autism and alternative treatments that lack broad scientific support. Autism researchers and former panel members reportedly criticized the move, warning that the changes could redirect roughly $2 billion in annual federal funding for autism research away from mainstream scientific priorities. Kennedy reportedly defended the appointments as bringing diverse perspectives to the committee to address rising autism diagnoses, framing the overhaul as necessary to reassess research strategies and funding priorities.
• The U.S. Department of State reportedly notified Congress that it has taken “steps to prepare for the potential reopening” of the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela. After the military operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, staff from the Venezuela Affairs Unit—a U.S. diplomatic office based in Bogotá, Colombia—traveled to Caracas to review the possibility of reopening the embassy there and reestablishing diplomatic relations. Since then, President Trump has selected Laura F. Dogu—a career diplomat and former foreign policy advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—to serve as Chargé d’Affaires for Venezuela.
• The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit on behalf of the families of two Trinidadian nationals who were killed in an airstrike carried out by the Trump Administration in October 2025. According to the complaint, one of the decedents was a commercial fisherman and the other was a farmworker, and both were returning home to Trinidad from Venezuela when they were killed. The ACLU of Massachusetts alleges that the killing of both individuals was without legal justification and violated the Death on the High Seas Act, the Alien Tort Statute, as well as general principles of international humanitarian law. So far, the Trump Administration has killed 126 individuals in its airstrikes against alleged drug trafficking boats near the Venezuelan coast.

WHAT WE’RE READING THIS WEEK

• In a recent report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined the U.S. Department of Defense’s efforts to modernize its travel system and broader business systems after the department abandoned its MyTravel initiative—a platform meant to manage travel and reimbursements for military and civilian personnel. GAO found that the program’s failure stemmed from weak leadership, insufficient program management, limited stakeholder outreach, and inconsistent tracking of user requirements—problems that persist as the department reinvests in the older Defense Travel System. GAO also concluded that the department’s wide modernization policies created risks of fragmented oversight and inconsistent execution. GAO recommended that the department clarify leadership responsibilities, strengthen requirements for management and performance metrics, and improve coordination to strengthen the department’s future modernization efforts.
• In a recent Brookings Institution article, Elena Patel, co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, argued that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) plays an important role in supporting small businesses in rural areas. Patel found that access to post offices in rural counties positively correlated with small business activity, and the distance to the nearest USPS branch was particularly important to businesses specialized in construction, repair, retail, transportation, health, and administrative support. She argued that the universal service obligation—which mandates “affordable and reliable service to all communities, regardless of geography”—helps provide consistency and continuity in areas where private carriers may not operate due to low profits. Patel claims that these benefits to small businesses should be accounted for and considered in reform proposals that prioritize USPS profits over service.
• In a recent report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed how federal land and water agencies structure shared decision-making agreements with Indigenous tribes. GAO identified several features that make these agreements stronger—such as a commitment to consensus and clear dispute-resolution steps—and found that agency policies did not fully include them. GAO found that existing legal authorities helped some agencies form agreements, but the U.S. Forest Service and the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries limited their use of self-governance type of agreements. GAO urged Congress to authorize similar mechanisms for those agencies and recommended that departments add the features to their policies, improve guidance and training, and assess staffing capacity after recent workforce cuts.

EDITOR’S CHOICE

• In an essay in The Regulatory Review, Ronald M. Levin, the William R. Orthwein Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, examined the debate over nationwide injunctions and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). Levin argued that critics should not stretch the APA’s text, explaining that its command to “set aside” unlawful agency action has long meant vacating a rule for everyone, not merely for the parties before the court. He also argued that judges still have flexibility—like trimming unlawful parts of a rule or sending a rule back to an agency without voiding it—to tailor remedies case by case. Levin concluded that the APA leaves the validity of nationwide relief to equitable principles, and he urged clearer guideposts from the courts.