AAJ Reports Breaking News -- Major Victory for all Consumers!
I’m writing to share breaking news regarding a landmark achievement that was announced today in Washington D.C. From now on, the regulatory preemption of state common law will be strictly limited. Even regulations issued within the past 10 years will have to be reviewed and in some cases amended.
This is a major victory for the rights of all Americans under state law and is the culmination of years of tireless and dedicated effort by AAJ’s Regulatory Affairs team, headed by Gerie Voss.
Today, President Obama issued a Directive to the Heads of all Executive Branch Departments and Agencies stating it is the policy of his Administration that “preemption of State law by executive departments and agencies should be undertaken only with full consideration of the legitimate prerogatives of the States and with a sufficient legal basis for preemption.” Preemption of state common law will no longer be presumed or asserted by regulatory agencies absent “explicit preemption by Congress or an otherwise sufficient basis under applicable legal principles.”
In order to ensure that executive departments and agencies include statements of preemption in regulations only when such statements have a sufficient legal basis, the President’s directive provides that:
"1. Heads of departments and agencies should not include in regulatory preambles statements that the department or agency intends to preempt State law through the regulation except where preemption provisions are also included in the codified regulation.
2. Heads of departments and agencies should not include preemption provisions in codified regulations except where such provisions would be justified under legal principles governing preemption…
3. Heads of departments and agencies should review regulations issued within the past 10 years that contain statements in regulatory preambles or codified provisions intended by the department or agency to preempt State law, in order to decide whether such statements or provisions are justified under applicable legal principles governing preemption. Where the head of a department or agency determines that a regulatory statement of preemption or codified regulatory provision cannot be so justified, the head of that department or agency should initiate appropriate action, which may include amendment of the relevant regulation.”
This is an enormous victory. It reflects what we believe the law in reality has always been and how it should always have been applied. This corrects a decade of abuse of the regulatory process and signifies a triumph both for states’ rights and for the legal rights of all Americans and their families. Please join me in congratulating Gerie Voss and AAJ’s Public Affairs team for all their outstanding hard work in helping to make this possible. And thanks to so many of you who have been fighting the preemption fight day-in and day-out in courtrooms throughout America. Together, we will confront the many assaults on our civil justice system - and prevail!
