Government & Regulatory Litigation

Our team represents clients in challenges to government regulations, legislation and enforcement efforts, including through Administrative Procedure Act litigation. In the wake of the Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo Supreme Court decision, which eliminated Chevron deference, regulated companies should have greater latitude to challenge agency action. We file lawsuits when agencies exceed their authority, seek emergency relief when clients face imminent threats, and can help craft persuasive comments on agency proposals to build a record that best positions our clients for future legal challenges.  Representative matters include:

• Successfully represented electric energy generator in Federal Power Act preemption challenges to state price subsidy schemes. The US Supreme Court upheld injunction against state subsidies, agreeing with our argument that the subsidies interfered with exclusive federal authority.
• Represented the Premium Cigar Association and Cigar Rights of America in a challenge to a 2016 Rule that "deemed" premium cigars subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation, known as the "Deeming Rule." In August 2023, Judge Mehta of the US District Court for the District of Columbia partially vacated the Rule. The decision exempted premium cigars from the agency’s tobacco product authorities.
• Represent a leading micro-fabrication equipment company in a high-profile challenge to the company's designation as a "Chinese military company" pursuant to Section 1260H(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 by the US Department of Defense. Steptoe zealously advocated for their client to the Department of Defense following the company's designation and has now brought a legal challenge to the designation in the US District Court in DC alleging violations of, among other things, the Administrative Procedures Act and the Due Process clause of the US Constitution.
• Successfully represented hardrock mineral mining company as intervenor in support of Department of Interior regulations governing location of millsite claims in support of mining. DC Circuit upheld regulations under Mining Law of 1870.
• Represent a client in a First Amendment challenge to WMATA's bus advertising guidelines, obtaining a preliminary injunction against WMATA's ban on issue advertising on buses.
• Successfully vacated the Department of the Army's designation of a government contract as having an organizational conflict of interest that would prevent our client from bidding on certain other government contracts. We challenged the designation as arbitrary and capricious and inconsistent with the Army's contracting regulations.
• Successfully enjoined Georgia Department of Agriculture regulation of discount gas price advertising for violating First Amendment commercial speech standards.
• Obtained a preliminary injunction prohibiting California's Department of Public Health from regulating medical waste taken outside the state for treatment, in violation of the dormant Commerce Clause's extraterritoriality doctrine.

Our team represents clients in challenges to government regulations, legislation and enforcement efforts, including through Administrative Procedure Act litigation. In the wake of the Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo Supreme Court decision, which eliminated Chevron deference, regulated companies should have greater latitude to challenge agency action. We file lawsuits when agencies exceed their authority, seek emergency relief when clients face imminent threats, and can help craft persuasive comments on agency proposals to build a record that best positions our clients for future legal challenges.  Representative matters include:

• Successfully represented electric energy generator in Federal Power Act preemption challenges to state price subsidy schemes. The US Supreme Court upheld injunction against state subsidies, agreeing with our argument that the subsidies interfered with exclusive federal authority.
• Represented the Premium Cigar Association and Cigar Rights of America in a challenge to a 2016 Rule that "deemed" premium cigars subject to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation, known as the "Deeming Rule." In August 2023, Judge Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia partially vacated the Rule. The decision exempted premium cigars from the agency’s tobacco product authorities.
• Representing a leading micro-fabrication equipment company in a high-profile challenge to the company's designation as a "Chinese military company" pursuant to Section 1260H(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 by the U.S. Department of Defense. Steptoe zealously advocated for their client to the Department of Defense following the company's designation and has now brought a legal challenge to the designation in the US District Court in DC alleging violations of, among other things, the Administrative Procedures Act and the Due Process clause of the US Constitution.
• Successfully represented hardrock mineral mining company as intervenor in support of Department of Interior regulations governing location of millsite claims in support of mining. DC Circuit upheld regulations under Mining Law of 1870.
• Representing a client in a First Amendment challenge to WMATA's bus advertising guidelines, obtaining a preliminary injunction against WMATA's ban on issue advertising on buses.
• Successfully vacated the Department of the Army's designation of a government contract as having an organizational conflict of interest that would prevent our client from bidding on certain other government contracts. We challenged the designation as arbitrary and capricious and inconsistent with the Army's contracting regulations.
• Successfully enjoined Georgia Department of Agriculture regulation of discount gas price advertising for violating First Amendment commercial speech standards.
• Obtained a preliminary injunction prohibiting California's Department of Public Health from regulating medical waste taken outside the state for treatment, in violation of the dormant Commerce Clause's extraterritoriality doctrine.