The Trump administration continues to curb regulation and federal spending while defending previous actions in court.

This week, President Trump issued executive orders asserting direct control over independent agencies and empowering the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to scrutinize agency regulations. Meanwhile, the administration faces a steady stream of lawsuits attempting to block orders cutting off funding and freezing agency activities.

Latham lawyers are carefully monitoring the rollout of President Trump’s policy priorities through executive orders, agency actions, and installment of new personnel. Below is a high-level overview of these actions, broken down by topic, along with updates on related court challenges, personnel changes, and other breaking developments in their implementation.

Administrative State

President Trump signed two key executive orders this week targeting administrative agencies:

• The executive order titled “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies” asserts broad authority to supervise and control all officials within the executive branch — not only traditional Cabinet departments and other executive agencies, but also agencies that Congress has insulated from direct presidential control by statute. The order specifically targets “so-called independent regulatory agencies,” requiring them to submit all proposed and final significant regulatory actions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) before publication in the Federal Register. (For more details on this executive order, see this blog post.)
  • The order followed on the heels of a letter sent by the acting Solicitor General to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing the administration’s view that tenure protections for members of independent agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are unconstitutional.
• The executive order titled “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative” provides a blueprint for agency heads to begin rolling back regulations.
  • To start, the order charges all agency heads, in coordination with DOGE, to identify regulations that raise serious constitutional questions; implicate matters of social, political, or economic significance that are not authorized by clear statutory authority; involve “unlawful” delegations of executive power; or are based on anything other than the “best reading” of the statute.
  • After identifying any such regulations, agency heads are to consult with OIRA to develop a plan to modify or rescind them as appropriate. In the meantime, agencies are to deprioritize enforcement of any regulations that are not based on the best reading of the statute or “go beyond the powers vested in the Federal Government by the Constitution.”

We expect aspects of these executive orders to result in litigation, which we will monitor as it unfolds.

Banking and Finance

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under President Trump has taken a more collaborative stance toward the cryptocurrency industry, signaling that the SEC’s focus on crypto enforcement has shifted. (For more details on this development, see this blog post.) As part of this shift, the SEC’s new Crypto Task Force will focus on providing regulatory clarity for crypto platforms while continuing to fight fraud.

In line with these priorities, the SEC announced this week the creation of the Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit (CETU) to focus on “combatting cyber-related misconduct and to protect retail investors from bad actors in the emerging technologies space.” This unit replaces the larger Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, which had a much broader enforcement mandate.

Energy and Environment

The Trump administration continues to advance its policy priorities of expanding domestic energy production and reducing environmental regulation.

• On February 14, President Trump issued an executive order establishing the National Energy Dominance Council. The council is charged with advising the president on how to increase production from traditional energy sources such as oil, natural gas, coal, and hydropower. The order indicates that President Trump intends to prioritize construction of natural gas pipelines in New England, California, and Alaska.
• Meanwhile, we are starting to see the implementation of the administration’s energy and environment priorities at the agency level. This week, the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) submitted to OIRA an interim final rule rescinding its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations, which dictate the procedures agencies must use in conducting environmental reviews. In the interim final rule, CEQ concludes that NEPA did not directly grant CEQ the authority to issue binding regulations on agencies — even though the Supreme Court has previously found that CEQ interpretations of NEPA are entitled to deference.

Status of Challenges

This week, environmental groups challenged President Trump’s rescission of a Biden-era executive order protecting certain areas from offshore drilling, arguing that this action exceeded the president’s statutory and constitutional authority.

Federal Spending

The Trump administration took further steps this week to eliminate federal programs and reduce the size of the federal workforce.

• President Trump issued an executive order eliminating programs that the administration considers not required by statute. This includes the Presidio Trust, the Inter-American Foundation, the United States African Development Foundation, and the United States Institute of Peace.

Status of Challenges

The efforts of DOGE and President Trump to reduce the federal workforce and eliminate federal programs continue to draw the most legal challenges.

• A federal judge in Massachusetts is set to hear arguments on February 21 on whether to extend a temporary restraining order (TRO) blocking the National Institutes of Health’s policy eliminating grant funding for indirect research costs. (For more details on the NIH funding cuts, see this blog post.)
• Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro sued the Trump administration over the freeze of federal financial assistance, which has resulted in a potential loss of billions of dollars to his state. Governor Shapiro contends that this freeze violates the Administrative Procedure Act.
• On March 3, a federal judge in the District of Columbia will hold a hearing on the National Treasury Employees Union challenge to the stop-work order of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) head Russell Vought. Meanwhile, the City of Baltimore has filed a TRO in the District of Maryland arguing that the CFPB work stoppage will impair its own law enforcement efforts.
• On February 20, a federal judge in the District of Columbia denied plaintiffs’ request for a TRO blocking President Trump’s attempts to reduce the federal workforce through deferred resignations and termination of probationary employees.

Labor and Employment

President Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor has not yet been confirmed. But the administration has still pushed forward significant policy changes. On February 14, the Acting General Counsel for the Department of Labor rescinded several non-binding memoranda that provided enforcement guidance for NLRB regional offices. Among others, the acting GC rescinded guidance related to:

• The use of electronic surveillance and artificial intelligence in a manner that interferes with employees’ Section 7 rights to organize
• The validity of broad non-compete agreements under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
• Whether certain college athletes are “employees” under the NLRA with collective bargaining rights

Key Appointments and Personnel Moves

The following posts were confirmed by the Senate as of February 20: Howard Lutnick (Commerce) and Kash Patel (FBI Director).

Hearings have been held, but confirmations have not been secured for: Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Labor), Linda McMahon (Education), Jamieson Greer (US Trade Representative), and Elise Stefanik (Ambassador to the United Nations).

Department of Justice

The Trump administration continues to make significant appointments for posts in the Department of Justice (DOJ).

• DOJ announced that President Trump intends to nominate John Eisenberg to serve as Assistant Attorney General for National Security, Brett Shumate to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, and Patrick Davis to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legislative Affairs.
• President Trump nominated Edward R. Martin for US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Martin has been serving as acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia since January 20. Several news outlets have reported that Martin has vowed to protect the activities of DOGE workers.