Week in Review

Postal workers seek public support for their labor grievances this holiday weekend, a court grants an injunction against the EPA’s “Waters of the U.S.” rule, and more…

EVENTS

In light of the three-months-long labor dispute being waged between the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and American Postal Workers Union (APWU) over the APWU’s demand for longer hours, the APWU reportedly said that it is looking to increase public support and awareness about its grievances through parades this Labor Day weekend.

In an action brought by a dozen states concerning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’s jointly promulgated rule which changed the definition of “Waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act, the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota granted the states’s motion for a preliminary injunction, on the grounds that the EPA likely overstepped its grant of authority, and had failed to comply with certain administrative procedures in issuing the rule.

The Constitution Project, the Brennan Center for Justice, and several other legal watchdogs filed an amicus brief on behalf of Quartavious Davis—an individual who had been convicted for his role in a host of robberies, after police records had been used to identify his location at the time of the robberies—in which they argued that people’s private phone records are protected by the Fourth Amendment requirement that police use a probable cause search warrant to obtain such sensitive information.

As the comment deadline approaches for the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposed rule amending the overtime pay exemption for white collar employees, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce issued a response objecting to the DOL’s decision denying an extension to the proposed rule’s comment period.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two proposed rules about its regulation of hazardous waste, which add new requirements for the disposal of pharmaceutical waste to prevent it from affecting waterways, and clarify requirements for companies that produce hazardous waste.

The Supreme Court of Texas heard oral arguments about whether the City of Houston is prevented from implementing its own ordinances to regulate the city’s air quality.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) filed a petition of review of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) order issued in July 2015 addressing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, contending that the FCC’s order represents a significant expansion of the scope of the Act by “sweeping in calls to wireless numbers made from equipment that is not currently able ‘to store or produce telephone numbers to be called,’” among other alleged overreaching actions.