American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (P.L. 117-2): Public Health, Medical Supply Chain, Health Services, and Related Provisions
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA; P.L. 117-2) is the sixth major legislative package in a series to address domestic public health and health system challenges related to the Coronavirus Dis...
Funding Conditions: Constitutional Limits on Congress’s Spending Power
The Spending Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 1) gives Congress broad power to authorize spending for the “general Welfare.” The Necessary and Proper Clause (Article I, Se...
Student Athlete Name, Image, Likeness Legislation: Considerations for the 117th Congress
The national debate on college athlete compensation, fueled in part by high-profile litigation and state legislative enactments, has prompted calls for congressional action on the issue of student ath...
Van Buren v. United States: Supreme Court Holds Accessing Information on a Computer for Unauthorized Purposes Not Federal Crime
On June 3, 2021, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Van Buren v. United States, holding that an individual does not violate the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) if he is authoriz...
Surfside Building Collapse: The Role of the National Construction Safety Team Act and the National Institute of Standards and Technology
Following the September 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks, there was a recognition among policymakers that no federal agency had principal responsibility for investigating building failures. To addres...
Supreme Court Preserves Patent Trial and Appeal Board, but with Greater Executive Oversight
In 2011, Congress enacted a major patent reform bill, the Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA). Among other things, the AIA created new adversarial administrative proceedings within the Patent and Tr...
National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston and the Debate over Student Athlete Compensation
Against the backdrop of the national debate on student athlete compensation, the Supreme Court issued its decision in National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston on June 21, 2021. In Alston, th...
Corporate Expatriation, Inversions, and Mergers: Tax IssuesCorporate Expatriation, Inversions, and Mergers: Tax Issues
News reports in the late 1990s and early 2000s drew attention to a phenomenon sometimes called corporate “inversions” or “expatriations”: instances where U.S. firms reorganize their structure so that ...
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations for FY2021
The respective House and Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Appropriations Subcommittees are charged with providing annual appropriations for the Departm...
Supreme Court Clarifies CERCLA Provisions for Recouping Cleanup Costs
On May 24, 2021, the Supreme Court issued an opinion in Guam v. United States that could expand the ability to recover cleanup costs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and L...
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) Role in Criminal Justice Data Collection and Dissemination
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), established in 1979, is an agency within the Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP). Its mission is “to collect, analyze, publish, and di...
Supreme Court Rules on Authority of Tribal Police to Stop Non-Indians
On June 1, 2021, the Supreme Court unanimously held in United States v. Cooley (Cooley) that Indian tribal law enforcement officers may stop, search, and temporarily detain a non-Indian motorist trave...