AnandViswanathan

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is generating unprecedented demand for data center infrastructure, and an equally fast-moving wave of energy, environmental, and insurance risks.

On April 8th and 9th, President Trump issued five executive orders, a presidential proclamation, and a presidential memorandum that directly impact the energy industry.

Shortly after taking office, President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on several trading partners, including Canada, Mexico, and China, with plans to also impose tariffs on the European Union. This client alert unpacks those developments and the legal challenges they are likely to face.

In a spate of executive orders and other actions over the last several weeks, the new administration has moved to exert unprecedented control over independent regulatory agencies, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). With so many directives coming out of the White House, this alert aims to provide one-stop shopping for the key actions affecting FERC and what changes these actions may—or may not—portend. We also discuss FERC Chairman Mark Christie’s comments at a February 20

In his second week in office, President Trump fired Gwynne Wilcox (a member of the NLRB). The firing was communicated by an email sent from the Deputy Director of the Office of Presidential Personnel with a statement from the President. The statement did not purport to find either “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office,” as required by the National Labor Relations Act’s removal provision. And just last week, the Acting Solicitor General informed Congress that her office will no longer defend

Jenner & Block elevated nine lawyers to the partnership and seven lawyers to special counsel, promoting 16 individuals overall in the firm’s Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, DC offices.

In an article featured in Pratt’s Energy Law Report, Special Counsel Anand Viswanathan and Associates Kate Abendroth and Arie Feltman-Frank provide insights on recent efforts by the United States to impose duties on solar cell imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Partner Jeremy Creelan recently spoke with The National Law Journal about Jenner & Block’s pro bono work with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law. In the article, Jeremy discussed a joint effort in Georgia regarding issues with the state’s voter registration cancellation portal.

Many skeptics of the regulatory state root their arguments in separation of powers principles: Congress is tasked with lawmaking, the judiciary is tasked with interpreting the laws, and executive agencies cannot encroach on Congress or the judiciary’s roles. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Loper Bright and Relentless decisions last term overturning Chevron deference—wherein the Court held that the 40-year-old doctrine deferring to agencies’ interpretation of ambiguous laws contravened courts’

In an article featured in the Defense Research Institute’s (DRI) flagship publication For the Defense, Partner Steven Siros, Special Counsel Anand Viswanathan, and Associate Arie Feltman-Frank provide insight into climate change lawsuits moving through state courts and discuss how the adjudication of federal preemption defenses might serve as a vehicle to Supreme Court review.  

In a long-awaited decision in Restaurant Law Center v. US Department of Labor,[1]the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vacated a US Department of Labor (DOL) regulation governing the way tipped employees are paid, finding the rule violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The result is a major win for the restaurant industry. But it is also significant more broadly—for both the restaurant industry and every other industry facing government regulation: the case may be the first exa

In SEC v. Jarkesy, the Supreme Court considered whether the Seventh Amendment permits the SEC “to compel respondents to defend themselves before the agency rather than before a jury in federal court.”[1] The Court held that the SEC cannot adjudicate civil penalties “through its own in-house proceedings” because that adjudication triggers the Seventh Amendment’s right to a jury trial in federal court.[2]

Jenner & Block has launched its Post-Chevron Task Force to support clients across industries in navigating the June 2024 US Supreme Court decisions in Loper Bright, Relentless, Corner Post, and Jarkesy. The decisions reversed the Chevron deference, a 40-year precedent that established that courts should defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes, injecting significant uncertainty into the regulatory landscape.

On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decisions in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce—overruling the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine. The opinion is likely to set off a wave of litigation across multiple areas of the law. However, it remains an open question of how drastic an impact this decision will have on tribal interests. Because the Indian canon of construction already requires construing ambiguous statutes in favor of tribes, t

On the last day of the 2023–24 term, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System—and held that a claim under the Administrative Procedure Act does not accrue for purposes of the six-year statute of limitations until the plaintiff is injured by final agency action. 

At the tail end of the 2023–24 term, the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decisions in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce—reversing the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine.

In their article for Trends, the journal of the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources, Partner Steven Siros, Special Counsel Anand Viswanathan, and Associate Arie Feltman-Frank highlight implications of climate change lawsuits that are proceeding in state courts across the country. 

On May 13, 2024, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued its long-awaited final rule on regional transmission planning and cost allocation, Order No. 1920. The final rule’s release follows a notice-and-comment period that drew over 600 comments from interested parties, amounting to over 30,000 pages from nearly 200 stakeholders—the largest record considered in any FERC proceeding, according to FERC staff.[1] 

Special Counsel Anand Viswanathan will moderate a panel at the Energy Bar Association’s 2024 Annual Meeting and Conference. He will guide a panel of top agency lawyers and academic experts as they explore the Supreme Court’s reconsideration of the Chevron doctrine, including how the Court’s decision could affect energy and environmental regulators and the regulated community.

The firm’s Energy and Corporate Practices advised Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) on the creation of a transmission lease program pursuant to which nonprofit Citizens Energy Corporation (Citizens) could invest up to $1 billion in PG&E high-voltage transmission projects. PG&E has filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for approval of the program.