JEFF SESSIONS/LEGAL: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Thursday [12-21-17] that he had revoked more than two dozen documents that interpreted and explained a wide range of federal laws, including guidelines on storing explosives and accommodating people with disabilities.
The 25 rescinded documents cover more than 200 pages and date back as far as 1975. They include a Reagan-era ‘industry circular’ by what is now known as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives saying it was illegal to ship certain guns to buyers across state lines, and an Obama-era letter urging state and local judges not to impose fines and fees in a way that locks poor people into cycles of debt and prison.
Mr. Sessions said the documents improperly went beyond explaining existing laws, and instead essentially created new rules — circumventing the regular process for creating regulations, which can include public hearings and comment periods…
Mr. Sessions had foreshadowed the move last month in an address delivered to the annual convention of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal network.
He also issued a memo last month barring the department from using the so-called guidance letters to create de facto regulations.”
-Charlie Savage, “Justice Dept. Revokes 25 Legal Guidance Documents Dating to 1975,” The New York Times online, Dec. 21, 2017