“It’s déjà vu all over again.”[1] Attorney General Pam Bondi has not surprisingly renewed the prior Trump administration’s prohibition on the use of sub-regulatory guidance, potentially altering the landscape for False Claims Act cases pursued during the second Trump administration.

This development is the latest in a series of efforts to allow reliance on government guidance — or not. To catch everyone up:

• On February 5, 2025, Bondi issued a memorandum, titled “Reinstating the Prohibition on Improper Guidance Documents” (the “Bondi Memo”).
• The Bondi Memo expressly withdrew prior Attorney General Merrick Garland’s own July 1, 2021. memorandum, titled “Issuance and Use of Guidance Documents by the Department of Justice” (the Garland Memo).
• The Bondi Memo also tacitly revived prior Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ November 2017 memorandum, titled “Prohibition on Improper Guidance Documents” (the “Sessions Memo”), and a January 2018 memorandum from Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, titled “Limiting Use of Agency Guidance Documents in Affirmative Civil Enforcement Cases” (the “Brand Memo”).[2]

In this latest Bondi Memo, the DOJ states, “[g]uidance documents” that have not undergone “the rule making process established by law yet purport to have a direct effect on the rights and obligations of private parties” are not lawful regulatory authority. This recission is to “restore the Department to the lawful use of regulatory authority” and advance DOJ’s “compliance with...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiuwFBVV95cUxPZXI3NVFmR2dXN1NET1FsQ1VT...