Insights

Washington – July 15, 2025: Crowell & Moring was honored to represent MP Materials in its landmark partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense, making DoD the company’s largest shareholder. On July 9, MP and DoD signed a multibillion-dollar package of investments and long-term commitments, providing for, among other things, construction of the company’s second domestic magnet manufacturing facility. The agreements include convertible preferred equity, warrants, loans, and price floor and offtake commitments.

Washington – June 17, 2025: Sharmistha Das, who most recently served at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as deputy chief of staff and deputy general counsel, has rejoined Crowell & Moring as a partner in the firm’s Government Contracts Group. She also joins the firm’s Regulatory and Policy Department and will play a leading role in Crowell’s National Security practice, drawing on her experience at DHS working on highly sensitive intelligence matters.

Washington – September 7, 2018: The U.S. Court of Federal Claims ruled earlier this week in favor of Montana Health Co-Op, granting its cross motion for summary judgment and denying the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss in the first Cost-Sharing Reduction (CSR) case under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). CSR is a provision under the ACA which offers a discount to qualifying individuals to lower the cost of deductibles, copayments, and coinsurance through tax credits.

Last week, we wrote that concerns about excessive, unchecked executive branch power resulting from the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. CASA—which declared universal/nationwide injunctions likely exceeded district courts’ equitable authority under FRCP 65—felt premature, because there were a number of other levers district courts could pull to deliver the equivalent of nationwide injunctive relief. We discussed how Section 705 of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) is one such lever. That section authorizes courts to “postpone the effective date” of a challenged agency action pending judicial review utilizing the same four-factor test applicable to requests for injunctive relief.

On July 11, 2025, the Department of Education issued a new interpretive rule entitled “Clarification of Federal Public Benefits under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.” The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) generally limits “eligibility for ‘federal public benefits’ to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and certain categories of qualified aliens.” The Department concluded that certain postsecondary education programs, “including adult education programs authorized under Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, [and] postsecondary career and technical education programs under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006,” constitute “Federal public benefits under the PRWORA and thus are subject to PRWORA’s citizenship verification requirements.”

Current political priorities in Congress will continue to push many industries under the microscope of Congressional investigations, including universities, tech companies, entities that receive federal funds, and energy-sector companies. When the chambers of Congress and the executive branch are controlled by the same party, Congressional oversight of the executive branch is less intense and instead public and private sector, state, and local entities are more likely to find themselves in the crosshairs. If a chamber of Congress changes hands in the midterm elections, the focus of the oversight may shift to reflect the policy priorities of the moment and include more executive branch oversight, but even the executive branch is often contending with requests for information that may implicate their dealings with third parties; for example, there is a risk that agency oversight triggers requests for privileged material belonging to a government contractor or grantee. The topics and industries of highest interest may play musical chairs, but entities across sectors would do well to incorporate a few best practices that will mitigate their risk should they end up in the hot seat, either directly or through a government partner.