In one of his first official actions, President Obama (through Rahm Emanuel) has ordered that new federal rulemaking cease until the White house Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) can review the rules. At this point, it is unclear how this will impact any of the already-finalized rules (Continuations, Claims, Appeals). It will further delay finalization of the expected forthcoming rules on IDS limitations and Markush claim limitations.
As a side-note, the new director of the OIRA is expected to be University of Chicago Law Professor Cass Sunstein. Sunstein is one of the most well known law professors in the country. While the OIRA position is normally quite obscure, I suspect that it will not be obscure for long. Sunstein written extensively on using regulations to shape behavior
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