Reading Room Document

Presidential Memorandum Delaying Proposed and Pending Regulations

The President has authority, under Article II, § 3 of the Constitution, to direct executive agencies to postpone proposed and pending regulations for a 60-day period. Even where a regulation has been published in final form, the Administrative Procedure Act does not require an agency to follow notice and comment procedures in connection with a temporary postponement of its effective date, since such a postponement will not generally be regarded as a rulemaking. Even if it were so regarded, an agency will in general have good cause for dispensing with notice and comment procedures where a new President is assuming office during a time of economic distress. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/22581/download.

January 28, 1981