[JURIST] White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel [official profile] on Tuesday sent a memorandum [text, PDF] to agency and department leaders requesting the review of pending regulations that were advanced late in the administration of former US President George W. Bush [official profile]. The memo, issued just hours into the administration of President Barack Obama [official website], calls for 60-day extensions before the effective dates of regulations that have been published in the Federal Register [official website] but have yet to take effect. This procedure would involve reopening the comment period for such regulations for 30 days. Rules that "raise substantial questions of law or policy" are to be brought to the attention of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) [official website] director Peter Orszag [NYT profile].

Before taking office, Obama selected [JURIST report] Harvard Law School professor Cass Sunstein [professional profile] as administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a division of OMB that oversees federal regulations requirements. Sunstein will be responsible for governmental regulations and will deal with issues including changes to the financial services industry, the development of universal healthcare, and efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions. Sunstein previously taught at the University of Chicago Law School and served as a clerk for US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.