Press Release from Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador
I’m happy to share that earlier this month, in Texas Top Cop Shop v. Garland, a federal court in Texas issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). Idaho joined an amicus brief with 21 other states defending the court’s decision. Ostensibly written to combat money laundering, the CTA would have collected millions of small business records and interest ownership across the states and put them into a federal database.
The CTA disproportionately harmed small businesses and violated privacy, impacting 32.6 million businesses nationwide, without providing clear safeguards for the information compelled from the businesses. Apart from the privacy issues, complying with the CTA’s demands would have cost billions of dollars and tens of millions of personnel hours. The deadline for businesses to file their CTA report was December 31, 2024.
In delivering this nationwide injunction, the Texas court handed a clear victory to those of us supporting the principles of Federalism. This decision will set a vital precedent for courts when they scrutinize other federal initiatives that encroach into subjects that are rightfully within the purview of states alone. As your Attorney General, I will always continue to fight federal encroachment into the regulation of intrastate commerce and corporate regulation which are clearly state responsibilities.
The Texas court felt similarly and had a harsh rebuke for the extensive constitutional overstep by the federal government. Federal district judge Amos Mazzant wrote in his preliminary injunction that:
For good reason, Plaintiffs fear this flanking, quasi-Orwellian statute and its implications on our dual system of government.
Honorable Amos Mazzant, Federal District Judge
Despite the win and a nationwide injunction, the fight isn’t over. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing this case after the Biden Administration immediately appealed the decision. Idaho will remain in this fight and will be submitting our amicus brief along with many other states who view this issue similarly. There is also a pending case involving the CTA in the 11th Circuit Court and Idaho has joined it as well. It remains to be seen how an incoming Trump Administration or a new Congress will handle this matter. However, Idaho will always stand up for keeping the federal government out of our state affairs and in its own constitutional lane.
