On August 16, U.S. District Judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, David C. Norton, issued a nationwide injunction invalidating the Trump Administration's two-year delay of the 2015 "Waters of the United States" (WOTUS) rule, which clarified which waters and wetlands fall under the Clean Water Act's jurisdiction. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers released a final rule on February 6, 2018 that delayed implementation of the WOTUS rule until Feb. 6, 2020. Judge Norton ruled that the EPA did not follow the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) in finalizing its rule to delay the WOTUS rule for two years, which was designed to allow the agency to complete a rewrite of WOTUS; a proposed new definition of WOTUS currently is under review by the White House Office of Management and Budget. In his ruling, Judge Norton sided with the environmental groups and states who sued the EPA, saying the text of the proposed suspension rule and the EPA memorandum for the record on the suspension rule rulemaking process made it clear the agency did not solicit any comments on the merits of the WOTUS rule or the merits of the 1980s regulation that EPA's suspension rule returned WOTUS to before the agency issued the suspension rule.

On August 13, Department of Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Ben Carson announced plans to revamp an Obama-era fair housing rule from 2015, the "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing" (AFFH) rule, which requires jurisdictions that receive funding from HUD to assess fair housing and identify solutions to discriminatory barriers in housing markets. The rule, which required communities and local governments receiving federal funding to submit fair housing assessments, was a way for HUD to ensure recipients were following the law and actively working to eradicate historical discrimination and segregation practices in housing. The changes encompassed in the rule were recommended by the Government Accountability Office and by HUD itself. In a statement, HUD said that it is accepting public comments on proposed changes to the rule in an effort to minimize housing regulations, give more control to local governments, and increase the housing supply. HUD's announcement comes after it withdrew the Local Government Assessment Tool in May 2018, which helped local governments comply with the AFFH rule. In January 2018, HUD suspended the requirement for local governments file plans under the rule until late 2020. HUD will receive public comments on the proposed changes until Monday, October 15, 2018. Read more.