“Where this leads is anybody’s guess, but you could probably guess that it might lead to a delay at the very least,” Schweiss said.
In the meantime, several lawsuits seeking to block the rule are also pending, the largest of which was argued before a Dallas judge in November, with a decision expected sometime in February.
“That judge, in her questions, seemed pretty against the government’s defense of the rule,” Schweiss said. “She could issue a stay, say I’m not going to let this rule go into effect, and then we have no rule. If that happens, I’d assume that decision is going to get litigated, it will be repealed and then we’ll be working our way through that process.”