The NYT published a story saying that lawyers, judges, and legislators from various states are upset because there is a "silent" program going on within the Federal Executive branch to enact tort reform.  Translation:  the President’s people are using their lawful powers to change and enforce regulation to reduce the opportunity of lawyers to sue everyone in sight, like they have been for decades.  That means less money for the lawyers and their friends in government, the Democratic party, so the NYT dutifully sounds the alarm :

SUPPORTERS and detractors call it the "silent tort reform" movement, and it has quietly and quickly been gaining ground.

Across Washington, federal agencies that supervise everything from auto safety to medicine labeling have waged a powerful counterattack against active state prosecutors and trial lawyers. In the last three decades, the state courts and legislatures have been vital avenues for critics of Washington deregulation. Federal policy makers, having caught onto the game, are now striking back.

Using a variety of largely unheralded regulations, officials appointed by President Bush have moved in recent months to neuter the states. At the urging of industry groups, the federal agencies have inserted clauses in new rules that block trial lawyers and state attorneys general from applying both higher standards in state laws and those in state court precedents.

The efforts by the federal regulators may wind up doing more than Congress to change state tort laws.

Our nation is terrorized by the threat of lawsuits and every effort to dial back their abuse of our system of Justice is needed.  They make billions of dollars doing it right now and fund a lot of politicians and advertising, so you can expect to hear a lot more attempts to spin this as some sort of bad thing in the future.  It is a small effort at reducing the assault of lawsuits on every aspect of our way of life however.  That final statement in the quote above that this action by regulators to tweak regulations might do more than Congress is pathetic, and probably true.  There just isn’t enough public demand for the reform required to reduce lawsuits because too many people just don’t understand how it is harming them in their everyday lives.  With all the financing lawyers are able to coordinate and the mischief they can cause by filing lawsuits many politicians who might otherwise vote for serious reform find it easier to do nothing and take the lawyer’s money.  Until they get some spine the action of these federal beaurocrats may be the best we will get.  At least its something, and its nice to know Federal Regulators are doing something good for once.