What Is a Court Stay or Vacatur of a DOL 401(k) Rule?

A stay pauses the challenged agency action. Vacatur sets unlawful agency action aside.

The difference sounds procedural.

For a 401(k) plan, it can decide which regulation governs tomorrow morning.

DOL's 2024 Retirement Security Rule gives a clean example.

The rule was scheduled to become effective:

September 23, 2024.^[18]

Two federal district courts stayed the rule in July 2024.^[5][6]

Because those stays arrived before the planned effective date, the new fiduciary definition never displaced DOL's existing five-part test.^[7][9]

Then, in March 2026, the district courts entered final judgments vacating the 2024 rulemaking package.^[9][10][11]

Interim suspension came first.

Final set-aside came later.

Start With the Remedy, Not the Headline

Legal reporting often says:

• "court blocks DOL rule"
• "judge strikes down rule"
• "rule halted"
• "regulation overturned."

Those phrases can hide materially different orders.

A court might have:

• stayed an effective date
• issued a preliminary injunction
• vacated one provision
• vacated the entire rule
• remanded without vacatur
• reversed a lower-court judgment.

Each event changes legal status differently.

The actual order controls.

Why Does APA Section 704 Matter First?

A court does not review every agency thought or draft.

APA Section 704 makes agency action reviewable when:

• another statute makes it reviewable
• or it is final agency action for which there is no other adequate court remedy.^[1]

A preliminary or intermediate agency step is generally reviewed through the final action.^[1]

This matters because judicial remedies attach to an agency action that is properly before the court.

Before asking:

What remedy did the judge enter?

ask:

What agency action was reviewable?

That question can determine the scope of the case.

What Is a Section 705 Stay?

APA Section 705 is titled:

Relief pending review.^[2]

It authorizes an agency to postpone its own action's effective date when justice requires while judicial review is pending.

It also authorizes a reviewing court to issue necessary and appropriate process to:

• postpone an agency action's effective date
• preserve status or rights

pending completion of review.^[2]

The core idea is temporary preservation.

The court does not need to wait for final merits judgment before protecting the status quo.

A Stay Is Interim Relief

A stay answers:

What happens while the court decides the case?

It does not inherently answer:

Who ultimately wins?

That distinction matters because interim orders often require a predictive judgment.

The court evaluates whether the challenger has shown enough to justify temporary relief before full merits adjudication.

A later court can:

• dissolve the stay
• affirm it
• replace it with final relief
• decide the agency action is lawful.

Treating the interim order as the final holding is a category error.

What Factors Govern a Stay?

The Supreme Court's Nken v. Holder decision states the traditional four factors:^[4]

1. likelihood of success on the merits
2. irreparable injury absent a stay
3. substantial injury to other interested parties
4. public interest.

The first two are generally the most critical.^[4]

When the federal government is the opposing party, the final two considerations can overlap substantially.

The exact procedural setting matters.

The point for a retirement-rule tracker is simpler:

a stay usually reflects a preliminary balance, not final adjudication.

Is a Stay the Same as a Preliminary Injunction?

No.

They can produce similar practical results.

They are still distinct remedies.

A preliminary injunction directs a party to:

• do something
• stop doing something

while the litigation proceeds.

A Section 705 stay works on the challenged agency action's operative effect.

That distinction became explicit in the 2024 fiduciary litigation.

The Eastern District of Texas Chose the Stay

In Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice v. DOL, the challengers requested:

• a Section 705 stay
• a preliminary injunction.^[5]

On July 25, 2024, the Eastern District of Texas stayed the effective date of:

• the 2024 Fiduciary Rule
• amended PTE 84-24.^[5]

The court declined to issue a separate preliminary injunction because it found the stay was the appropriate remedy.^[5]

The opinion described a stay as less drastic in that setting because it suspended the source of DOL's authority rather than ordering DOL to take affirmative action.^[5]

That is more precise than saying:

"The court issued an injunction."

It did not need to.

The Northern District Completed the Interim Block

A second case challenged the rest of the 2024 rulemaking package.

On July 26, 2024, the Northern District of Texas stayed the effective date of the remaining challenged amendments, including changes to:

• PTE 2020-02
• several other class exemptions.^[6]

Combined with the Eastern District order, the 2024 package was prevented from taking effect.

The result for regulated parties was substantial.

The mechanism was still interim.

What Law Applied During the interim suspension?

The prior law remained in place.

DOL's March 2026 vacatur notice explains that the 2024 district-court stays left the earlier regulatory text operative.^[9]

For investment-advice fiduciary status, that meant DOL's:

five-part test.^[7][9]

For PTE 2020-02, the earlier 2020 version remained operative.^[9]

This is the operational point a plan needs.

A stayed replacement rule does not necessarily create a legal vacuum.

Often the prior regime continues because the challenged amendment never becomes effective.

The Original September 2024 Date Became Historical

The April 2024 final rule still contains:

September 23, 2024

as its planned effective date.^[18]

That date is historically accurate.

It is not evidence that the rule actually became operative.

The July stays intervened first.^[5][6]

A compliance system therefore needs:

• planned effective date
• judicial Section 705 relief date
• current operative rule.

One date field cannot capture the legal sequence.

What Is Vacatur?

APA Section 706 directs a reviewing court to:

hold unlawful and set aside

agency action, findings and conclusions that fail specified legal standards.^[3]

Those grounds include agency action that is:

• arbitrary or capricious
• contrary to constitutional right
• beyond statutory authority
• procedurally unlawful
• unsupported by substantial evidence where that standard applies.^[3]

Courts commonly use:

vacatur

to describe setting aside unlawful agency action.

It is a merits-stage remedy, not simply a pause.

Vacatur and Injunction Are Different

The Fifth Circuit's Data Marketing Partnership decision is unusually useful because it involved DOL and ERISA.^[12]

The district court had:

• vacated a DOL advisory opinion
• permanently enjoined DOL from refusing to recognize the plan's claimed ERISA status.^[12]

The Fifth Circuit treated those as separate forms of relief.

It affirmed the vacatur.

It separately vacated and remanded the injunction for further consideration.^[12]

That result would make no sense if:

vacatur = injunction.

They solve different remedial problems.

What Did the Fifth Circuit Say Vacatur Does?

Under the Fifth Circuit precedent applied in Data Marketing, Section 706 set-aside relief formally nullifies unlawful agency action.^[12]

The court contrasted that with an injunction, which restrains the defendant's conduct.^[12]

That distinction has practical consequences.

Vacating a rule attacks the legal agency action itself.

An injunction can impose an additional command on the agency or other defendant.

A plaintiff may seek both.

A court may conclude one is sufficient.

What Is Remand?

Remand tells the case where to go next.

In administrative law, a court can send an issue back to the agency so the agency can:

• reconsider
• explain
• gather support
• correct procedure
• take new action consistent with the judgment.

But the word:

remand

does not by itself reveal whether the challenged agency action remains operative.

That requires another question:

Was the action vacated?

Remand With Vacatur vs. Without Vacatur

Remand with vacatur

The court sends the matter back and sets aside the challenged agency action.

The agency must respond without relying on the vacated action as the operative rule or decision.

Remand without vacatur

The court identifies a defect and sends the matter back, but leaves the agency action temporarily in place while the agency addresses the defect.

That remedy is used in some circuits and circumstances.

It should not be described as the automatic APA result everywhere.

Remedial doctrine varies.

Why Would a Court Remand Without Vacatur?

The D.C. Circuit's longstanding Allied-Signal approach asks two practical questions:^[15][16][17]

• How serious is the agency action's defect?
• How disruptive would immediate set-aside relief be?

A remand-only result is more plausible when:

• the defect appears curable
• the agency may be able to justify or repair the decision
• immediate judicial set-aside would create severe disruption.^[15][16]

A noncurable problem is different.

If the agency lacked statutory authority to act at all, there may be nothing to fix through better explanation.

Recent D.C. Circuit authority makes that distinction explicit.^[15]

Remand Without final set-aside Is Not "Court Says the Rule Is Fine"

A court can find an agency action legally deficient and still temporarily leave it in place.

That can look contradictory.

It is not.

The merits conclusion concerns:

lawfulness.

The remedy decision concerns:

what should happen while the agency cures the defect.

A compliance article should therefore report both:

court found defect

and:

court remanded without vacating.

Leaving out the second sentence changes current legal status.

Severability Can Determine How Much Is Vacated

A court does not always face an all-or-nothing choice.

A rulemaking can contain:

• multiple provisions
• separate exemptions
• independent conditions.

The remedy can depend on whether the unlawful portion can be severed while the rest functions as intended.

If not, broader merits remedy can follow.

The Fifth Circuit's 2018 fiduciary-rule decision illustrates the point.

The 2018 Fiduciary Rule Was Vacated in Toto

DOL's 2016 Fiduciary Rule was a broad package redefining investment-advice fiduciary status and modifying related exemptions.

In Chamber of Commerce v. DOL, the Fifth Circuit found several legal defects.^[13]

The court also concluded the package was:

not amenable to severance.^[13]

It therefore vacated the Fiduciary Rule:

in toto.^[13]

That remedy wiped out the full package rather than preserving isolated pieces.

For later DOL rulemaking, that 2018 judgment became part of the legal background.

Partial set-aside relief Is Also Possible

The March 2026 DOL notice discusses earlier litigation involving PTE 2020-02.^[9]

A federal court had vacated:

• the policy referenced in FAQ 7

and another court later vacated specified portions of the PTE 2020-02 preamble.^[9]

DOL explained that those judicial actions affected the reliability of the preamble's interpretation even though the 2020 exemption itself remained operative.^[9]

That is a useful warning.

A judicial remedy can target:

• entire rule
• one provision
• one policy
• part of a preamble interpretation.

Scope has to be read, not guessed.

What Happened to the 2024 Appeals?

DOL initially appealed the district-court temporary suspension orders.

The consolidated Fifth Circuit appeals were later dismissed:

November 28, 2025.^[9]

That dismissal did not itself create the March 2026 judicial set-aside judgments.

The cases returned to the district-court posture.

The parties then moved toward final judgment.

That distinction matters because:

appeal dismissed

and:

agency rule vacated

are separate docket events.

Final final set-aside Arrived in March 2026

The Eastern District of Texas entered final judgment:

March 12, 2026.^[9][10]

The Northern District entered final judgment:

March 17, 2026.^[9][11]

Those judgments vacated the 2024 fiduciary rulemaking and associated exemption amendments.^[7][8][9]

DOL then publicly acknowledged the result and restored the preexisting regulatory regime.^[7][8]

The interim chapter had ended.

DOL's Federal Register Notice Did Not Create the merits remedy

This distinction is easy to miss.

On March 20, 2026, DOL published:

Retirement Security Rule: Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary: Notice of Court set-aside relief.^[9]

The notice performed important administrative cleanup.

It conformed the CFR to the final judgments and explained the effect of the litigation.^[9]

But the Department was responding to court judgments.

It was not voluntarily rescinding the rule through a new merits rulemaking.

Correct sequence:

court vacates → DOL conforms CFR.

Why Did DOL Say the Five-Part Test Was Restored?

Technically, the older text had never ceased operating.

DOL's notice says the 2024 rule:

never became effective

because the 2024 stays remained in place.^[9]

So the five-part test was never actually replaced.

The March 2026 administrative action made the Code of Federal Regulations reflect that legal reality.^[8][9]

"Restored" is convenient shorthand.

"Never displaced because the replacement never became effective" is more precise.

The Difference Matters for Conduct During 2024-2026

Suppose an adviser asks which fiduciary definition governed a rollover recommendation in:

January 2025.

The answer cannot come from the April 2024 final rule's printed effective date.

The relevant sequence is:

• rule published
• rule stayed before effective date
• old five-part test remained operative.

The later 2026 judicial set-aside confirms the final status.

But the 2024 interim order already determined the interim legal framework.

What Is a Preliminary Injunction Supposed to Do?

A interim injunction preserves meaningful relief while litigation is pending by directing or restraining conduct.

Courts traditionally consider equitable factors similar to those involved in interim suspension analysis.

But the forms of relief are not interchangeable.

The FACC court's July 2024 opinion made that point directly:

it granted the Section 705 Section 705 relief and declined a redundant injunction.^[5]

A legal summary should therefore state the remedy the judge actually chose.

"Blocked" is not enough.

Can the Government Seek a temporary suspension Too?

Yes.

After losing in district court, an agency can ask:

• district court
• court of appeals
• Supreme Court

to interim order the lower-court order while the appeal proceeds.

That creates a second use of the word:

interim suspension.

One Section 705 relief can suspend the agency rule.

Another can suspend the court order that suspended the agency rule.

The object of the temporary suspension has to be identified.

Without that noun, the sentence can be unintelligible.

"Vacated" Can Refer to a Court Judgment Too

The same word creates another trap.

An appellate court can:

vacate a district-court judgment.

That is different from a district court:

vacating an agency rule.

In the first usage, the object is the lower-court judgment.

In the second, the object is agency action.

A regulatory tracker should store:

• actor
• object
• remedy.

Not merely:

status = vacated.

Trump v. CASA Changed Injunction Law in 2025

The Supreme Court's 2025 Trump v. CASA decision addressed universal injunctions.^[14]

The Court held that federal courts do not possess unlimited authority under traditional equitable principles to issue injunctions providing universal relief merely because broader relief would be desirable.^[14]

That decision materially changes how articles should describe:

• nationwide
• universal

injunctions.

But it contains an equally important limit.

CASA Did Not Decide the APA final set-aside Question

The Supreme Court expressly stated that it was not resolving the distinct question whether the Administrative Procedure Act authorizes federal courts to vacate federal agency action.^[14]

It cited Section 706(2)'s:

hold unlawful and set aside

language.^[14]

That means this statement is wrong:

"The Supreme Court abolished nationwide APA merits remedy in CASA."

The Court did not decide that question.

Universal injunction doctrine and APA set-aside doctrine remain analytically distinct.

Does That Mean Every APA set-aside relief Is Automatically Nationwide?

That conclusion goes too far in the other direction.

The proper scope of Section 706 relief remains contested.

Courts and litigants disagree about:

• what "set aside" authorizes
• geographic scope
• party scope
• relationship to equitable remedies.

CASA deliberately left that issue open.^[14]

So a careful 401(k) article should not resolve a live remedial debate with a slogan.

Read the actual order.

The 2024 Fiduciary interim order Was Broad

The Eastern District's July 2024 order declined DOL's request to limit the Section 705 interim suspension to the plaintiffs.^[5]

Relying on then-controlling Fifth Circuit authority, the court stayed the challenged rule's effective date broadly.^[5]

The Northern District likewise stayed the remaining package.^[6]

Those orders preceded CASA.

By March 2026, final judicial set-aside judgments had replaced the interim posture anyway.^[9][10][11]

For current 401(k) research, the final status is now clear.

For remedial doctrine generally, the scope question remains more complicated.

A Court Order Can Be More Important Than the CFR History

The CFR tells the reader what regulatory text is codified.

A court order can determine whether that text:

• may take effect
• may be enforced
• remains valid.

That creates a temporary mismatch risk.

The original Federal Register document may still exist.

An eCFR display may lag a newly issued judgment or await administrative conforming action.

Litigation-heavy rules require a court-status check.

INV-206's date map therefore needs a judicial-remedy field.

Worked Example: Section 705 relief Is Reported as Final final set-aside

Court stays a new rule pending review.

Article says:

"The rule was struck down."

Too strong.

The court may have found:

• likely success on the merits

without entering final merits judgment.

Correct:

"The court stayed the rule pending review."

Then update the article when final judgment arrives.

Worked Example: 2024 Rule Is Marked Effective in 2025

Compliance database stores:

Effective September 23, 2024.

No litigation field.

That record produces the wrong law for 2025.

The two July 2024 stays prevented the rule from reaching that operative date.^[5][6][9]

The database needs:

stayed before effective date.

Current-rule identification depends on that field.

Worked Example: DOL Is Said to Have Repealed the 2024 Rule

Article says:

"DOL repealed its fiduciary rule in March 2026."

That loses the core legal event.

Federal courts vacated the rule.^{[7][9][10][11]}

DOL then conformed the CFR.^[8][9]

A new administration's litigation position helped produce the final posture.

The remedy was judicial.

Worked Example: Remand Is Treated as merits remedy

Court identifies inadequate agency reasoning and remands to the agency without vacating the action.

Compliance alert says:

"Rule no longer applies."

Potentially wrong.

If the court expressly remanded without set-aside relief, the action may remain operative while the agency responds.

Always read the remedy paragraph.

"Remanded" alone does not answer current effect.

Worked Example: CASA Is Treated as Ending APA judicial set-aside

Memo says:

"After Trump v. CASA, district courts cannot set aside agency rules beyond the named plaintiffs."

CASA did not resolve that APA question.^[14]

It addressed universal injunctions under equitable authority and explicitly reserved the distinct Section 706 issue.

The correct note is:

scope of APA final set-aside remains legally contested.

Worked Example: "Vacated" Has No Object

Status alert says:

"Fiduciary litigation vacated."

That is useless.

Possible meanings include:

• rule vacated
• injunction vacated
• district-court judgment vacated.

The object changes the consequence.

Write:

"District court vacated DOL's 2024 rule."

or:

"Court of appeals vacated the district court's injunction."

Precision is not stylistic here.

It determines legal status.

Litigation-Status Checklist

Before telling a 401(k) plan that a DOL rule is blocked or invalid, verify:

Agency action

What exact rule, exemption, guidance or preamble policy is challenged?

Reviewability

Is the action final and reviewable?

Interim remedy

Did the court issue:

• Section 705 temporary suspension
• injunctive relief
• both
• neither?

Scope

Which provisions and parties are covered by the order?

Object

What exactly was stayed or enjoined?

Merits

Has final judgment been entered?

Final remedy

Did the court:

• vacate
• partially vacate
• return to the agency
• agency return without merits remedy?

Appeal

Is the judgment:

• appealed
• stayed pending appeal
• dismissed
• final?

CFR effect

Has DOL published a conforming notice or amendment?

Current law

Which regulation or exemption actually governs today?

Those ten fields prevent most litigation-status mistakes.

A Practical Remedy Matrix

The table is a starting framework.

The actual order always controls.

Fast Answers

What is an APA stay?

Interim relief under Section 705 that can postpone the effective date of agency action or preserve rights while judicial review proceeds.^[2]

Is a Section 705 relief a final ruling that the DOL rule is unlawful?

Not necessarily.

Is a Section 705 temporary suspension the same as a injunctive relief?

No.

What is merits remedy?

A court's setting aside of unlawful agency action under the APA remedial framework.^[3]

Is set-aside relief the same as an injunction?

No.

What is agency return?

A direction sending an issue back to the agency for further action or explanation.

Does return for further proceedings automatically vacate the rule?

No.

Can a court return to the agency without judicial set-aside?

Yes in some jurisdictions and circumstances, especially where defects are curable and final set-aside would be unusually disruptive.^[15][16][17]

What happened to the 2024 Retirement Security Rule in July 2024?

Two federal district courts stayed the rulemaking package before its planned September 23, 2024 effective date.^[5][6]

Which fiduciary test remained in effect?

DOL's prior five-part test.^[7][9]

What happened in March 2026?

Final district-court judgments vacated the 2024 rulemaking package, and DOL then conformed the CFR.^{[7][8][9][10][11]}

Did the March 2026 DOL notice itself create the merits remedy?

No. It implemented and documented the court judgments.^[9]

What did Data Marketing Partnership show?

set-aside relief and injunction are distinct remedies: the Fifth Circuit affirmed judicial set-aside of DOL agency action but separately vacated and remanded the injunction.^[12]

What did the Fifth Circuit do to the 2016 Fiduciary Rule?

It vacated the rule in toto in 2018.^[13]

Did Trump v. CASA eliminate APA final set-aside?

No. The Supreme Court expressly said it was not resolving whether the APA authorizes federal courts to vacate agency action.^[14]

What is the safest one-sentence rule?

Read the remedy paragraph of the court order: a interim order tells what happens during the case, merits remedy tells whether the agency action survives the merits judgment, and agency return tells where the dispute goes next.

Sources & References

1. U.S. House of Representatives — Office of the Law Revision Counsel: 5 U.S.C. §704 — Actions Reviewable — https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title5-section704
2. U.S. House of Representatives — Office of the Law Revision Counsel: 5 U.S.C. §705 — Relief Pending Review — https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title5-section705
3. U.S. House of Representatives — Office of the Law Revision Counsel: 5 U.S.C. §706 — Scope of Review — https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title5-section706
4. Supreme Court of the United States: Nken v. Holder, 556 U.S. 418 (2009) — https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/boundvolumes/556bv.pdf
5. U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas / Justia: Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice v. DOL — Order Granting Stay, July 25, 2024 — https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/texas/txedce/6%3A2024cv00163/229816/32/
6. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas: American Council of Life Insurers v. DOL — Order Staying Rule, July 26, 2024 — https://si-interactive.s3.amazonaws.com/prod/planadviser-com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/28123639/MemoofOpinonOrder.pdf
7. U.S. Department of Labor — Employee Benefits Security Administration: Retirement Security Rule — Current Vacatur Status — https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ebsa/laws-and-regulations/laws/erisa/retirement-security
8. U.S. Department of Labor — Employee Benefits Security Administration: Department Restores Long-Standing Investment Advice Rule After Court Vacatur, March 18, 2026 — https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ebsa/ebsa20260318
9. U.S. Department of Labor — Employee Benefits Security Administration / Federal Register: Retirement Security Rule — Notice of Court Vacatur, 91 FR 13503, March 20, 2026 — https://regulations.justia.com/regulations/fedreg/2026/03/20/2026-05492.html
10. U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas / U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Federation of Americans for Consumer Choice v. DOL — March 2026 Final Judgment — https://www.uschamber.com/cases/erisa/federation-of-americans-for-consumer-choice-v-department-of-labor
11. U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas / U.S. Chamber of Commerce: American Council of Life Insurers v. DOL — March 2026 Final Judgment — https://www.uschamber.com/cases/erisa/american-council-of-life-insurers-v-department-of-labor
12. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit / Justia: Data Marketing Partnership v. U.S. Department of Labor, 45 F.4th 846 (2022) — https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/20-11179/20-11179-2022-08-17.html
13. U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit / Justia: Chamber of Commerce v. U.S. Department of Labor, 885 F.3d 360 (2018) — https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/17-10238/17-10238-2018-03-15.html
14. Supreme Court of the United States: Trump v. CASA, Inc., 606 U.S. ___ (2025) — https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a884_new2_0pl1.pdf
15. U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit / Justia: Bridgeport Hospital v. Becerra — Remand Without Vacatur, July 23, 2024 — https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/22-5249/22-5249-2024-07-23.html
16. U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit / Justia: American Public Gas Association v. Department of Energy — Allied-Signal Analysis — https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/20-1068/20-1068-2022-01-18.html
17. U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit / Justia: Cigar Association of America v. FDA — Vacatur and Disruptive Consequences, January 24, 2025 — https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/23-5220/23-5220-2025-01-24.html
18. U.S. Department of Labor — Employee Benefits Security Administration / Federal Register: Retirement Security Rule — Definition of an Investment Advice Fiduciary, 89 FR 32122, April 25, 2024 — https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/04/25/2024-08065/retirement-security-rule-definition-of-an-investment-advice-fiduciary

Educational Disclaimer

ROIStreet publishes educational content about 401(k) plans, ERISA, Department of Labor rulemaking, Administrative Procedure Act litigation, stays, injunctions, vacatur, remand and judicial review. This article is not legal, fiduciary, tax, investment, litigation, procedural or plan-administration advice. The scope and effect of a court order depend on the exact judgment, jurisdiction, parties, challenged agency action, appeal posture and subsequent agency response. Remedies such as stays, injunctions, vacatur and remand are not interchangeable, and current regulatory status can change quickly during litigation. Current plan obligations should be verified against operative statutes, current CFR text, controlling court orders, current DOL materials and applicable appellate authority.

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