The rule was to have taken effect on Feb. 17, but had been set aside for 60 days as the Bush administration reviewed last-minute regulations issued by the Clinton administration.

"We want to completely understand and review what was a last-minute regulation, and this motion allows us to continue to do that while the lawsuit is ongoing," Claire Buchan, a White House spokeswoman, said.

After the inaugural ceremony, Mr. Bush quickly got down to business, issuing a series of executive orders - including one that sought to delay, review and roll back some of the last-minute regulations of the Clinton administration - even before his post-inaugural luncheon with Congressional leaders was over.

Down to business: As an initial measure, Obama seeks a 120-day halt to legal proceedings at Guantanamo Bay, and halts all the last-minute new regulations the Bush administration was putting through, so that he can review them.

One of his first acts was to suspend a half-dozen of the Clinton administration's environmental rules, which Mr. Bush's people persist in labeling "last-minute" regulations, though most had been in the works for years.

Ari Fleischer, a spokesman for the Bush transition team, said, "As with all last-minute regulations, we will review them upon assuming the presidency on Jan. 20."

Within minutes of taking the Oath of Office on January 20, Obama's Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, issued an order suspending last-minute federal regulations pushed through by outgoing President George W. Bush, planning to review everything still pending.

Bush Biding His Time George W. Bush and his aides are waiting, with varying degrees of patience, as the Clinton team churns out last-minute regulations that cannot be easily reversed by the new administration.

How many of these last-minute regulations will become law?

"They've been busy beavers in the administration with these last-minute executive orders and last-minute regulations," Mr. Fleischer said.