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Embracing Administrative Constitutionalism, Bertrall L. Ross
Embracing Administrative Constitutionalism, Bertrall L. Ross
Bertrall L Ross
Administrative agencies engage in constitutionalism. They resolve questions of statutory meaning and scope that implicate constitutional questions. Even when agencies do not consciously set out to weigh in on constitutional
questions, by interpreting and applying statutes that rest on constitutional values, agencies elaborate constitutional meaning.
Should courts and theorists embrace or resist administrative
constitutionalism? For those who believe that the courts are the exclusive and final interpreters of the Constitution, it seems natural to oppose it. Thus, over the past forty years, the Supreme Court has resisted administrative constitutionalism. When agencies elaborate constitutional meaning in their interpretation of statutes, the …