Digital Commons Network^™

"Not For Human Consumption": Prison Food's Absent Regulatory Regime, Amanda Chan, Anna Nathanson

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Prison food is poor quality. The regulations which govern prison food are subpar and unenforceable by prisoners, due in large part to Sandin v. Conner and the Prison Litigation Reform Act. This Article aims to draw attention to the dire food conditions in prisons, explain the lax federal administrative law that permits these conditions, highlight the role of Sandin v. Conner and the Prison Litigation Reform Act in curtailing prisoners’ rights, and criticize the role of the private entity American Correctional Association in enabling mass neglect of prison food. The authors recommend that the Prison Litigation Reform Act be repealed, …

The Emerging Lessons Of Trump V. Hawaii, Shalini Bhargava Ray

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

In the years since the Supreme Court decided Trump v. Hawaii, federal district courts have adjudicated dozens of rights-based challenges to executive action in immigration law. Plaintiffs, including U.S. citizens, civil rights organizations, and immigrants themselves, have alleged violations of the First Amendment and the equal protection component of the Due Process Clause with some regularity based on President Trump’s animus toward immigrants. This Article assesses Hawaii’s impact on these challenges to immigration policy, and it offers two observations. First, Hawaii has amplified federal courts’ practice of privileging administrative law claims over constitutional ones. For example, courts considering …

Who Constrains Presidential Exercise Of Delegated Powers?, Rebecca L. Brown

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Building on the work of administrative law scholars who have identified and illuminated the several components of the problem over the years, this Article will seek to show what has happened when a cluster of separate circumstances have come together to create a new and serious threat to individual liberty when the President exercises expansive delegated authority. Several doctrinal components lead to this confluence: First, the moribund “intelligible principle” test has evolved to provide little or no constraint on this or any other delegation. Second, a delegation to the President, specifically, is not subject to the procedural requirements of the …

Mother Nature Needs Her Sox: Reviewing The Impetus And Goals Of The Increased Financial Regulations Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act And How They Parallel The Needs Of Today's Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Meyer

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

As climate change and natural disasters appear to be increasingly prevalent across the United States, the question of how to respond to these threats looms large. Arguably, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) represents the tip of that responding spear. The agency, literally dedicated to protecting the environment, is positioned to drive industry environmental standards, set sustainable metrics, and even determine thresholds for habitable life.

Looks can be deceiving, though. This Note examines the current state of the EPA, and the minimal effect it currently has on penalizing and deterring industry environmental degradation. It specifically focuses on a number of high-profile …

When Influence Encroaches: Statutory Advice In The Administrative State, William C. Hudson

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article revisits the D.C. Circuit’s 1993 decision in FEC v. NRA Political Victory Fund, and concludes that the separation of powers reasoning applied in NRA Political Victory Fund could invalidate other common practices in the administrative state, such as statutory requirements that Executive Branch officers serve on the boards of corporations created and staffed by Congress.

Administrative Dissents, Sharon B. Jacobs

William & Mary Law Review

Commissioners, like judges, dissent. They do so at length, with vigor, and with persistence. Yet while separate judicial decisions are the subject of a rich literature, their administrative counterparts have long languished in obscurity. A closer look is warranted, however, because studying administrative dissent can enhance our understanding of internal agency operations as well as the relationships between agencies and other actors. This Article presents the results of an original review of separate statements at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission dating back four decades. It uses these findings to move beyond two common generalizations about …

The Constitution Of Agency Statutory Interpretation, Evan J. Criddle

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Administrative Constitution In Exile, Mila Sohoni

William & Mary Law Review

For decades, the aspiration of administrative law has been to develop legal structures that would constrain and legitimate the exercise of agency power. The fruition of that hope was the complex internal blueprint that has made modern administrative governance both successful and legitimate the framework for executive action that many have hailed as the administrative constitution. Today, however, novel exercises of administrative power are crowding out old and familiar varieties, making the conventional forms of administrative action less and less relevant to the conduct of government.

This Article examines how the administrative constitution has changed over time and how that …

The Last Should Be First—Flip The Order Of The Chevron Two-Step, Richard Murphy

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

"Data, Views, Or Arguments": A Rumination, Michael Herz

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

On Candor, Free Enterprise Fund, And The Theory Of The Unitary Executive, Michael J. Gerhardt

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Charles Koch, Jr. — The Casebook And The Scholarship, William S. Jordan Iii

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Administrative Judges And Agency Policy Development: The Koch Way, Ronald M. Levin

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Among the creative contributions that the late Charles H. Koch, Jr., made to administrative law thinking was his exploration of the present and potential role of administrative judges as policymakers. Charles stood in firm opposition to recent trends that, in his view, had served to strengthen the policymaking role of administrative judges at the expense of agency heads. He insisted that ultimate control over the policy direction of a program should rest with the officials who have been appointed to administer that program. While adhering to this baseline, however, Charles gravitated over time toward a nuanced view that sought to …

Chevron And The Legitimacy Of "Expert" Public Administration, Sidney Shapiro, Elizabeth Fisher

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

An Essay On Due Process And The Endowment Effect, Paul R. Verkuil

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Private Standards Organizations And Public Law, Peter L. Strauss

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Simplified, universal access to law is one of the important transformations worked by the digital age. With the replacement of physical by digital copies, citizens ordinarily need travel only to the nearest computer to find and read the texts that bind them. Lagging behind this development, however, has been computer access to standards developed by private standards development organizations, often under the umbrella of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and then converted by agency actions incorporating them by reference into legal obligations. To discover what colors the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires for use in work-place caution …

Administrative Searches, Technology And Personal Privacy, Russell L. Weaver

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Jury Review Of Administrative Action, John F. Duffy

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Rules For Patents, Michael J. Burstein

William & Mary Law Review

There is widespread agreement that the patent system in the United States is in need of reform. Most of the proposals for patent reform that have proliferated in recent years share two common assumptions: first, that patent policy is best made through case-bycase adjudication of the validity of individual patents; and, second, that the existing allocation of authority over patent policy, in which the courts are primarily responsible for interpreting and applying the broad language of the Patent Act, ought not to be disturbed. This
Article challenges both assumptions. I approach the problem of patent reform primarily as a problem …

Law And Governance In The 21st Century Regulatory State, Jason M. Solomon

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Primer For U.S. Lawyers On European Union Government And Law, Charles H. Koch Jr.

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Signing Statements And Statutory Interpretation In The Bush Administration, Neil Kinkopf

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Stare Decisis, Chevron, And Skidmore: Do Administrative Agencies Have The Power To Overrule Courts?, Paul A. Dame

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Respecting Deference: Conceptualizing Skidmore Within The Architecture Of Chevron, Jim Rossi

William & Mary Law Review

This Article addresses critically the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Christensen v. Harris County, 120 S. Ct. 1655 (2000), for standards of judicial review of agency interpretations of law. Christensen is a notable case in the administrative law area because it purports to clarify application of the deference doctrine first articulated in Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323 U.S. 134 (1944). By reviving this doctrine, Christensen narrows application of the predominant approach to deference articulated in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984), thus reducing the level of deference in …

The Case For Strict Statutory Construction Of Mandatory Agency Deadlines Under Section 706(1), Catherine Zaller

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Patent Law In The Administrative State, Orin S. Kerr

William & Mary Law Review

This Article challenges the Supreme Court's recent holding that administrative law doctrines should apply to the patent system. The Article contends that the dynamics ofpatent law derive not from public law regulation, but rather from the private law doctrines of contract, property, and tort. Based on this insight, the Article argues that administrative law doctrines such as Chevron and the Administrative Procedure Act should not apply within patent law, and that such doctrines in fact pose a serious threat to the proper functioning of the patent system.

The Consequences Of Doj Control Of Litigation Authority On Agency Programs, Michael Herz, Neal Devins

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Interpreting Agency Enabling Acts: Misplaced Metaphors In Administrative Law, Lars Noah

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Review And The Small Business Regulatory Enforcment Fairness Act: An Early Examination Of When And Where Judges Are Using Their Newly Granted Power Over Federal Regulatory Agencies, Jeffrey J. Polich

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Extended Hypothetical For Teaching Administrative Law, Charles H. Koch Jr.

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.