Law Commons^™

Agency Independence After Pcaob, Kevin M. Stack

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Separation of powers has a new endeavor. The PCAOB decision makes the validity of good-cause removal protections depend on the separation of adjudicative from policymaking and enforcement functions within the agency. At a minimum, within independent agencies, it preserves the second layer of removal protection only for dedicated adjudicators. But its logic extends further. In PCAOB, the demand for political supervision over rulemaking and enforcement trumped Congress's choice to preserve the independence of officials who perform those roles and also adjudicate. In that way, PCAOB reversed the consistent constitutional validation of good-cause removal protections for those who engage in adjudication. …

Obama's Equivocal Defense Of Agency Independence, Kevin M. Stack

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

You can't judge a President by his view of Article II. At the very least, only looking to a President's construction of Article II gives a misleading portrait of the actual legal authority recent Presidents have asserted.

President Obama is no exception, as revealed by his defense of the constitutionality of an independent agency from challenge under Article II in Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board' (PCAOB) in the Supreme Court this term. The PCAOB is an independent agency, located inside the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), created to regulate accounting of public companies in the wake of …

The Constitutional Foundations Of Chenery, Kevin M. Stack

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The Supreme Court regularly upholds federal legislation on grounds other than those stated by Congress. Likewise, an appellate court may affirm a lower court judgment even if the lower court's opinion expressed the wrong reasons for it. Not so in the case of judicial review of administrative agencies. The established rule, formulated in SEC v. Chenery Corp., is that a reviewing court may uphold an agency's action only on the grounds upon which the agency relied when it acted. This Article argues that something more than distrust of agency lawyers is at work in Chenery. By making the validity of …

Foreign Nationals And Agencies Of Foreign Governments As Persons Under The Freedom Of Information Act: A Question Of Constitutionality, Lloyd F. Leroy

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This note will first examine the FOIA as it is juxtaposed against the President's power in the area of foreign affairs. Particular attention in this area will be directed to the expressed congressional purpose for passage of the FOLA and the President's role as sole voice of the nation in international relations. Next, the conflicting interests will be highlighted by means of a hypothetical fact situation in which the FOIA dictates disclosure of information which the President feels must be withheld because of foreign policy considerations. Finally, this note will propose some solutions to both the practical problems presented and …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Agency--Representations--Liability of Principal for Agent's Assault Where Consent Obtained by Fraud

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Constitutional Law--Due Process--Admissibility in State Criminal Prosecution of Results of Blood Test taken while Accused was Unconscious

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Constitutional Law--Privilege Against Self-Incrimination--Effect of Possible Federal Prosecution on Application of State Immunity Statute in State Criminal Proceedings

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Constitutional Law--Military Jurisdiction--Capital Offenses Committed by Civilian Dependents Accompanying Armed Forces Abroad in Peacetime

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Corporations--Election of Directors--Conflict Between Constitutional Right of Cumulative Voting and Statute Authorizing Classification of Directors

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Corporations--Officers--Secretary--Treasurer's Authority to Institute Litigation

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Corporations--Shareholder Voting Agreements--Applicability of Voting Trust Statute to Pooling Agreement Giving Irrevocable Proxies to …

Recent Cases, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Recent Cases

Agency--Liability of Master for Servant's Acts--State Permit to Operate

Agency--Possession as Indicia of Ownership

Constitutional Law--Aliens--Detention Where Deportations is Impossible

Courts--Contempt--Delay in Summary Punishment

Criminal Law--Habitual Criminal Statutes--Meaning of Previous Conviction Requirement

Domestic Relations--Liability of Husband for Necessaries of Wife Rightfully Living Apart

Income Taxation--Excludibility from Gross Income of Payment over Ceiling Price

Income Taxation--Taxable Income--Claim of Right

Procedure--Grand Jury--Motion to Expunge Defamatory Remarks in Report

Procedure--Statute of Limitations--Retroactive Operation

Statutes--Holding of Unconstitutionality Overruled--Necessity for Re-Enactment

Wills--Contest--Interest of Legatee's Representative