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Agency Statutory Interpretation And Policymaking Form, Kevin M. Stack Jan 2009

Agency Statutory Interpretation And Policymaking Form, Kevin M. Stack

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In this short symposium contribution, I take up this invitation to examine the relevance of the agency's policymaking form to its approach to statutory interpretation. The core point I wish to advance is a relatively basic one--namely, that an agency's approach to statutory interpretation is in part a function of the policymaking form through which it acts. My strategy is to examine two of the most important policymaking forms--notice-and-comment rulemaking and formal adjudication--and to argue that the considerations that distinguish agency and judicial interpretation have a markedly different place in these two agency policymaking forms. For purposes of exposition, I …


Rethinking The Federal Role In State Criminal Justice, Nancy J. King, Joseph L. Hoffmann Jan 2009

Rethinking The Federal Role In State Criminal Justice, Nancy J. King, Joseph L. Hoffmann

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Essay argues that federal habeas review of state criminal cases squanders resources the federal government should be using to help states reform their systems of defense representation. A 2007 empirical study reveals that federal habeas review is inaccessible to most state prisoners convicted of non-capital crimes, and offers no realistic hope of relief for those who reach federal court. As a means of correcting or deterring constitutional error in non-capital cases, habeas is failing and cannot be fixed. Drawing upon these findings as well as the Supreme Court's most recent decision applying the Suspension Clause, the authors propose that …