Law Commons^™

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

Neal E. Devins

No abstract provided.

The Constitution Of Agency Statutory Interpretation, Evan J. Criddle

Evan J. Criddle

No abstract provided.

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

Orin Kerr

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.

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

Russell L. Weaver

No abstract provided.

Reason-Giving, Rulemaking, And The Rule Of Law, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Notes From The Border: Writing Across The Administrative Law/Financial Regulation Divide, Robert B. Ahdieh

Robert B. Ahdieh

A central feature – if not the central feature – of legal scholarship today is analysis across divides.

It is surprising, then, how little has been written across the divide that separates administrative law and financial regulation. That is perhaps especially so, given the modest nature of the relevant divide: one that is intra- rather than interdisciplinary, one that operates within rather than across geographic boundaries, and one that involves no temporal dimension but operates entirely within current-day law.

For all the proximity in their interests, targets of study, and even analytical tools, however, scholars of administrative law and of …

The Commenting Power: Agency Accountability Through Public Participation, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Cooperative Enforcement In Immigration Law, Amanda Frost

Amanda Frost

Environmental Protection As A Learning Experience, Daniel A. Farber

Daniel A Farber

No abstract provided.

Partner Capture In Public International Organizations, Christopher G. Bradley

Christopher Bradley

A sharp rise of public-private partnerships is changing the way the United Nations and other public international organizations work. Organizations eagerly embrace wealthy, experienced partners, such as major foundations and corporations, in order to fund ambitious projects. But safeguards against potential problems have not kept pace with partnership activities. Looking to fundamental principles of public choice and political economy well-known in the U.S. administrative law context, this Article develops a multifaceted notion of “partner capture” to describe the dangers of this expansion in partnership activities for the U.N. and similar organizations. The dangers include agenda distortion, intra-organizational rivalries, reputational damage, …

The Implausibility Of Secrecy, Mark Fenster

Mark Fenster

Government secrecy frequently fails. Despite the executive branch’s obsessive hoarding of certain kinds of documents and its constitutional authority to do so, recent high-profile events — among them the WikiLeaks episode, the Obama administration’s infamous leak prosecutions, and the widespread disclosure by high-level officials of flattering confidential information to sympathetic reporters — undercut the image of a state that can classify and control its information. The effort to control government information requires human, bureaucratic, technological, and textual mechanisms that regularly founder or collapse in an administrative state, sometimes immediately and sometimes after an interval. Leaks, mistakes, and open sources all …

What Should Law Enforcement Role Be In Addressing Quality Of Life Issues Associated With Section 8 Housing?, D'Andre D. Lampkin

D'Andre Devon Lampkin

The purpose of this research project is to discuss the challenges law enforcement face when attempting to address quality of life issues for residents residing in and around Section 8 federal housing. The paper introduces readers to the purpose of Section 8 housing, the process in which residents choose subsidized housing, and the legal challenges presented when law enforcement agencies are assisting city government to address quality of life issues. For purposes of this research project, studies were sampled to illustrate where law enforcement participation worked and where law enforcement participation leads to unintended legal ramifications.

Administrative Law Unbounded: Reflections On Government And Governance, Martin Shapiro

Martin Shapiro

No abstract provided.

Regulation And Regulatory Processes, Cary Coglianese, Robert Kagan

Robert Kagan

Regulation of business activity is nearly as old as law itself. In the last century, though, the use of regulation by modern governments has grown markedly in both volume and significance, to the point where nearly every facet of today’s economy is subject to some form of regulation. When successful, regulation can deliver important benefits to society; however, regulation can also impose undue costs on the economy and, when designed or implemented poorly, fail to meet public needs at all. Given the importance of sound regulation to society, its study by scholars of law and social science is also of …

The Giving Reasons Requirement, Martin Shapiro

Martin Shapiro

No abstract provided.

Gandhi’S Prophecy: Corporate Violence And A Mindful Law For Bhopal, Nehal A. Patel

Nehal A. Patel

AbstractOver thirty years have passed since the Bhopal chemical disaster began,and in that time scholars of corporate social responsibility (CSR) havediscussed and debated several frameworks for improving corporate responseto social and environmental problems. However, CSR discourse rarelydelves into the fundamental architecture of legal thought that oftenbuttresses corporate dominance in the global economy. Moreover, CSRdiscourse does little to challenge the ontological and epistemologicalassumptions that form the foundation for modern economics and the role ofcorporations in the world.I explore methods of transforming CSR by employing the thought ofMohandas Gandhi. I pay particular attention to Gandhi’s critique ofindustrialization and principle of swadeshi (self-sufficiency) …

Federal Agencies In The Legislative Process: Technical Assistance In Statutory Drafting, Christopher J. Walker

Christopher J. Walker

Federal agencies draft statutes. Indeed, they are often the chief architects of the statutes they administer. Even when federal agencies are not the primary substantive authors, they routinely respond to congressional requests to provide technical assistance in statutory drafting. Yet despite their substantial role in the legislative process, our understanding about how agencies interact with Congress is greatly undertheorized and perhaps even less understood empirically. This Report, which was commissioned by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), explores the latter role of federal agencies in the legislative process: the provision of technical assistance in statutory drafting.

To better …

Inside Regulatory Interpretation: A Research Note, Christopher J. Walker

Christopher J. Walker

In response to Kevin M. Stack, Interpreting Regulations, 111 Mich. L. Rev. 355 (2012).

In Interpreting Regulations, Professor Stack provides the first comprehensive approach to regulatory interpretation and situates this approach within the larger literature on legal interpretation. His theory of regulatory interpretation is simple yet pioneering: “a regulation should be read in light of its purposes, with the regulation’s text and the statement of basis and purpose constituting the privileged interpretive sources.” This Research Note takes a look inside regulatory interpretation to explore the empirical foundation for Professor Stack’s novel approach to regulatory interpretation.

In 2013, the author conducted …

Diagnostic Inflation For The People, Benjamin Douglas

Benjamin Douglas

Workplace stress can cause diagnosable mental health problems, and there is every reason to grant psychologically injured workers the same benefits accorded to other injured workers. Nevertheless, numerous jurisdictions deny or restrict these benefits, using arguments that do not stand up to scrutiny. The real reason for the double standard is not rooted in science, medicine or reason, but in employers' need to preserve low expectations for workers' mental well-being, which enables greater employer control over their employees, and shifts the costs of failing mental health to the rest of society. To reclaim workers' compensation for those who are suffering …

Is The Chief Justice A Tax Lawyer?, Stephanie Hoffer, Christopher J. Walker

Christopher J. Walker

King v. Burwell is a crucial victory for the Obama Administration and for the future of the Affordable Care Act. It also has important implications for tax law and administration, as explored in the other terrific contributions to this Pepperdine Law Review Symposium. In this Essay, we turn to another tax-related feature of the Chief Justice’s opinion for the Court: It is hard to ignore the fingerprints of a tax lawyer throughout the opinion. This Essay focuses on two instances of a tax lawyer at work.

First, in the Chief’s approach to statutory interpretation one sees a tax lawyer as …

Vw And Gm Scandals Show Why Regulation Matters, Robert R.M. Verchick, Rena Steinzor

Robert R.M. Verchick

Conservatives love to belittle federal regulations — especially the ones designed to keep our air clean, our water drinkable, our workplaces safe, and our financial markets stable. Conservatives, of course, don’t oppose any of those things. They just think unregulated markets, left on their own, will keep bad things from happening. Customers will see when a dishonest company is putting Americans at risk; and when they do, they will unleash their fury and incinerate it. Unbridled capitalism is the world’s largest self-cleaning oven. Last week’s news from the automotive industry should lay that argument to rest.

Chevron Deference Conflicts With The Administrative Procedure Act, Richard O. Faulk

Richard Faulk

Although Chevron’s reasoning stresses the expertise of agencies as a basis for deference, the APA plainly delegates final interpretive authority to the courts. Since there is no statutory basis for superseding or diminishing the judicial role in the interpretive process, there is no justification for using deferential review to bypass the judiciary’s primary responsibility. It is time—indeed past time—for the Supreme Court to exercise its singular constitutional authority to declare “what the law is”—and to curb the increasingly intrusive and overreaching authority seized by the Executive Branch. The American people, from whom all authority is derived, are entitled to be …

“Not Reasonably Debatable”: The Problems With Single-Judge Decisions By The Court Of Appeals For Veterans Claims, James Ridgway

James D. Ridgway

The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (CAVC) has statutory authority—unique among the federal appellate courts—to allow individual judges to decide appeals. As the CAVC completes the first quarter century of operations since its creation, this article examines the court’s use of this authority. Based upon two years of data developed and analyzed by the authors, this article concludes that outcome variance in single-judge decisions is a serious problem at the CAVC. Not only is there a substantial difference in the outcomes of appeals assigned to the different judges, but there are clear examples of decisions that violate the …

Underground Environmental Regulations: Regulations Imposed As Mitigation Measures Under Ceqa Violate The California Administrative Procedure Act, Jonathan Wood

Jonathan Wood

What happens when an agency adopts a regulation under the California Environmental Quality Act as mitigation for a program’s environmental impact, without complying with the procedural requirements of the California Administrative Procedure Act? According to a recent California Court of Appeal decision – Center for Biological Diversity v. Department of Fish and Wildlife – these mitigation measures, which this article refers to as underground environmental regulations, are invalid. This article defends that interpretation and addresses its consequences for agencies and the regulated public. Although these additional procedural protections benefit regulated parties in a variety of ways, they can also burden …

Transatlantic Perspective On Judicial Deference In Administrative Law, Maciej Bernatt

Maciej Bernatt

The U.S. concept of judicial deference in administrative law limits the scope of judicial review of administrative agencies’ actions in the light of agencies’ superior expertise and separation of powers arguments. It may serve as an interesting point of reference for the European discussion about adequate institutional balance between administration and courts. The paper analyzes whether there are grounds for the validity of the concept of judicial deference in Continental Europe and in what areas (law, facts or both). As a starting point it is observed that it remains generally accepted in Europe that it is a role of courts …

Evolving Contours Of Immigration Federalism: The Case Of Migrant Children, Elizabeth Keyes

Elizabeth Keyes

In a unique corner of immigration law, a significant reallocation of power over immigration has been occurring with little fanfare. States play a dramatic immigration gatekeeping role in the process for providing protection to immigrant youth, like many of the Central American children who sought entry to the United States in the 2014 border “surge.” This article closely examines the history of this Special Immigrant Juvenile Status provision, enacted in 1990, which authorized a vital state role in providing access to an immigration benefit. The article traces the series of shifts in allocation of power between the federal government and …

Take It To The Limit: The Illegal Regulation Prohibiting The Take Of Any Threatened Species Under The Endangered Species Act, Jonathan Wood

Jonathan Wood

The Endangered Species Act forbids the “take” – any activity that adversely affects – any member of an endangered species, but only endangered species. The statute also provides for the listing of threatened species, i.e. species that may become endangered, but protects them only by requiring agencies to consider the impacts of their projects on them. Shortly after the statute was adopted, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service reversed Congress’ policy choice by adopting a regulation that forbids the take of any threatened species. The regulation is not authorized by the Endangered Species Act, but …

The Privacy Dilemma In Digital Arrestee Mug Shots Under The Foia 7(C) And State And Local Policy Recommendations, Ahad Syed

Ahad Syed

This Article examines the purpose and interpretation by courts of Freedom of Information Act’s 7(C) Exemption. Specifically, the Article sets out to unravel the current federal circuit court split over Exemption 7(C) by examining its application to the digital privacy dilemma as applied to arrestee photographs, commonly known as “mug shots.” Automated data-scraping programs continuously scour the internet, reaping, replicating, and reposting photographs of arrestees who may or may not have had charges dismissed in order to shame them into paying website owners for removal. While other commentators have argued for state law penalizing pay-to-remove mug shot websites only, this …

Democratizing Startups, Seth C. Oranburg

Seth C Oranburg

The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 intends to “help entrepreneurs raise the capital they need to put Americans back to work and create an economy that’s built to last.” The goal is to “democratize startups” by making capital available to diverse entrepreneurs in new geographies. Yet the net effect of securities regulations and market conditions is the opposite. Startup companies are encouraged to stay private so capital is consolidating in large, mature firms instead of recycling into new startups. Evidence of consolidation is that once-rare “Unicorns” (billion-dollar startups) now number over 111. More money is going into huge …

Deference Lotteries, Jud Mathews

Jud Mathews

When should courts defer to agency interpretations of statutes, and what measure of deference should agencies receive? Administrative law recognizes two main deference doctrines — the generous Chevron standard and the stingier Skidmore standard — but Supreme Court case law has not offered a bright-line rule for when each standard applies.Many observers have concluded that courts’ deference practice is an unpredictable muddle. This Article argues that it is really a lottery, in the sense the term is used in expected utility theory. Agencies cannot predict which deference standard a court will apply or with what effect, but they have a …