Law Commons^™

A Study In Rule-Specific Issue Categorization For E-Rulemaking, Claire Cardie, Cynthia R. Farina, Adil Aijaz, Matt Rawding, Stephen Purpura

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We address the e-rulemaking problem of categorizing public comments according to the issues that they address. In contrast to previous text categorization research in e-rulemaking, and in an attempt to more closely duplicate the comment analysis process in federal agencies, we employ a set of rule-specific categories, each of which corresponds to a significant issue raised in the comments. We describe the creation of a corpus to support this text categorization task and report interannotator agreement results for a group of six annotators. We outline those features of the task and of the e-rulemaking context that engender both a non-traditional …

A Study In Rule-Specific Issue Categorization For E-Rulemaking, Claire Cardie, Cynthia R. Farina, Adil Aijaz, Matt Rawding, Stephen Purpura

Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative Publications

We address the e-rulemaking problem of categorizing public comments according to the issues that they address. In contrast to previous text categorization research in e-rulemaking [5, 6], and in an attempt to more closely duplicate the comment analysis process in federal agencies, we employ a set of rule-specific categories, each of which corresponds to a significant issue raised in the comments. We describe the creation of a corpus to support this text categorization task and report interannotator agreement results for a group of six annotators. We outline those features of the task and of the e-rulemaking context that engender both …

Facilitating Issue Categorization & Analysis In Rulemaking, Thomas R. Bruce, Claire Cardie, Cynthia R. Farina, Stephen Purpura

Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative Publications

One task common to all notice-and-comment rulemaking is identifying substantive claims and arguments made in the comments by stakeholders and other members of the public. Extracting and summarizing this material may be helpful to internal decisionmaking; to produce the legally required public explanation of the final rule, it is essential. When comments are lengthy or numerous, natural language processing and machine learning techniques can help the rulewriter work more quickly and comprehensively. Even when a smaller volume of comment material is received, the ability to annotate relevant portions and store information about them in a way that permits retrieval and …

An Erulemaking Corpus: Identifying Substantive Issues In Public Comments, Claire Cardie, Cynthia R. Farina, Matt Rawding, Adil Aijaz

Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative Publications

We describe the creation of a corpus that supports a real-world hierarchical text categorization task in the domain of electronic rulemaking (eRulemaking). Features of the task and of the eRulemaking domain engender both a non-traditional text categorization corpus and a correspondingly difficult machine learning task. Interannotator agreement results are presented for a group of six annotators. We also briefly describe the results of experiments that apply standard and hierarchical text categorization techniques to the eRulemaking data sets. The corpus is the first in a series of related sentence-level text categorization corpora to be developed in the eRulemaking domain.

The State Attorney General And Preemption, Trevor W. Morrison

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

According to the National Association of Attorneys General, "the rise of preemption of state laws and regulations by federal administrative agencies, rather than directly by Congress" is "[p]erhaps the most significant development in federal preemption in the last several decades." This kind of preemption is typically claimed in an agency ruling or regulation declaring certain state laws or activities preempted, even though the underlying statute says nothing about preemption in those areas. That an association of state attorneys general would view "agency preemption" as particularly worrisome is hardly surprising: the main casualties are often state attorneys general, whose broad investigative …

Achieving The Potential: The Future Of Federal E-Rulemaking: A Report To Congress And The President, Committee On The Status And Future Of Federal E-Rulemaking (U.S.), Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Federal regulations are among the most important and widely used tools for implementing the laws of the land – affecting the food we eat, the air we breathe, the safety of consumer products, the quality of the workplace, the soundness of our financial institutions, the smooth operation of our businesses, and much more. Despite the central role of rulemaking in executing public policy, both regulated entities (especially small businesses) and the general public find it extremely difficult to follow the regulatory process; actively participating in it is even harder.

E-rulemaking is the use of technology (particularly, computers and the World …

Minding The Gaps: Fairness, Welfare, And The Constitutive Structure Of Distributive Assessment, Robert C. Hockett

Cornell Law Faculty Working Papers

Despite over a century’s disputation and attendant opportunity for clarification, the field of inquiry now loosely labeled “welfare economics” (WE) remains surprisingly prone to foundational confusions. The same holds of work done by many practitioners of WE’s influential offshoot, normative “law and economics” (LE).

A conspicuous contemporary case of confusion turns up in recent discussion concerning “fairness versus welfare.” The very naming of this putative dispute signals a crude category error. “Welfare” denotes a proposed object of distribution. “Fairness” describes and appropriate pattern of distribution. Welfare itself is distributed fairly or unfairly. “Fairness versus welfare” is analytically on all fours …

Better Inputs For Better Outcomes: Using The Interface To Improve E-Rulemaking, Cynthia R. Farina, Claire Cardie, Thomas R. Bruce, Erica Wagner

Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative Publications

We believe that e-rulemaking does indeed have potential to increase both the transparency of, and participation in, regulatory policymaking. We argue in this paper that this potential can be realized only if the public interface at www.regulations.gov is substantially redesigned.

Using Natural Language Processing To Improve Erulemaking [Project Highlight], Claire Cardie, Cynthia R. Farina, Thomas R. Bruce

Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative Publications

This paper describes in brief Cornell’s interdisciplinary eRulemaking project that was recently funded (December, 2005) by the National Science Foundation.

Rulemaking Versus Adjudication: A Psychological Perspective, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Legal systems make law in one of two ways: by abstracting general principles from the decisions made in individual cases (through the adjudicative process) or by declaring general principles through a centralized authority that are to be applied in individual cases (through the rulemaking process). Administrative agencies have long had the unfettered authority to choose between the two methods. Although each method could identify the same solution to the legal issues that come before them, in practice, the two systems commonly settle upon different resolutions. Each system presents the underlying legal issue from a different cognitive perspective, highlighting and hiding …

Cognitive Psychology And Optimal Government Design, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Blackletter Statement Of Federal Administrative Law: Standing, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Getting Beyond Cynicism: New Theories Of The Regulatory State. Foreword: Post-Public Choice?, Cynthia R. Farina, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Faith, Hope, And Rationality Or Public Choice And The Perils Of Occam's Razor, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Regulatory Improvement Legislation: Risk Assessment, Cost-Benefit Analysis, And Judicial Review, Fred Anderson, Mary Ann Chirba-Martin, E. Donald Elliott, Cynthia R. Farina, Ernest Gellhorn, John D. Graham, C. Boyden Gray, Jeffrey Holmstead, Ronald M. Levin, Lars Noah, Katherine Rhyne, Jonathan Baert Weiner

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

As the number, cost, and complexity of federal regulations have grown over the past twenty years, there has been growing interest in the use of analytic tools such as risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis to improve the regulatory process. The application of these tools to public health, safety, and environmental problems has become commonplace in the peer-reviewed scientific and medical literatures. Recent studies prepared by Resources for the Future, the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institution, and the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis have demonstrated how formal analyses can and often do help government agencies achieve more protection against hazards …

Undoing The New Deal Through The New Presidentialism, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

On Misusing “Revolution” And “Reform”: Procedural Due Process And The New Welfare Act, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

After a long dry spell, the debate over procedural due process flows again. The Supreme Court has announced the first major doctrinal revision in years; Congress has gutted the regulatory program that underlay Goldberg v. Kelly; and Richard Pierce has published an essay in the Columbia Law Review prophesying a radical de-evolution of due process doctrine that will bring constitutional law into line with the profound political and social revolution evidenced by welfare “reform.” My essay takes Professor Pierce's recent work as a springboard for reengaging the debate about the direction of procedural due process. I begin by recapitulating …

Commentary On Presentations Of Prof. Roberta S. Karmel & Prof. James A. Fanto, Gregory S. Alexander

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The Consent Of The Governed: Against Simple Rules For A Complex World, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Professor Farina argues that recent proponents of enhanced presidential power overstate the ability of the President to legitimize the regulatory state. It accuses pro-presidentialists of premising their claims on a conception of the "will of the people" that is neither an accurate description of how citizens actually participate in modern government nor an authentic constitutional understanding of how citizens would consent to public policy decisions. The paper concludes by insisting that no single mode of democratic legitimization can "save" the regulatory enterprise; rather, administrative law must look to a plurality of institutions and practices that contribute to an ongoing process …

The "Chief Executive" And The Quiet Constitutional Revolution, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Judicial Review Of Petitions, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Senate bill 343, at least, is careful to say that upon denial of a petition, the denial should be deemed "agency action" for purposes of judicial review. Only at one point in the legislation does the statute speak explicitly to the standard, and that's with respect to the petition for putting an existing major rule on the schedule for analysis. The bill says that the agency's action shall be overturned by the court only on the determination that the action was arbitrary and capricious or an abuse of discretion, which is what we assumed the standard would have been for …

Keeping Faith: Government Ethics & Government Ethics Regulation, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Getting From Here To There, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Conceiving Due Process, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Statutory Interpretation And The Balance Of Power In The Administrative State, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

How Separation Of Powers Protects Individual Liberties, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy In The Administrative State, Theodore Eisenberg

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Judicial Law Making And Administration, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

What Is The Public Interest? Who Represents It?, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Citizen Suits In The Environmental Field – Peril Or Promise?, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.