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The Great Transformation Of Regulated Industries Law, Joseph D. Kearney, Thomas W. Merrill
The Great Transformation Of Regulated Industries Law, Joseph D. Kearney, Thomas W. Merrill
Faculty Scholarship
The nation's approach to regulating its transportation, telecommunications, and energy industries has undergone a great transformation in the last quarter-century. The original paradigm of regulation, which was established with the Interstate Commerce Act's regulation of railroads beginning in 1887, was characterized by legislative creation of an administrative agency charged with general regulatory oversight of particular industries. This approach did not depend on whether the regulated industry was naturally competitive or was a natural monopoly, and it was designed to advance accepted goals of reliability and, in particular, non-discrimination. By contrast, under the new paradigm, which is manifested most clearly in …
The Courts And The Congress: Should Judges Disdain Political History?, Peter L. Strauss
The Courts And The Congress: Should Judges Disdain Political History?, Peter L. Strauss
Faculty Scholarship
In an earlier article in these pages, Professor John Manning argued that the use of legislative materials by courts in effect permits Congress to engage in delegation of its authority to subunits of the legislature, in violation of the separation of powers. Professor Strauss, acknowledging that the previous generation of courts may have excessively credited the minutiae of legislative history, responds that judicial attention to the political history of legislation is required, not forbidden, by considerations of constitutional structure. Only awareness of that history will promote interpretation reflective of the context and political moment of Congress's action. Our history of …