Administrative Law Commons^™

Enlarging The Administrative Polity: Administrative Law And The Changing Definition Of Pluralism, 1945-1970, Reuel E. Schiller

Vanderbilt Law Review

"The availability of judicial review," wrote Louis Jaffe in 1965, "is the necessary condition, psychologically, if not logically, of a system of administrative power which purports to be legitimate, or legally valid." In so writing, Jaffe suggested that the abstract beliefs that Americans have about the way government is supposed to work define the relationship between courts and the administrative state. It does not follow, logically, from the existence of administrative agencies that their actions must be policed by courts. In- stead, our beliefs about how public policy ought to be made and about which institutions are best at protecting …

Schechter Poultry At The Millennium: A Delegation Doctrine For The Administrative State, Lisa Schultz Bressman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The new delegation doctrine might seem perplexing to both sides of the current delegation debate. Either it is too intrusive on administrative prerogatives or it is not nearly intrusive enough. The new delegation doctrine is difficult to comprehend only because it evinces a different focus. While the debate concentrates primarily on the legitimacy of lawmaking by administrative agencies, the new doctrine speaks more to the goal of promoting the legitimacy of law made by administrative agencies. It might even be fair to say that, in this regard, the new doctrine moves beyond the academic debate. Moreover, the new doctrine neither …

Does The Solicitor General Advantage Thwart The Rule Of Law In The Administrative State?, Jim A. Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Linda Cohen and Matthew Spitzer's study, "The Government Litigant Advantage," sheds important light on how the Solicitor General's litigation behavior may impact the Supreme Court's decision making agenda and outcomes for regulatory and administrative law cases. By emphasizing how the Solicitor General affects cases that the Supreme Court decides, Cohen and Spitzer's findings confirm that administrative law's emphasis on lower appellate court decisions is not misplaced. Some say that D.C. Circuit cases carry equal-if not more-precedential weight than Supreme Court decisions in resolving administrative law issues. Cohen and Spitzer use positive political theory to provide a novel explanation for some …

Alj Final Orders On Appeal: Balancing Independence With Accountability, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This essay addresses how ALJ final order authority in many state systems of administrative governance (among them Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, and South Carolina) poses a tension between independence and accountability. It is argued that political accountability is sacrificed where reviewing courts defer to ALJ final orders on issues of law and policy. Standards of review provide state courts with a way of restoring the balance between independence and accountability, but reviewing courts should heighten the deference they give to the agency's legal and policy positions -- giving little or no deference to the ALJ on these issues -- even where …

Institutional Design And The Lingering Legacy Of Antifederalist Separation Of Powers Ideals In The States, Jim A. Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article applies comparative institutional analysis to separation of powers under state constitutions, with a particular focus on the nondelegation doctrine and states' acceptance of Chadha-like restrictions on legislative oversight. The Article begins by contrasting state and federal doctrine and enforcement levels in each of these separation of powers contexts. Most state courts, unlike their federal counterparts, adhere to a strong nondelegation doctrine. In addition, many states accept (de facto if not de jure) even more explicit and sweeping legislative vetoes than the federal system. The Article highlights the contrast of federal and state approaches by identifying their similarity with …

United We Stand: The Anti-Competitive Implications Of Media Ownership Of Athletic Teams In Great Britain, Jonathan E. Bush

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note analyzes the increasing integration of the sports and broadcasting industries and the British framework for evaluating the permissibility of transactions furthering such integration. In the context of the recent attempted takeover of British football club Manchester United by Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting, the Note examines how the Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) was uniquely poised to fully consider the ramifications of this developing nexus of sports and media and evaluates the significance of the MMC's decision on the future of both industries.

A diverse array of domestic, international, political, and economic issues and implications face any court …

"Statutory Nondelegation": Learning From Florida's Recent Experience In Administrative Procedure Reform, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In this Article, I assess one of the more notable reforms Florida made to its APA in 1996 with the intention of enhancing the accountability of agency rulemaking, and I discuss the lessons other state reformers can learn from Florida's experience. Part Il of this Article discusses rulemaking authority under the Federal AP A and the more restrictive approach many states take to ensure that agencies are accountable to the legislature in proposing rules. Some states, including Pennsylvania, have endorsed what I will term 11 statutory nondelegation 11: This is a judicially-adopted or APA-imposed clear statement requirement, suggesting that courts …

The Endangered Species Act And Private Property: A Matter Of Timing And Location, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

For all the controversy surrounding the effect of the Endangered Species Act ("ESA") on private property, precious little information has accompanied the heated calls for strengthening or weakening the law's land use proscriptions. Preservationist groups and property rights groups alike depend on staking out higher moral ground and producing "poster child" stories of imperiled species or property owners. The Fish and Wildlife Service ("FWS"), which implements the ESA for most of the listed endangered and threatened species, has compiled reams of data on its administrative functions' in support of its recent efforts through administrative (in lieu of legislative) reform to …

Public Choice Theory And The Fragmented Web Of The Contemporary Administrative State, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In the recent book, Greed, Chaos and Governance: Using Public Choice to Improve Public Law (Yale U. Press 1997), Jerry Mashaw addresses the convergence between public choice and administrative law. This review essay summarizes Mashaw's arguments and explores his use of public choice tools. The review suggests that, absent some unifying theoretical perspective for understanding administrative governance outside of public choice method, little more than rampant pessimism or fragmented lessons about the administrative state can be taken.

Who Needs Congress? An Agenda For Administrative Reform Of The Endangered Species Act, J.B. A. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article comprehensively examines the history and content of the numerous administrative reforms of the Endangered Species Act program carried out under the tenure of Department of the Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. The assessment is that these reforms provide a tremendous impetus for innovation of species conservation.

The Irony Of Deregulatory Takings, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This is a critical review essay, exploring the thesis advanced by Gregory Sidak and Daniel Spulber in their book Deregulatory Takings and the Regulatory Contract (Cambridge University Press 1997). Sidak and Spulber argue that deregulation of the electric utility and local telephony industries can constitute an unconstitutional taking to the extent the state does not provide compensation for the investment-backed expectations of firms in the industry. In addition, they argue that economic efficiency requires this result. This review takes Sidak and Spulber to task for their reading of the case law. In addition, the review criticizes their argument for giving …

The 1996 Revised Florida Administrative Procedure Act: A Survey Of Major Provisions Affecting Florida Agencies, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In the spring of 1996, the Florida Legislature adopted a revised Administrative Procedure Act (APA),' the first massive overhaul of Florida's APA since its initial adoption over twenty years ago, in 1974. This Article examines the recent history of APA reform in Florida and surveys several provisions of the 1996 revised Florida APA that are likely to have a major effect on agency governance. Part II of this Article briefly reviews the recent history of regulatory reform in the state of Florida. Part III discusses an interesting innovation in Florida's 1996 APA revisions that governs agency waiver of rules and …

Participation Run Amok: The Costs Of Mass Participation For Deliberative Agency Decisionmaking, Jim A. Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article addresses the implications of broad-based participatory reforms for administrative process, with a particular focus on how participation reveals itself in different political-theoretic models of agency governance. The first section of the Article explores participation's value to agency governance. The second section of the Article presents three models of agency governance - expertocratic, pluralist, and civic republican - and discusses participation's importance to each model. The Article then posits a distinction between ordinary and constitutive agency decision-making, and explores how participation affects each for the three distinct models of agency governance. The implications of mass participation are explored in …

The Arrow Of The Law In Modern Administrative States: Using Complexity Theory To Reveal The Diminishing Returns And Increasing Risks The Burgeoning Of Law Poses To Society, J.B. Ruhl, Harold J. Ruhl Jr.

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article is the third in my series of articles exploring the application of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to legal systems. Building on the model outlined in the first two installments (in the Duke and Vanderbilt law reviews), this work examines the "arrow" or direction of the legal system in the context of the administrative state. Drawing from diverse work such as Burke's study of history's nonlinearity and Tainter's classic study of the collapse of complex civilizations, we argue that the administrative state is becoming too resource intensive and burdened by a proliferation of rules.

Waivers, Flexibility, And Reviewability, Jim Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

In this Comment, I shall explore the issue of reviewability, as discussed by Krent, in the context of one flexible approach to regulation-- express agency waiver of regulations. Part I of this Comment addresses the increased need for flexible solutions in the administrative context, such as waiver of rules, and provides some examples. Part II argues that, especially in the context of flexible regulatory approaches, Heckler v. Chaney, a key case for determining whether courts will review agency decisions, should not be given a reading that precludes review of agency inaction. It should be read to value consistency with program …

The Fitness Of Law: Using Complexity Theory To Describe The Evolution Of Law And Society And Its Practical Meaning For Democracy, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article is the second in my series of articles exploring the application of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to legal systems. Building on the model outlined in the first installment (in the Duke Law Journal), this work develops an evolutionary theory of legal systems as CAS. It suggests that long-term fitness of the legal system will require use of innovative, adaptive legal institutions and instruments.

Revoking The "Fishing License:" Recent Decisions Place Unwarranted Restrictions On Administrative Agencies' Power To Subpoena Personal Financial Records, Jack W. Campbell, Iv

Vanderbilt Law Review

The backbone of an administrative agency's effectiveness is the ability to investigate rapidly the activities of entities within the agency's jurisdiction., An agency's ability to carry out its investigative functions depends upon enforcement of the agency's administrative subpoenas. Courts have not always looked favorably upon broad agency subpoena power. The implementation of the New Deal and the exigencies of World War II created a need for increased administrative oversight of national affairs. Courts began to recognize the usefulness of proactive administrative government. Concurrent supreme court decisions reflected this philosophical change by adopting highly deferential views of administrative subpoena enforcement. This …

Complexity Theory As A Paradigm For The Dynamical Law-And-Society System: A Wake-Up Call For Legal Reductionism And The Modern Administrative State, J.B. Ruhl

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article is the first in my series of articles exploring the application of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to legal systems. It builds the basic model of CAS and maps it onto legal systems, offering some suggestions for what it means in terms of legal institution and instrument design.

The Reintegration Of Hong Kong Into The People's Republic Of China, John H. Henderson

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

On June 30, 1997, the United Kingdom will cede administrative control of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong achieved great prosperity under British rule, but the affect of China's influence on Hong Kong's future economic success is an issue of much concern as the 1997 transfer of sovereignty nears. This Note analyzes the transfer of sovereignty and what it will mean to Hong Kong's economic future. The author outlines the history of Hong Kong and discusses the British role in creating the prosperous colony. The author then analyzes the Joint Declaration, the document which governs the …

Redeeming Judicial Review: The Hard Look Doctrine And Federal Regulatory Efforts To Restructure The Electric Utility Industry, Jim M. Rossi

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Recent policy-effect studies denounce judicial review for its adverse effects on agency decision-making. In its strong version, the policy-effect thesis suggests that judicial review has paralyzed innovative agency decision-making. Professor Rossi reacts to policy-effect studies, particularly as they have been used to attack the hard look doctrine in administrative law. He revisits Professor Richard Pierce's policy-effect description of the effects of judicial review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Professor Rossi's survey of recent FERC decision-making provides some support for an attenuated version of the policy-effect thesis but leads him to reject the strong version of the thesis. Much …

Administrative Subpoenas And The Grand Jury: Converging Streams Of Criminal And Civil Compulsory Process, Graham Hughes

Vanderbilt Law Review

Litigation depends on information. In the last few decades, discovery in civil cases has been dramatically extended in order to move toward a position in which litigants' files are open to other parties with very few restrictions.' This movement in civil cases has been relatively smooth, for its merits in terms of economy and efficiency can be fortified by pointing to its even-handed mutuality and reciprocity. In criminal cases, by contrast, courts at one time thought that any considerable expansion in discovery must be rejected because the constraints of the Fifth Amendment's self-incrimination clause would bar the exercise of compulsion …

Common Misconceptions: The Function And Framework Of "Trade Or Business Within The United States", Nancy H. Kaufman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In this Article, Professor Kaufman examines the administrative and jurisdictional functions of the Internal Revenue Code's term "trade or business within the United States" in the taxation of foreign persons' income and the existing framework established for the term's interpretation. The author contends that the courts, by relying on two common misconceptions of the term, have made the term's application unpredictable. The author further believes that defining the term according to its functions would serve United States tax policy and economic interests. This definition would focus primarily on facts indicating an ongoing commitment to participation the United States economy. The …

Coalition Formation And The Presumption Of Reviewability: A Response To Rodriguez, Robert K. Rasmussen

Vanderbilt Law Review

Professor Dan Rodriguez's paper The Presumption of Reviewability: A Study in Canonical Construction and Its Consequences' makes several important contributions to the literature on statutory interpretation in the modern regulatory state. It provides a coherent explanation for the curious review provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and analyzes the continuing battle over judicial review of agency action as part of a continuing dialogue among Congress, the courts, and the President. Rodriguez recognizes that those who study statutory interpretation must take account of both the existence of administrative agencies and the fact that interpretive practices have the potential to affect …

The Proper Scope Of Nonlawyer Representation In State Administrative Proceedings: A State Specific Balancing Approach, Gregory T. Stevens

Vanderbilt Law Review

Administrative adjudication has become an essential aspect of the American system of government as the need for dispute resolution outside the courtroom increases. To foster alternative dispute resolution, the authorization of nonlawyers to appear as representatives in administrative proceedings presents a viable response to increasing litigation costs and a burdened court system. Accordingly, the federal administrative system, through broad enabling statutes, allows individual agencies to prescribe the proper scope of nonlawyer representation of clients during agency proceedings.1 The individual states, however,have not adopted such a uniform approach. The inability of the individual states to establish an adequate regulatory system largely …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Case Digest provides brief analyses of cases that address current transnational legal issues. The Digest includes cases that set forth new legal principles and cases that apply established legal principles to new factual situations. The cases have topical headings and references are given for further research.

EL SALVADORAN SOLDIER WHO REFUSED TO PARTICIPATE IN ASSASSINATION SCHEME GRANTED POLITICAL ASYLUM IN THE UNITED STATES BECAUSE HE DEMONSTRATED "WELL-FOUNDED FEAR" OF PERSECUTION IN EL SALVADOR, Barraza Rivera v. Immigration & Naturalization Service, 913 F.2d 1443 (9th Cir. 1990).

THIRD CIRCUIT HOLDS THAT THE EQUAL ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT DOES NOT APPLY …

The Independent Agency After Bowsher V. Synar--Alive And Kicking, William H. Hardie, Iii

Vanderbilt Law Review

Because the modern administrative agency combines executive, legislative, and judicial powers, various authorities throughout history have argued that the fundamental structure of the administrative system is unconstitutional. Recently, the relationship between the separation of powers doctrine and the administrative state has returned to the foreground of both American politics and constitutional law. Attempts by the current executive branch to rein in the policy and rule making activities of "independent" federal agencies have resulted in both praise and cries of foul from the legal community and Congress.' These attempts at executive branch control have been precipitated by a perceived shift in …

Special Project--Feast Or Famine: Issues, Problems, And Procedures Relating To Massive Relief Efforts With A Focus On The African Crisis, Peggy F. Brandenburg, Susan N. Burgess, Scott N. Greenspun, Sharon M. Janarek, Patrick M. Thomas, Linda L. Kotis

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

"The profound promise of our era is that for the first time we may have the technical capacity to free mankind from the scourge of hunger. Therefore, today we must proclaim a bold objective--that within a decade no child will go to bed hungry, that no family will fear for its next day's bread, and that no human being's future and capacities will be stunted by malnutrition."

One decade later, the ongoing drought and famine in Ethiopia, Chad, Mozambique and other African countries cruelly portray the failure of that promise. Each year, millions of dollars worth of aid, much of …

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Case Digest

Administrative Procedural Due Process Supported in Major Foreign Policy Dispute --Dresser Industries, Inc. v. Baldrige, 549 F. Supp. 108 (D.D.C. 1982).

Permanent Resident Alien Attempting to Reenter the United States is Entitled to Due Process in an Exclusionary Hearing --Landon v. Plasencia, 103 S. Ct. 321 (1982).

Alien does not Have a Fourteenth Amendment Interest in a Procedure to Stay Deportation Where the INS Established the Procedure for Administrative --Wong ChungWen v. Ferro, 543 F. Supp. 1016 (W.D.N.Y. 1982).

A Plaintiff Suing a Foreign Sovereign's Insurer is not Entitled to a Trial by Jury --Goar v. Compania Peruana …

Book Review: Federal Rulemaking, Jeffrey A. Parness

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the 1979 Annual Report on the State of the Judiciary'Chief Justice Burger called for a fresh look at the entire federal rule making process. Following the Chief Justice's lead, the Federal Judicial Center' responded with a report by Winifred R. Brown entitled Federal Rulemaking: Problems and Possibilities. In a foreward to that report Professor A. Leo Levin, the Federal Judicial Center's director, discouraged any attempt to intiate "a thorough review of the strengths and weaknesses of the process," and advised the author instead to focus "on those aspects of the process that had been singled out for criticism and …

Poland's New Foreign Investment Regulations: An Added Dimension To East-West Industrial Cooperation, Andrzej Burzynski, Julian C. Juergensmeyer

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A list of foreign investment opportunities currently available in Poland was recently published. The list was compiled from proposals submitted by the voivodship councils to the division of the Polish Chamber of Commerce, which was established to coordinate the activities of domestic Polish organizations and organizations of Poles living abroad. The list includes the construction of nine automobile repair shops, two enterprises for the manufacture of automobile accessories, organizations for the construction of single-family dwellings, furniture manufacturing enterprises, a short-order restaurant with the capacity of serving one thousand meals per day, three catering complexes to be located on international highways …