Administrative Law Commons^™

Defining "Habitat" Post-Weyerhaeuser: Critical Habitat Regulations Under The Endangered Species Act Must Promote Species Recovery, Nate Mccabe

American University Law Review

As one of the strongest federal environmental statutes, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) is a powerful tool for environmental litigators to uphold the important conservation objectives articulated by Congress in 1973. In recent years, the role of “critical habitat” within the ESA has come into question. The Supreme Court decided in Weyerhaeuser that “critical habitat” must also qualify as “habitat,” but it failed to articulate any guidelines for determining what “habitat” actually is. This decision incited a regulatory tug-of-war over the proper definition of “habitat” within the ESA. This Comment explores the approaches to defining “habitat” employed by the Trump …

Polluters Paradise: The Dark Canon Of The United States Supreme Court In Pollution Control Law, Oliver A. Houck

American University Law Review

This Article is the last in a series of four articles exploring the Supreme Court's destructive legacy on environmental protection in the United States. This Article specifically explores the relationship between the Supreme Court and pollution through the lens of four landmark cases. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these cases together evince the Court’s tendency to distort both facts and law to reach outcomes that will benefit industrial polluters and emitters alike.

In the first case, Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, the Court disregarded EPA regulations banning the discharge of toxic materials into waters to approve a pollution-heavy mining operation. …

What’S The Beef? The Fda, Usda, And Cell-Cultured Meat, Tammi S. Etheridge

Washington and Lee Law Review

Over the past ten years, administrative law scholarship has increasingly focused on interactions between multiple agencies. As part of this trend, most scholars have called for policymakers to combine multiple agencies, rather than rely on a single agency, to solve policy problems. The literature in this area espouses the benefits of shared regulatory space. But very little of this scholarship addresses when shared jurisdiction is problematic. This is particularly concerning when an agency opts into or cedes oversight authority to another agency at will, with little regard for whether the second agency is an appropriate regulator. The case of cell-cultured …

2021 Surveys Of Rhode Island Law

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Proportionality-Based Framework For Government Regulation Of Digital Tracing Apps In Times Of Emergency, Sharon Bassan

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Times of emergency present an inherent conflict between the public interest and the preservation of individual rights. Such times require granting emergency powers to the government on behalf of the public interest and relaxing safeguards against government actions that infringe rights. The lack of theoretical framework to assess governmental decisions in times of emergency leads to a polarized and politicized discourse about potential policies, and often, to public distrust and lack of compliance.

Such a discourse was evident regarding Digital Tracing Apps (“DTAs”), which are apps installed on cellular phones to alert users that they were exposed to people who …

How Can Federal Actors Compete On Noncompetes? Examining The Need For And Possibility Of Federal Action On Noncompetition Agreements, Robert Mcavoy

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Employees have been frustrated by the restrictiveness of noncompete agreements and confused about their enforceability for decades. The added complication of choice-of-law provisions in employment contracts with noncompetes creates a sea of unpredictability for both employees and employers.

Each state applies its own policy to noncompete agreements. While every state treats noncompetes differently than typical contract provisions, a broad spectrum exists between the states that are friendly and those that are hostile to the enforcement of noncompetes. Employees and employers often fail to understand whether their noncompete is enforceable under the jurisdiction chosen by the contract, and courts override choice-of-law …

Introduction To The Bremer-Kovacs Collection: Historic Documents Related To The Administrative Procedure Act Of 1946 (Heinonline 2021), Emily S. Bremer, Kathryn E. Kovacs

Journal Articles

Few statutes have a legislative history as rich, varied, and sprawling as the Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 (APA). In recent years, courts and scholars have shown increased interest in understanding this history. This is no mean feat. The APA’s history spans nearly two decades, and it includes numerous failed bills, a presidential veto, and a full panoply of congressional documents. In addition, much of the most crucial documentation underlying the APA was produced outside of Congress—by the executive branch—and even outside of government—by the American Bar Association. Identifying and locating all the relevant documents is difficult. Understanding each piece …

Blame (Or Thank) The Administrative Procedure Act For Florida East Coast Railway, Emily S. Bremer

Journal Articles

The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in United States v. Florida East Coast Railway is widely regarded as obviously wrong—a flaw readily overlooked because the case eliminated formal rulemaking, a category of agency action that is almost universally maligned. This essay argues that administrative law has misunderstood Florida East Coast Railway. The decision vindicates an array of forgotten but foundational principles upon which the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) was based. The Supreme Court could have delivered a less opaque, confusing opinion. But it reached the right result. Understanding why it reached the right result can help to explain a key case …

The Future Of Cryptocurrency And Real Estate Transactions, Rachel Silverstein

Touro Law Review

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are all the rage right now and are beginning to make their ways into everyday transactions— including real estate transactions. This article discusses whether using cryptocurrencies to complete real estate transactions will become the norm in the near future. Cryptocurrency laws in general are few and far between, but laws surrounding cryptocurrency and real property are even more sparse. Recent case law involving cryptocurrency is a major focus of this article, along with background knowledge about cryptocurrency and the meaning of “money” as we know it today. The article concludes with a discussion about the unlikelihood …

“I’D Never Let My Sister Do It”: Exploitation Within The U.S. Au Pair Program, Victoria Bejarano Hurst Muirhead

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The U.S. Au Pair Program, administered by the U.S. Department of State, is many things all at once: a cultural exchange program, a guest worker program, and an affordable childcare program. The hybrid nature of the program makes it attractive to foreign young people and U.S. host families alike. However, the hybrid nature of the program also renders au pairs susceptible to exploitation, particularly where labor rights are concerned. This Comment argues that in order to effectively mitigate the exploitation of au pairs, the Department of State must strengthen protections for au pairs and improve its oversight of the program, …

The Inequity Of Informal Guidance, Joshua D. Blank, Leigh Z. Osofsky

Faculty Publications

The coexistence of formal and informal law is a hallmark feature of the U.S. tax system. Congress and the Treasury enact formal law, such as statutes and regulations, while the Internal Revenue Service offers the public informal explanations and summaries, such as taxpayer publications, website frequently asked questions, virtual assistants, and other types of taxpayer guidance. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS increased its use of informal law to help taxpayers understand complex emergency relief rules implemented through the tax system.

In contrast to many other legal scholars who have examined important administrative law issues regarding informal tax guidance, in …

The Emergency Next Time, Noa Ben-Asher

Faculty Publications

This Article offers a new conceptual framework to understand the connection between law and violence in emergencies. It is by now well-established that governments often commit state violence in times of national security crisis by implementing excessive emergency measures. The Article calls this type of legal violence “Emergency-Affirming Violence.” But Emergency Violence can also be committed through governmental non-action. This type of violence, which this Article calls, “Emergency-Denying Violence,” has manifested in the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Article offers a taxonomy to better understand the phenomenon of Emergency Violence. Using 9/11 and COVID-19 as examples, the Article proposes …

Ransomware Warfare: Exploring Global And Private Negotiations To Help U.S. Victims Respond To The Threat, Karina Nad

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

By weaponizing technology, now more than ever before, cybercriminals are transforming the cyberworld into their new hunting ground. Almost daily, news headlines alert us to a new malicious cyber threat or major data breach. The evolution of cybercrime has created a malicious online environment, or "malspace," that is now inhabited by hacker groups and espionage units from all over the world. As a global concern, the use of powerful online capabilities by hacker groups has led to the "militarization" of cyberspace. Closer to home, critical infrastructure, valuable personal data, and access to medical care has been compromised at alarming rates …

The "End" Of Neutrality: Tumultuous Times Require A Deeper Value, Carol Pauli

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

American political talk has grown so fragmented and polarized that some observers say that "[w]e are no longer in any 'public conversation." Accusations of "fake news" are followed by disheartening discoveries that providing people with accurate information may only serve to further entrench their erroneous beliefs. One longtime journalism professor worries aloud that "what's at risk is the idea of a public that is even 'inform-able."' Putting the problem in terms familiar to mediation, can we get the parties back to the table? This essay will focus on journalists, whose ideal has been to maintain a neutral position from which …

From Conflict To Co-Creation Three Powerful Stories Of Transformational Change, Payton Silket, Cheryl L. Epps

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

In our communities today, too often, the end goal of dialogue is to develop methods that allow people to coexist, but this is not enough. If left at that, our society will increasingly become more segmented and stratified, where groups of people are able to reside in the same vicinity but only interact when absolutely necessary or safe. This is no way to live, and, in fact, it is a recipe for polarization and the eventual death of dialogue.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Table Of Contents

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

A Functional Approach To Agency (In)Action, Lidiya Mishchenko

SMU Law Review

In the last five years, the Supreme Court has had a frenzied approach to judicial review of agency action, with two wings of the Court pulling it in opposite directions. The ideological divide of the Court on deference to agency action was on stark display in three recent cases dealing with the Patent and Trademark Office’s (PTO’s) new proceeding for reevaluating issued patents (inter partes review (IPR)). Specifically, in three vacillating opinions, the Court expanded, contracted, and then again expanded the scope of whether and to what extent a decision by the PTO Director to institute this new proceeding can …

Interlocking Directorates Among The S&P 500: Social Networks, Gender Diversity, And Corporate Governance, Eric P. Magistad

School of Business Student Theses and Dissertations

This multi-article investigation examines corporate board composition and the implications for regulatory penalties. Director diversity on key board committees and board interlocks influence board behaviors as they relate to regulatory risk. Directors bring experience and inter-industry ties to a board position and subsequently transfer and receive specific knowledge, practices, and contacts with other directors (Hillman & Haynes, 2010). Despite this exchange, firms may suffer regulatory oversight penalties because different directors perceive and respond to risk differently (Douglas & Wildavsky, 1983; Flynn et al., 1994). Leveraging the tenets of the cultural theory of risk perception (Douglas & Wildavsky, 1983) and of …

Decoding Nondelegation After Gundy: What The Experience In State Courts Tells Us About What To Expect When We're Expecting, Daniel Walters

Faculty Scholarship

The nondelegation doctrine theoretically limits Congress’s ability to delegate legislative powers to the executive agencies that make up the modern administrative state. Yet, in practice, the U.S. Supreme Court has, since the New Deal, shied away from enforcing any limits on congressional delegation. That may change in the near future. In Gundy v. United States, the Court narrowly upheld a delegation, and a dissent signaled deep doubts about the Court’s longstanding “intelligible principle” standard and offered a new framework to replace it. Subsequent events strongly suggest that the Court is poised to move in the direction contemplated by the …

Marketing Authorization At The Fda: Paradigms And Alternatives, Adam I. Muchmore

Faculty Scholarship

In many critical industries, the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) marketing authorization decisions determine the range of products available in the United States. Because of the broad scope of the FDA’s marketing authorization responsibilities, the existing scholarship focuses on individual product categories, or small groups of product categories, regulated by the agency. This Article identifies how the existing literature has overlooked important connections between the FDA’s different marketing authorization programs. These connections suggest both explanations for existing programs and strategies for potential reforms.

The Article sets forth a two-level framework for analyzing the FDA’s marketing authorization role. At the first …

Nontraditional Investors, Jennifer S. Fan

Articles

In recent years, nontraditional investors have become a major player in the startup ecosystem. Under the regulatory regime of U.S. securities law, those in the public realm are heavily regulated, while those in the private realm are largely left alone. This public-private divide, which is a fundamental organizing principle of securities law, has eroded with the rise of nontraditional investors. While legal scholars have addressed the impact of some of these nontraditional investors individually, their collective impact on deal terms, deal timelines, due diligence, and board configuration has not been discussed in a holistic manner; neither has their impact on …

Pathways To Preferences For Collaborative Conflict Resolution: Disputants’ Process Goals Drive Preferences, Ashley Votruba, Jared Noetzel, Abigail L. Herzfeld

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Understanding individuals’ preferences for how to resolve conflict—specifically legal disputes—has long interested researchers, particularly those considering procedural justice. This study considers the impact of relational factors that influence individuals’ preferences for dispute resolution processes for civil legal issues. Specifically, it examines the impact of self-construal and the relationship between the parties in conflict on preferences for specific features of dispute resolution processes and considers the role of underlying resolution goals as potential mediators in a parallel mediation model. Using a novel paradigm in which the outcome variables of interest focused on specific dispute resolution process features allowed the researchers to …

The Intergenerational Equity Case For A Wealth Tax, Daniel Schaffa

Law Faculty Publications

Intergenerational equity is commonly set aside in favor of other policy objectives, perhaps because of the extreme challenges inherent in adopting and applying an intergenerational equity normative framework. Even when there is a near consensus that the choices of today will have substantial costs in the future, these costs are often downplayed or disregarded. This Article asks whether there are measures that might offer redress to a generation for the costs imposed on it by its predecessors and finds that a one-time wealth tax is a promising option. Although its analysis applies more generally, this Article focuses on the widely …

Polarization And Reform: Rethinking Separation Of Emergency Powers, Kevin Rizzo

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note examines the challenges posed by the expansion of presidential emergency powers, particularly under the National Emergencies Act (NEA), and argues that political polarization has weakened Congress's ability to check the President's use of these powers. It advocates for reforms to balance national security needs with constitutional checks and balances, emphasizing the need to address the structural and political factors that enable presidential overreach.

Clean Air Act Section 115: Is The Ipcc A 'Duly Constituted International Agency'?, Adam D. Orford

Scholarly Works

Does EPA’s receipt of the Assessment Reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) trigger the agency’s duties under Clean Air Act § 115? The law requires EPA to take action to prevent or eliminate air pollution endangering the public health or welfare of foreign nationals under certain circumstances. If triggered, the argument goes, the law could justify, or compel, EPA’s imposition of nationwide greenhouse gas regulation to combat climate change. One way to justify this, or compel it, is to trigger EPA’s duties “upon receipt of reports, surveys or studies from any duly constituted international agency.” This article …

Optimizing Whistleblowing, Usha Rodrigues

Scholarly Works

Whistleblowers have exposed misconduct in settings ranging from public health to national security. Whistleblowing thus consistently plays a vital role in safeguarding society. But how much whistleblowing is optimal? And how many meritless claims should we tolerate to reach that optimum? Surprisingly, legislators and scholars have overlooked these essential questions, a neglect that has resulted in undertheorized, stab-in-the-dark whistleblower regimes, risking both overdeterrence and underdeterrence.

This Article confronts the question of optimal whistleblowing in the context of financial fraud. Design choices, which play out along two axes, have profound effects on the successful implementation of whistleblowing policy. One axis varies …

Removal Of Context: Blackstone, Limited Monarchy, And The Limits Of Unitary Originalism, Jed Handelsman Shugerman

Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court's recent decisions that the President has an unconditional or indefeasible removal power rely on textual and historical assumptions and a "removal of context." This article focuses on the "executive power" part of the Vesting Clause and particularly the unitary theorists' misuse of Blackstone. Unitary executive theorists overlook the problems of relying on England's limited monarchy: the era's rise of Parliamentary supremacy over the Crown and its power to eliminate or regulate (i.e., make defeasible) royal prerogatives. Unitary theorists provide no evidence that executive removal was ever identified as a "royal prerogative" or a default royal power. The …

Human Rights At The Ocean-Climate Nexus: Opening Doors For The Participation Of Indigenous Peoples, Children And Youth, And Gender Diversity, Unwana Udo, Tahnee Prior, Sara L. Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

No abstract provided.

Judicial Workbook On Bill C-92 — An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit And Métis Children, Youth And Families, Hadley Friedland, Naiomi Metallic, Koren Lightning-Earle

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Objective: Based on the purpose, history, textual wording and relevant interpretative principles, these are the approaches to the provisions of the Act that we believe will best achieve its purpose, which Canada has identified as “to protect and ensure the well-being of Indigenous children, families and communities by promoting culturally sensitive child welfare services, with the goal of putting an end to the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in child and family services systems."