Agency Commons^™

Passing The Torch But Sailing Too Close To The Wind: Congress’S Role In Authorizing Administrative Branches To Promulgate Regulations That Contemplate Criminal Sanctions, Reem Sadik

Legislation and Policy Brief

The Supreme Court has stated that Congress must simply “lay down by legislative act an intelligible principle” to which the agency must conform. If this is done, a court will find the delegation of broad authority to the agency to be constitutional. There is, however, an open issue regarding whether the “intelligible principle” standard applies to delegations of authority that allow for the promulgation of both civil and criminal penalties. In Touby v. United States, the Supreme Court was asked whether “something more than an ‘intelligible principle’ is required” when Congress authorizes an agency to issue regulations that contemplate …

"Do No Harm": A Comparative Analysis Of Legal Barriers To Corporate Clinical Telemedicine Providers In The United States, Australia, And Canada, Ian R. Landgreen

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

States, Agencies, And Legitimacy, Miriam Seifter

Vanderbilt Law Review

Scholarship on the administrative process has scarcely attended to the role that states play in federal regulation. This Article argues that it is time for that to change. An emerging, important new strand of federalism scholarship, known as "administrative federalism," now seeks to safeguard state interests in the administrative process and argues that federal agencies should consider state input when developing regulations. These ideas appear to be gaining traction in practice. States now possess privileged access to agency decisionmaking processes through a variety of formal and informal channels. And some courts have signaled support for the idea of a special …

Why Should We Care About An Agency’S Special Insight?, Stephen M. Degenaro

Notre Dame Law Review

This Note offers some additional thoughts on the outer limits of Seminole Rock deference. Part I discusses the three concerns associated with unchecked Seminole Rock deference that comprise the self-delegation problem—violation of constitutional norms, exploitation of a statutory loophole, and perverse incentives. It explores the potential for abuse they create and recommends what the limitations should look like in order to avoid this potential. Part II explains the two rationales for Seminole Rock deference: the pragmatic and originalist rationales. It describes how the two rationales relate to each other, explains how courts use pragmatic and originalist arguments in their opinions, …

Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place: Are Public Accounting Firms Subject To Diverging Standards Of Conduct Between Federal Courts And The Pcaob In Securities Fraud Claims?, Pierre Ciric

Journal of Business & Technology Law

No abstract provided.

Training Curriculum: Human Resources And Administrative Investigations (Facilitator’S Guide), Brenda V. Smith, Jaime M. Yarussi, Rebecca Heinsen, Melissa C. Loomis, Caleb J. Bess, Tonya Davis, Kathy Dennehy, A.T. Wall, Lorie Brisbin, Susan Carle, Richard Ugelow, Lisa Capers, Aaron Aldrich

Research Reports & White Papers

The enclosed Human Resources and Administrative Investigations curriculum was developed by the Project on Addressing Prison Rape at American University, Washington College of Law as part of contract deliverables for the National PREA Resource Center (PRC), a cooperative agreement between the National Council on Crime and Delinquency and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards served as the basis for the curriculum’s content and development, with the goal of the Human Resources and Administrative Investigations curriculum to satisfy specific PREA standards requirements.

It is recommended that the Human Resources and Administrative Investigations curriculum be …

Cheating On Their Taxes: When Are Tax Limitations Effective At Limiting State Taxes, Expenditures, And Budgets?, Colin H. Mccubbins, Mathew D. Mccubbins

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Speaking Up For Justice, Suffering Injustice: Whistleblower Protection And The Need For Reform, Dana L. Gold

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

"We The People," Constitutional Accountability, And Outsourcing Government, Kimberly L. Wehle

All Faculty Scholarship

The ubiquitous outsourcing of federal functions to private contractors, although benign in the main, raises the most fundamental of constitutional questions: What institutions and actors comprise the "federal government" itself? From Abu Ghraib to Blackwater, a string of scandals has heightened public awareness that highly sensitive federal powers and responsibilities are routinely entrusted to government contractors. At the same time, the American populace seems vaguely aware that, when it comes to ensuring accountability for errors and abuses of power, contractors occupy a special space. The fact is that myriad structural and procedural means for holding traditionally government actors accountable do …

The U.S. Department Of Agriculture As A Public Health Agency? A "Health In All Policies" Case Study, Lindsay F. Wiley

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The "war on obesity" is now well into its second decade. What began as an effort to encourage medical doctors to screen and treat patients whose weight put them at risk for health problems has transformed into a much broader public health campaign to address the root causes of obesity. A growing number of state, territorial and local health departments are currently exploring new ways to promote healthy eating and physical activity. At the federal level, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made "nutrition, physical activity and obesity" a top priority.

The Role Of Deference In Judicial Review Of Agency Action: A Comparison Of Federal Law, Uniform State Acts, And The Iowa Apa, Anuradha Vaitheswaran, Thomas A. Mayes

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Unlocking Secure Communities: The Role Of The Freedom Of Information Act In The Department Of Homeland Security's Secure Communities, Erica Lynn Tokar

Legislation and Policy Brief

In 1941, members of the Attorney General’s Committee on Administrative Procedure agreed unanimously that “an important and far-reaching defect of administrative law has been the simple lack of public information concerning its substance and procedure.” The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) uniquely addresses this concern by providing members of the general public an opportunity to consider and respond to administrative action by viewing actual agency records. FOIA affords broad access to “any person,” and it has become a key tool for both organizations and individuals who not only wish to learn more about the inner workings of the U.S. government, …

Prea 101 For Adult Prisons, Brenda V. Smith

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Prea 101 For Juvenile Justice Agencies, Brenda V. Smith

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Prea 101 For Community Corrections Agencies, Brenda V. Smith

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Agency Coordination In Shared Regulatory Space, Jim Rossi, Jody Freeman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article argues that inter-agency coordination is one of the great challenges of modern governance. It explains why lawmakers frequently assign overlapping and fragmented delegations that require agencies to "share regulatory space," why these delegations are so pervasive and stubborn, and why consolidating or eliminating agency functions will not solve the problems they create. The Article describes a variety of tools that Congress, the President and the agencies can use to manage coordination challenges effectively, including agency interaction requirements, formal inter-agency agreements, and joint policymaking. The Article assesses the relative costs and benefits of these coordination tools, using the normative …

United States Food Law Update: Moving Toward A More Balanced Food Regulatory Regime, A. Bryan Endres, Nicholas R. Johnson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

For decades, the federal government has played a significant role in promoting healthy eating. In the early 1900s, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) promoted a foundational diet of milk, proteins, fruits and vegetables, and grains. Most Americans are at least somewhat familiar, although perhaps confused, with the more nuanced healthy eating recommendations contained in the food pyramid - first employed in 1992. And virtually every American has experienced the federally supported school lunch program. In the first half of 2011, these two iconic programs underwent significant change as part of a stepped-up effort to improve the health of …

The Tragedy Of The Horse, American Icon, Tim Opitz

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Whether a prohibition on slaughter improves the welfare of the American horse population is the focus of this article. At the time it was written, winter of 2010-2011, a confluence of Federal and State legislative action had ended domestic slaughter. These actions are detailed in the body of this article. Since 2007, the legal status of horse slaughter remained static. Just as Sir Isaac Newton's first law of motion explained, an object at rest tends to stay at rest. Legislative inertia is the perspective from which this article was originally written. However, Newton's first law also stated that the object …

Reclaiming The Legal Fiction Of Congressional Delegation, Lisa Schultz Bressman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The framework for judicial review of agency statutory interpretations is based on a legal fiction – namely, that Congress intends to delegate interpretive authority to agencies. Critics argue that the fiction is false because Congress is unlikely to think about the delegation of interpretive authority at all, or in the way that the Court imagines. They also contend that the fiction is fraudulent because the Court does actually care about whether Congress intends to delegate interpretive authority in any particular instance, but applies a presumption triggered by statutory ambiguity or a particularized analysis involving factors unrelated to congressional delegation. In …

Federal Register 2.0: Public Participation In The Twenty-First Century, Lauren R. Dudley

Legislation and Policy Brief

On July 26, 2010, the Office of the Federal Register and the Government Printing Office (GPO) launched “Federal Register 2.0,” a web version of the daily Federal Register.  As of now, the site is only a prototype; therefore, “Federal Register 2.0” is not yet an official legal edition of the Federal Register, and it will not become official until the Administrative Committee of the Federal Register (ACFR) issues a regulation granting “Federal Register 2.0” official legal status.  Once “Federal Register 2.0” becomes official, the website will allow the public to receive notice of proposed agency regulations, link to a separate …

Greenwashing The Organic Label: Abusive Green Marketing In An Increasingly Eco-Friendly Marketplace, Greg Northen

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The green wave of environmental advertising among organic food producers, distributors, and retailers begun during the 1990s has become an all-out green tsunami. The organic food market is the fastest growing segment of the American food industry. Consumers are increasingly becoming aware of the impact their purchases have on several environmental issues. As a result, those consumers are becoming more aware of their spending power and are willingly altering their buying practices to purchase from companies that emphasize environmental responsibility. In fact, some retailers' inventory is already being scanned for alternative green products by their customers' iPhones because, guess what, …

Food Entrepreneurs And Food Safety Regulation, Nina W. Tarr

Journal of Food Law & Policy

It is a bucolic scene: local food growers and producers chatting with consumers who come back each week to participate in a direct and continuing conversation about food with someone they know, and to engage in commerce. This illusion of simplicity masks the ever-growing morass of conflicting, complicated, and expensive regulatory oversight that undermines the local food movement by creating barriers between producers and consumers. Those creating and implementing food policy in the United States are facing a fundamental dilemma of how to reconcile the local food movement with regulations designed to address concerns about food safety.

This article will …

United States Food Law Update: The Fda Food Safety Modernization Act, Obesity And Deceptive Labeling Enforcement, A. Bryan Endres, Nicholas R. Johnson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The long-awaited enactment of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the most significant amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in several decades, provides the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with significantly enhanced jurisdiction to close some of the gaps in the domestic food safety system. The enhanced FDA authority, however, will have little impact on the shared governance system at the federal level that involves multiple agencies, as the Act does not address the U.S. General Accounting Office's (GAO) repeated calls for consolidation of the fragmented federal food safety system. Rather, the Act perpetuates the division …

The History And Future Of Genetically Modified Crops: Frankenfoods, Superweeds, And The Developing World, Brooke Glass-O'Shea

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In a 1992 letter to the New York Times, a man named Paul Lewis referred to genetically modified (GM) crops as "Frankenfood," and wryly suggested it might be "time to gather the villagers, light some torches and head to the castle." Little did Lewis know that his neologism would become the rallying cry for activists around the world protesting the dangers of genetic engineering. The environmental activist group Greenpeace made great use of the "Frankenfood" epithet in their anti-GM campaigns of the 1990s, though they have since backed away from the word and the hardline stance it represents. But genetically …

Prison Rape Elimination Act (Prea): Considerations For Policy Review, Brenda V. Smith, A.T. Wall, Susan Mccampbell, Madie Lamarre, Gary Dennis, Ania Drobrzanska, Bob Dumond, Jeff Shorba, Mara Dodson, Andie Moss, Donna Deutsch, Rachel Bosley, Morris Thigpen, Dee Halley

Presentations

A policy review guide designed to assist in drafting PREA (Prison Rape Elimination Act) policies for review by the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) is provided. Sections of this document are: purpose; questions to consider -- policy organization, definitions, zero tolerance, staff/offender duty to report, prevention, and investigations (e.g., general, selection and training of investigators, protocols, and aftermath); and list of resources.

Irs's Recent Uncertain Tax Positions Initiative: A Tangle Of Accounting, Tax And Privilege Issues, 9 Depaul Bus. & Comm. L.J. 401 (2011), Kathryn J. Kennedy

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Given the extremely limited source of resources available to the IRS in recent years, it's not surprising that it is exploring all sorts of avenues to increase its efficiency, particularly relying on corporate taxpayers to self report questionable tax positions. Under the banner of "corporate governance" and "transparency," the Service issued a series of proposals in 2010 requiring disclosure of uncertain tax positions ("UTPs") by corporate taxpayers. The Service essentially piggybacked on the recently imposed 2006 audit requirements that reserves be posted for contingent tax liabilities (i.e., tax positions that could later not be sustained, and therefore had to be …

Cheaters Shouldn't Prosper And Consumers Shouldn't Suffer: The Need For Government Enforcement Against Economic Adulteration Of 100% Pomegranate Juice And Other Imported Food Products, Michael T. Roberts

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In the modern global food system - marked by the trade flow of a variety of food products and ingredients from multiple locations in the world - economically motivated adulteration has emerged as a growing menace that threatens the health and wellbeing of consumers, the economic livelihoods of honest purveyors of food in the global marketplace, and the integrity and viability of national food regulatory systems. Economic adulteration is a form of cheating that includes the padding, diluting, and substituting of food product. Although this cheating is rooted in past food systems, the new paradigm for economic adulteration - a …

European Union Food Law Update, Emilie H. Leibovitch

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This EU Food Law Update will focus on the recent developments in the areas of genetically modified organisms, novel foods, feed safety, transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, salmonella and food borne diseases, food additives, organic farming, food contact materials, and labeling.

The Quest To End Hunger In Our Time: Can Political Will Catch Up With Our Core Values?, David P. Lambert

Journal of Food Law & Policy

David Lambert a nationall recognized advocate to end hunger speaks about his work and the impact it has had on Arkansas, the USA and the world.

A Bittersweet Deal For Consumers: The Unnatural Application Of Preemption To High Fructose Corn Syrup Labeling Claims, Josh Ashley

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The recent rise of consumer consciousness regarding the health qualities of foods and beverages has become something akin to common knowledge. Reflecting this rise, studies reveal that labels regarding the health qualities of a food are more likely to increase sales. And among the health labels consumers prefer, labels describing the product as natural top the list. One website reports that according to a recent study, 31.3-percent of respondents thought that "100% natural" was the best description to read on a label, compared with only 14.2-percent who thought that "100% organic" was the best description. "All natural ingredients" was the …