Please join me in congratulating Professors Neal Devins and David E. Lewis for winning the ABA Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section’s 2024 Annual Scholarship Award, which recognizes the best scholarly work published in the field of administrative law during 2023.

Our selection process was rigorous. The committee examined numerous articles and books published during 2023, including several excellent nominations. And while many were very good, this article stood out as the clear winner. The committee’s decision was quick and unanimous. Although it did not play a role in our selection, the committee was especially delighted to honor a former, longtime committee member: Neal Devins.

Devins and Lewis’s article The Independent Agency Myth, 108 Cornell L. Rev. 1305 (2023), reframes the fight over independent agencies by surveying executive branch and independent agency department heads and supervisors during the Obama (2014) and Trump (2020) administrations. The findings are striking and disturbing: “independent agencies are not particularly expert, influential, or independent.” Indeed, the article recommends that “Congress no longer turn to the independent agency design when establishing new federal programs.” These are both contrary to traditional rhetoric.

The article hit all the high notes of what the committee looks for in this award. It is broadly applicable to at least several programs or issues, provides a new theoretical construct which will aid in the understanding and development of administrative law, provides practical recommendations for solving a problem in administrative law, and constitutes an original contribution to existing work. In short, The Independent Agency Myth easily exceeds the selection criteria. 

Additionally, it is an easy read, grabbing the reader from the introduction. The empirical work is innovative and illuminating. The analysis is both nuanced and thoughtful. And the findings are stunning: independent agencies are not independent and, even if they were, independence harms an agency’s capacity to implement statutory obligations. These findings challenge current literature. Their implications reach broadly into the heart of administrative law, specifically its structure, both today and in the future. With our current polarization, these findings should serve as the basis for rethinking our approach to the so-called independent agencies as non-partisan entities. 

Thanks to you all for your nominations and support of this award. This was truly a robust year for scholarship. The committee examined a multitude of articles and books published during 2023, including several excellent nominations. The scholarship was truly outstanding, and the committee had a challenging task in selecting just one winner.

Members of the Committee:

• Professor Jonathan Cederbaum, The George Washington University Law School
• Professor Emily Hammond, George Washington University Law School
• Professor Nina Mendelson, University of Michigan Law School
• Professor David Rubenstein, Washburn University School of Law
• Professor Sidney Shapiro, Wake Forest School of Law
• Professor Louis Virelli, Stetson University College of Law
• Professor Wendy Wagner, University of Texas School of Law

Linda D. Jellum is a Visiting Professor at Tulane University Law School and Professor at University of Idaho School of Law. She chairs the ABA Administrative Law Section Annual Scholarship Award Committee.