This isn’t a novel insight but it bears repeating: no two judges are the same. They grew up in different families; had different careers; have different interests; and operate with different intuitions. Yet judges in the United States—at least as a rule—wear the same uniform: a plain black robe.* Recently, however, Noah Feldman—one of the […]
It is bedrock in a democracy, of course, that the public must be able to see the text of binding law. We take for granted that we can readily view federal statutes and regulations in government publications that are freely available online and in the Federal Depository Library System. It might surprise some to learn, […]
Over at PrawfsBlawg Jay Wexler explains that Boston University School of Law has made Administrative Law part of the required 1L curriculum. This decision, and reactions to it, have me thinking about where and when we offer Administrative Law to law students and what we teach them when we do. I’ve just finished another semester […]
Justice Breyer dominated the conversation in last month’s oral argument in Liberty Mutual v. Gobeille. (You can read this for my take on the case.) Again and again, he harped on a point pressed by none of the parties: that the Court couldn’t uphold Vermont’s reporting requirement because the Department of Labor hadn’t issued a […]
There is a lot of terrific administrative law and regulation programming at the AALS Annual Meeting in New York City this week, so I thought I’d highlight the various panels and programs that may be of interest to scholars of administrative law and regulation (defined broadly). In addition to the official AALS programming, I’ve included […]
At 12:02 last night, one of my (very tired) children made a keen observation: “New Years is a silly holiday.” I sympathize. We don’t celebrate turning the calendar from January to February, nor do we throw a party when February 29th rolls around every Olympiad.* But you know what? The fact that January 1st is […]
Congress recently passed its annual “tax extender” legislation: the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (PATH Act) . Although the bulk of the PATH Act extends a variety of tax breaks, as Daniel Hemel notes over at the University of Chicago Law School Faculty Blog the last few pages of the more-than-two-hundred-page bill attempt […]
Here’s a new Christmas experience: This year, I had to check with the federal government to make sure that “Santa’s” gift for my young son is legal. You see, I bought him a toy helicopter. It turns out that is now called a drone. And it also turns out that the FAA has begun regulating […]
The ABA’s Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice recently approved a report and resolution on improving the APA’s rulemaking provisions. The Section believes that while the basic chassis of the APA has been shown to be fundamentally sound, a variety of updates deserve serious consideration. The resolution proposes reforms to modernize the Act that […]
This is a foolish way to start a sentence, especially one published on the internet: “I’m no military historian, but ….” After all, there are lots of actual military historians out there, and they often have strong opinions on the subject. Even so, I’ll chance it. I’m no military historian, but it seems to me […]
Albeit a little later than usual, here is the November 2015 edition of the most-downloaded recent papers (those announced in the last 60 days) from SSRN’s U.S. Administrative Law eJournal, which is edited by Bill Funk. Before turning to this month’s top ten list, it’s worth noting—especially for adlaw geeks who are interested in environmental […]
Yesterday, the internet caught fire with a new study drawing attention on the prices that we pay for health-care services. Contrary to expectations in some quarters, low Medicare spending doesn’t correlate at all with low spending in the private market. Instead, variations in private spending are driven mainly by variations in prices—and prices, in turn, […]
There was an interesting development yesterday in the controversy over EPA’s aggressive social media campaign in support of its “Waters of the United States” rule. This rulemaking, conducted in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers, on was the subject of a panel at the recent ABA Adlaw Section Fall meeting. The Final Rule was […]
Following the lead of terrific roundtables/workshops in other fields of law (federal courts, civil procedure, etc.), I’m excited to announce the inaugural Administrative Law New Scholars Roundtable, which will take place next summer with a call for papers deadline in the spring. The first year’s host will be Michigan State. Here are the full details […]
A while back I mentioned a new project that Chris Walker and I are working on that applies administrative law principles to the Supreme Court’s new procedural rules for qualified immunity. Those who are interested in the topic should check out Nancy Leong’s (very generous) review in Jotwell, available here. (Quick preview: “The article should stand […]