LAW 631LEC - Administrative Law

Administrative agencies are not mentioned by the Constitution, but today they make more legal rules than legislatures and do more adjudicating than courts. This class explains how agencies are governed as well as how they govern us. We will address the legal regime to which agencies are subject and how President, Congress, courts, and affected parties influence (or dictate) agency action. We will cover the decision-making tools agencies use, such as cost-benefit analysis, risk analysis, and inter-agency review. And we will walk through the steps of creating regulations and adjudicating disputes. Students will learn to wade through statutes and regulations and understand not just what they mean, but how they were created, what purposes they can serve, how they might be altered, and what legal issues they are likely to raise. Throughout, we will grapple with a question that continues to confound the administrative state: How do we make agencies accountable, yet effective?

Credits: 3