The purpose of this lesson is to examine how administrative agencies create "rules," particularly in adjudicative contexts. The goal is to contrast so-called "legislative procedures" with "adjudicative procedures," and then to examine the scope and limits of adjudicative authority. The lesson is intended for students who have studied these issues in class and wish to refine their knowledge.
This lesson deals with the topic of administrative inspections. Governmental officials conduct inspections in a variety of contexts. Some of these inspections are conducted by the police. Others are conducted by special administrative officials charged only with the task of carrying out certain administrative tasks. As we shall see, the United States Supreme Court has developed special rules governing such inspections. In this lesson, we examine those special rules in depth.
Many administrative agencies have their own judicial structures (often referred to as "quasi-judicial" structures). In this lesson, we examine the development of one type of judge used in those structures, the so-called administrative law judge.
This lesson explores the constitutional limitations on agency adjudicative authority stemming from Article III's commitment of the judicial power to Article III courts.
This lesson introduces students to the law governing circumstances in which judicial review of actions, and inaction, of federal administrative agencies is available and when it may be restricted or unavailable. The lesson explores questions of jurisdiction, and rights of review principally under the Administrative Procedure Act.
This lesson introduces students to the Federal APA with special emphasis on (1) mapping the relationship of its parts and (2) closely examining the text of the principal sections.
This lesson explores issues relating to the United States Supreme Court's landmark decision in Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837 (1984).
This lesson focuses on issues related to the commencement of legislative rulemaking proceedings. Accordingly, it focuses on how such proceedings are commenced and by whom. It also focuses on rules that are exempt from rulemaking requirements. This lesson is intended for students who have studied these issues in class and wish to refine and further their knowledge.
This lesson deals with the "committed to agency discretion" exception to judicial review. Under the federal Administrative Procedure Act, courts tend to assume that administrative action is subject to review. However, there are several situations when courts will decline to exercise their review authority. One of those situations is the subject of this lesson: when administrative action has been committed to agency discretion by law.
This lesson examines the so-called "deliberative process privilege" (DPP) (a/k/a, "predecisional and deliberative privilege"). The DPP is a variant of Executive Privilege, and is applied to protect the confidentiality of administrative communications in various contexts. This lesson is intended for students who have studied the DPP in class, and who wish to refine and expand their knowledge.
This lesson focuses on the presidential version of executive privilege. The lesson examines the justifications for the privilege, the requirements for its invocation, and judicial handling of that privilege. The lesson is intended for students who have studied this privilege in class, and who wish to further refine their understanding of the topic.
This lesson introduces you to the so-called "formal" process for making administrative rules and regulations. Under the federal Administrative Procedure Act, there are two separate and distinct processes for making rules: the "informal" process and the "formal" process. In a prior lesson, we examined the informal process. This lesson examines the formal process in greater detail. The lesson is designed for students who have studied these issues in class and who wish to refine their knowledge and understanding of the issues.