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Administrative Law and Politics
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Administrative Law and Politics
Cases and Comments

Fifth Edition


September 2014 | 584 pages | CQ Press

Authors Christine B. Harrington and Leif H. Carter know that while bureaucratic government is no cure for the shortcomings of free enterprise, government oversight and regulation is crucial to keeping power within democratic boundaries. This Fifth Edition of Administrative Law and Politics shows the scope and power of administrative government and demonstrates how the legal system shapes administrative procedure and practice. Using accessible language and examples, the casebook provides the foundation that students, public administrators and policy analysts need to interpret the rules and regulations that support our legal system.

Offering a balance of case excerpts and commentary, this new edition and has been thoroughly updated to account for recent developments, such as

  • administrative law vis-à-vis freedom of information statutes, including the NSA’s surveillance program;
  • how administrators and judges navigate the philosophical, political, and economic stakes behind divisions in the Roberts Court’s judicial theory of statutes;
  • non-enforcement and government inaction, including the position of Administrative Law Judges (ALJ) and the federal government’s (Department of Education) Title IX policy on sexual assault, harassment, and other forms of sexual misconduct in education.

 
Part I: THE RULE OF LAW IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
 
CHAPTER 1: WHY ADMINISTRATIVE LAW?
Five Themes

 
Theme One: A Brief History of the Administrative State

 
Theme Two: The Broad Reach of Administrative Action and Power

 
Theme Three: The Shortcomings of Regulatory Government

 
Setting the Stage for the Study of Administrative Law

 
Mississippi Reveals Dark Secrets of a Racist Time (Sack)

 
Excerpts from Mississippi File on a Black

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
CHAPTER 2: THE ORIGINS AND MEANING OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
What Is Law?

 
A First Look at the Development of Admini­strative Law

 
Adjudication and the Basics of Due Process: Three Illustrations

 
Morgan v. United States (1938)

 
Goldberg v. Kelly (1970)

 
Mathews v. Eldridge (1976)

 
Theme Four: What Is Administrative Law?

 
Theme Five: The Ethics of the Rule of Law in Bureaucratic Government

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
Part II: ELEMENTS OF MODERN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
 
CHAPTER 3: THE CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY OF AGENCIES
The Constitutional Framework for Administrative Government

 
Munn v. Illinois (1876)

 
Lochner v. New York (1905)

 
National Labor Relations Board v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation (1937)

 
Dolan v. City of Tigard (1994)

 
Kelo v. City of New London (2005)

 
Economic Libertarians, Property, and Institutions: Linking Activism, Ideas, and Identities among Property Rights Advocates (Hatcher)

 
The Delegation Doctrine

 
The Illusion of the Ideal Administration (Jaffe)

 
Mistretta v. United States (1989)

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
CHAPTER 4: THE STATUTORY AUTHORITY OF AGENCIES
The Law of Separation of Powers

 
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha (1983)

 
Statutory Limits on Agency Discretion

 
NAACP et al. v. Federal Power Commission (1976)

 
American Textile Manufacturers Institute v. Donovan (1981)

 
Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. et al. (1984)

 
FDA v. Brown & Williamson (2000)

 
Christopher v. Smithkline Beechman Corp. (2012)

 
Vance v. Ball State University (2013)

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
CHAPTER 5: INFORMATION AND ADMINISTRATION
Investigations

 
Wyman v. James (1971)

 
Marshall v. Barlow’s, Inc. (1978)

 
Dow Chemical Company v. United States (1986)

 
Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Lopez-Mendoza et al. (1984)

 
Access to Information Held by Government

 
Department of the Air Force v. Rose (1976)

 
Milner v. Department of the Navy (2011)

 
United States Department of Justice v. Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (1989)

 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Common Cause (1982)

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
CHAPTER 6: INFORMALITY AND FORMALITY IN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
Examples of Informal Administration

 
Informal Administration in Rulemaking and Adjudication

 
Bi-Metallic Investment Co. v. State Board of Equalization of Colorado (1915)

 
Adjudication at the Informal End of the Continuum

 
A Study of Informal Adjudication Procedures (Verkuil)

 
Board of Curators of the University of Missouri et al. v. Horowitz (1978)

 
Informal Rulemaking

 
Legal Problems in Informal Administration

 
Federal Crop Insurance Corp. v. Merrill (1947)

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
CHAPTER 7: ELEMENTS OF AN ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING
Controlling Law

 
A Threshold Question: What Triggers Formal Adjudication under the APA?

 
Marathon Oil Co. v. Environmental Protection Agency (1977)

 
The Components of a Hearing

 
Walters v. National Association of Radiation Survivors (1985)

 
A Determination on the Record and Statement of Reasons

 
Note: Administrative Findings under Section 8(c) (1965)

 
Mazza v. Cavicchia (1954)

 
Gibson v. Berryhill (1973)

 
Cinderella Career and Finishing Schools, Inc. v. Federal Trade Commission (1970)

 
A Return to First Principles: Rethinking ALJ Compromise (Wertkin)

 
Ventura v. Shalala (1995)

 
Another View of Informality and Formality in Administrative Hearings

 
EEOC Guidelines on Discrimination Because of Sex

 
Dear Colleague Letter: Sexual Violence (Department of Education)

 
New York University Policy on Sexual Assault, Harassment and Other Forms of Sexual Misconduct

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
CHAPTER 8: AMBIGUITIES IN RULEMAKING PROCEDURES
Is Rulemaking a Desirable Administrative Strategy?

 
United States v. Florida East Coast Railway, Inc. (1973)

 
Legislative and Adjudicative Rulemaking

 
Natural Resources Defense Council v. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. (1976)

 
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (1978)

 
Motor Vehicles Manufacturers Association v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. (1983)

 
Regulatory Reform: Creating Gaps and Making Markets (Harrington)

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
CHAPTER 9: ENFORCEMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY
Administrative Law and the Problem of Compliance

 
The Nature of Administrative Sanctions

 
Administrative Enforcement Techniques

 
Enforcement and Political Resistance

 
Citizen Initiation of Agency Enforcement

 
Environmental Defense Fund v. Ruckelshaus (1971)

 
Gwaltney of Smithfield v. Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Inc. and Natural Resources Defense Council (1987)

 
Massachussetts v. EPA (2007)

 
Legal Ambiguity and the Politics of Compliance: Affirmative Action Officers’ Dilemma (Edelman, Petterson, Chambliss, and Erlanger)

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
CHAPTER 10: JUDICIAL REVIEW
Access to Judicial Review

 
Abbott Laboratories, Inc. v. Gardner (1967)

 
Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp (1970)

 
United States v. Students Challenging Regulatory Agency Procedures (1973)

 
Clapper v. Amnesty International USA (2013)

 
The Scope of Judicial Review

 
Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe (1971)

 
Heckler v. Chaney (1985)

 
Reviewing Questions of Fact and Questions of Law

 
Universal Camera Corp. v. National Labor Relations Board (1951)

 
National Labor Relations Board v. Hearst Publications, Inc. (1944)

 
Scope of Review: Introduction to the American Public Law System (Mashaw and Merrill)

 
Huzaifa Parhat v. Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense et al. (2008)

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
Part III: PRACTICAL PROBLEMS IN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
 
CHAPTER 11: LIABILITY
Responsibilities and Liabilities in Law

 
Liabilities and Responsibilities Distinguished: An Important Illustration

 
Tort Liability of Government for Acts of Officials

 
Indian Towing Co., Inc. v. United States (1955)

 
Griffin v. United States (1974)

 
Allen v. United States (1987)

 
DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services (1989)

 
County of Sacramento v. Lewis (1998)

 
A New Legal Shield for States

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
CHAPTER 12: THE LAW OF PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT
The Development of Civil Service

 
The Constitutional Requirements of a Termination Hearing

 
Perry et al. v. Sindermann (1972)

 
Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill (1985)

 
Gilbert et al. v. Homar (1976)

 
Other Protections for Public Employees

 
Kelley v. Johnson (1976)

 
National Treasury Employees Union et al. v. Von Raab (1989)

 
Washington v. Davis (1976)

 
United States District Court, Western District of Washington at Seattle

 
Exercises and Questions for Further Thought

 
 
Part IV: EVALUATING ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
 
CHAPTER 13: PRINCIPLES AND POLITICS IN ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
Surveying the Terrain

 
The Current Administrative Law Debate

 
Privatization, Prisons, Democracy, and Human Rights: The Need to Extend the Province of Administrative Law (Aman)

 
Outsourcing Sovereignty: Why Privatization of Government Functions Threatens Democracy and What We Can Do about It (Verkuil)

 
Agency’s ‘04 Rule Let Banks Pile Up New Debt (Labaton)

 
Practicing What We Have Preached

 

I adopted the 5th edition of the Carter text because of the updates. The students responded positively to the adoption of this text. An electronic version and teacher support materials would be appreciated.

William Froehlich
School of Policy, Govt & Intl Affairs, George Mason University
March 17, 2020
Key features

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

  • The authors provide seven new cases and comments, with updated exercises throughout. New topics address: 
    medical marijuana; 
    • NSA surveillance tactics; 
    • Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the question of bias; 
    • JP Morgan and Bernie Madoff; 
    • fraud against the federal Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits Program; 
    • the Family Medical Leave Act (FLMA); and 
    • the College Cost Reduction and Access Act.

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1

Chapter 2


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