The Separation of Powers Restoration Act, or more easily known as SOPRA, is not a complicated bill. If enacted, it would amend the Administrative Procedure Act to require courts to decide de novo all questions of law, whether constitutional, statutory, or regulatory. As the House Report makes abundantly clear, the intent is to overrule statutorily […]

To some, Auer deference stands apart from the rest of administrative law. On the one hand, Auer is distinguished from other forms of deference as uniquely constitutionally problematic, because it grants agencies deference for their own interpretations of their own regulations. This, according to Justice Scalia (accepting an argument raised by his former law clerk, […]

Predictions are hard, especially about the future. It’s much safer to hide behind a broad trend: There was a time, just a couple of years ago, when it seemed like Auer and Seminole Rock were not long for this world. Auer’s author, Justice Scalia, turned his back on the doctrine. The tide of scholarly opinion—led […]

There is no question that there are both weighty constitutional concerns and practical problems with the Seminole Rock doctrine that impede the achievement of consistency, fairness and transparency in our modern administrative state. These concerns coupled with the confusion and inconsistencies in the lower courts when they attempt to apply Seminole Rock’s “plainly erroneous or […]

For decades, the Supreme Court of Utah reviewed agency action under either express or implicit “delegations of discretion” for abuse of discretion. This approach “proved difficult to apply” and resulted in widely inconsistent decisions that depended on whether a court found that a statute granted an implicit delegation of power. So in 2013 the Utah […]

(This post is adapted from The Unbearable Rightness of Auer, U. Chi. L Rev. forthcoming) For more than seventy years, courts have deferred to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous regulations. The Auer principle, as is it is now called, has attracted academic criticism and some skepticism within the Supreme Court – although we will see the […]

Seminole Rock (or Auer) deference requires courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of its own regulation “unless that interpretation is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation.” Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center, 133 S. Ct. 1326, 1337 (2013). Courts will defer even when the agency’s interpretation is not “the only possible reading of […]

At the center of the challenge to Auer deference is the thesis that the deference prescribed in that case gives agencies an incentive to write regulations vaguely, so that they will subsequently be able to adopt interpretations of those regulations that have not undergone the rigors of the notice and comment process but will nevertheless […]

All G.G. wanted was to be like other high schoolers, and use the bathroom that corresponds with his gender identity. Yet this small request triggered a high-profile legal battle over the meaning and application of Title IX that may be well on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. After losing in the U.S. Court […]

An August 13, 2016 New York Times article reports that “Mr. Obama will leave the White House as one of the most prolific authors of major regulations in presidential history.” Putting to one side the detail that agencies authorized by Congress—not the President—promulgate regulations, the article looks behind the widespread public perception that “President Obama […]

Auer matters. It makes the difference between winning and losing on important issues that matter to real people—such as what bathroom a transgender student may use, what costs foreign employees must be reimbursed for, and the proper sentence for a convicted criminal. Consider these recent examples: 1. G. ex rel. Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board, […]

This article is not about the wisdom or lack thereof of Auer/Seminole Rock (“ASR”). Instead, it explores an aspect of ASR “on the ground.” Specifically, this article considers the considerable gaps between how the Supreme Court has framed the doctrine and how the United States Tax Court has applied (or not applied) it. Some of […]

Auer deference is weird. It is different from all the other forms of judicial deference to agency actions. As a result, it has become the topic of some debate. Some, like Justice Scalia, find the doctrine disturbing because it gives agencies the authority to be the legislature, the judiciary, and the executive, resulting in agencies […]

Seminole Rock has a step one inquiry too—and, like Chevron’s step one, it depends on the court’s choice of interpretive method. Chevron’s step one asks whether the authorizing statute “directly” speaks “to the precise question at issue” in the sense of clearly prohibiting or requiring the agency’s position. The method of statutory interpretation that the […]