At oral argument in the tariff cases, a so-called “donut hole” argument was raised. The argument maintains it would be highly unlikely for the statutory phrase “regulate … importation” to confer a host of unenumerated powers—including the power to impose licensing fees—but not confer the power to regulate importation by imposing duties (i.e., tariffs). The donut hole argument […]
Despite the overwhelming concern over the use of artificial intelligence, one of the most promising use cases for AI is regulatory reform. Regulatory accumulation — the slow accumulation of rules, related guidance, case law, and specialized knowledge — has created a knowledge base that no human brain could contain, let alone comprehensively analyze. AI, on […]
The D.C. Circuit issued no opinions last week. There was one late October order to note, however—declining a stay pending appeal sought by the FTC. The case is Media Matters for America v. FTC, No. 25-5302, in which Media Matters sued to quash a civil investigative demand issued by the FTC, arguing that it was […]
Today’s Ad Law Reading Room entry is “How Not to Design Expert Bureaucracy: Lessons from Administrative Law,” by Wendy E. Wagner, which is forthcoming in the North Carolina Law Review. Here is the abstract: Can we trust our agency experts to provide reliable scientific knowledge to inform policy? This question has worried academics, policymakers, and […]
Now that the Department of Justice has taken the dramatic step of indicting New York Attorney General Letitia “Tish” James, plenty of ink and pixels have been spent assessing the procedural missteps of the prosecution and the strength of the evidence. An important question was lost in the shuffle: was the investigation of James legal […]
On the Friday after the election last November, the Journal of Law Reform student editors and I convened scholars from across the country at the University of Michigan Law School to discuss the future of agency independence. The goal was to center our discussion on the traditional unitary executive debate and then look beyond statutory […]
Here is the list of works included in the October 2025 Comparative Administrative Law Scholarship Corner, which is curated by Eduardo Jordão (FGV Law School, Rio de Janeiro), with the assistance of Eduarda Onzi. The Scholarship Corner is a resource provided through the Comparative Administrative Law listserv. For more information about this terrific resource, check out my first […]
A law can exist and not exist at the same time. One morning, it binds the U.S. government and reassures the public; by afternoon, it has been secretly rescinded without altering the official public record. On paper, it still stands. In practice, it is gone. That is the odd physics of America’s executive orders. Even […]
From Timothy Lytton, Chair of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Administrative Law Section: The executive committee of the AALS section on Administrative Law and the award selection committee are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2026 Emerging Scholars Award for Outstanding Scholarly Publication is Adam Crews for his article Visions of Vermont […]
Here is the September 2025 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. This is a great mix of new and established voices in the field covering a wide range of topics in administrative law. For more on why SSRN and […]
On October 21, OIRA’s Acting Administrator signed M-25-36, “Streamlining the Review of Deregulatory Actions.” I will leave it to others to comment more fully on many of its provisions, including: Instead, I want to focus on Part III, on deregulation’s purportedly unique benefits. The memo makes many claims that fly in the face of sound […]
In a week when the D. C. Circuit issued no opinions, we find ourselves with some time on our hands. Given the dire warnings that our addiction to screens is creating a post-literate society with its attendant personal and social pathologies, this may be a good time to read a book. My recommendation is Justice […]
The Supreme Court has enabled a dramatic expansion of executive power during the first nine months of the Trump Administration. Much of this has occurred with minimal or no explanation on the emergency docket, allowing the Administration to proceed without any consideration, much less a determination, of whether the challenged, ongoing activity is lawful. Examples […]
A couple weeks ago I recorded a Gray Matters podcast with Jace Lington, which was a lot of fun. You can give it a listen here. The C. Boyden Gray Center is such a great resource in the field of administrative law. Here are the details from the Gray Center website: Jace Lington chats with […]
Halloween is around the corner, and the time is ripe for a “ghoul” to “sit up in its grave and shuffl[e] abroad.” Is Chevron—lately interred by the Supreme Court—that ghoul? One can certainly sense its presence in one of the D.C. Circuit’s opinions from last week: CBOE Global Markets v. SEC. The decision (by Judge […]