ADMINISTRATIVE LAW (7010/9033) SYLLABUS [revised October 16, 2000] Prof. Edmundson
Fall 2000
M-W 1-2:15; room 405
My office: #458; tel. 651-2136
e-mail: law7010wae@gsulaw.gsu.edu (discussion list)
wedmundson@gsu.edu (personal)
Text: Cass, Diver & Beermann, Administrative Law (3d ed.)
Recommended: Beerman, Administrative Law: Aspen RoadMap Law Course Outline; Fox, Understanding Administrative Law; exams from past years
The Goals of this Course
Sooner or later someone is going to give you a knowing wink and say, “Legislatures and courts don’t make law, administrative agencies do.” This view is an exaggeration, but just barely. Thus, you might suppose, knowing administrative law must be like owning a sophisticated breed of attack dog, like a rotweiler. But you may find that the law school course in Administrative Law looks more like a platypus, made up of unrelated body parts that seem to belong to other animals.
Our course will deal with a number of issues, such as separation of powers and due process, that would be at home in a course on Constitutional Law. It will also deal with some jurisdictional doctrines that fit well into a course on Federal Courts. It will deal in depth with a procedural statute, the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), but in substantive settings formed by other statutes, such as the Clean Air Act, which we will look at only glancingly, to provide a context.
This diversity may seem confusing but, in a nutshell, Administrative Law is the law governing the creation of, powers of, and limitations upon administrative agencies of all sorts. It is not the substantive law made by agencies or for agencies, such as labor law, environmental law, etc.
Because of the breadth of our subject, the focus is on federal law and federal constitutional constraints on federal and state agencies –not on state agencies nor, for that matter, any particular federal agency. Our goal will be to understand and be able to make use of the legal concepts that define what has been called “the bureaucratic state.”
The Grading System Explained
Your final grade will be based largely upon a final examination. The only other factor that may influence your final grade is class participation. The final will be an open-book, open-notebook, blind-graded, essay-style examination. It will cover only the material included in this syllabus. It will test your ability to identify and analyze legal issues in one or more detailed hypothetical situations. It is not intended to test your ability merely to memorize by rote or to philosophize.
In recent years, the average grade in the several sections of Administrative Law has been in the high-70s-to-low-80s range. The mean grade in this course is likely to be in the same general vicinity.
Assignments
Week Date Topic Reading 1 8/21 Introduction and Nondelegation Doctrine 1-23 8/23 Delegation and the Benzene case 23-37; American Trucking handout 2 8/28 Legislative Control and Chada 38-64 8/30 Executive Power; Line-Item Veto 64-76; Clinton v. New York handout 3 9/4 LABOR DAY HOLIDAY 9/6 Appointment and Removal I 76-89 4 9/11 Appointment and Removal II 89-120 9/13 Executive Control 127-47 5 9/18 Judicial Review and Overton Park 149-66 9/20 Reading Statutes: Chevron 166-93; Brown & Williamson handout 6 9/25 A “Hard Look” at Facts and Policies 193-211 9/27 The Benzene and Airbags cases 211-43 7 10/2 Reviewabilty and Preclusion 245-72 10/4 Reviewability and Policy Discretion 272-90 8 10/9 Reviewability of Enforcement Discretion 291-318; 804-20 10/11 Standing to Sue 318-72 9 10/16 The Timing of Judicial Review 372-409 10/18 Policymaking by Rule 417-44 10 10/23 Policymaking by Order 444-69 10/25 Policymaking by “the Book” 469-80; Jerri’s Ceramics handout 11 10/30 Due Process and Participation in Rulemaking 480-520 11/1 Vermont Yankee, Participation and Politics 535-76 12 11/6 Agency Adjudication 623-36 11/8 Due Process: Protectible Interests 636-76 13 11/13 What Process Is Due 676-706 11/15 Impartial Decisionmaking 706-65 14 11/20 Occupational Licensing 883-903 11/22 THANKSGIVING BREAK 15 11/27 Inspections 767-93 11/29 Private Right of Action; Primary Jurisdiction 829-66
Departures from this schedule can be expected to occur. Please be aware that each assignment includes the APA sections it references. The text of the APA appears as an appendix to the casebook.
Attendance policy
Roll will be taken at each class meeting. Two or more unexcused absences will be grounds for the assignment of a failing grade. Please also note that class nonparticipation may influence your final grade. Because absences due to illness or conflicting family, legal, military or business duties are routinely excused, you need not telephone me to ask that such an absence be excused.
Office Hours
I have an “open door” policy on meeting outside class. I encourage you to thrust yourselves past the bodyguards at the fourth floor security checkpoint at any time or, if you like, call me to make an appointment. My number is 651-2136, and I can be found in office 458, all day, Monday through Friday.
E-mail Discussion List
There is an e-mail discussion list for this course. You are already subscribed, but you may change the e-mail address to which postings are directed by going to:
http://gsulaw.gsu.edu/cgi-bin/emailupdater
The WWWeBBB Forum address is:
http://gsulaw.gsu.edu/wedmundson/forums/law7010wae/
There, you can view prior discussion threads and compose and post messages as well.