Curing the Blind Spot in Administrative Law: A Federal Common Law Framework for State Agencies Implementing Cooperative Federalism Statutes
48 Pages Posted: 26 Jul 2012 Last revised: 29 Apr 2013
Date Written: March 1, 2013
Abstract
This Note examines whether state or federal principles of administrative law should govern suits challenging state agency action pursuant to cooperative federalism statutes. Despite the prevalence of cooperative federalism statutes, courts and scholars alike have given scant attention to this question. That neglect has translated into poorly reasoned and inconsistent judicial decisions. We show that this question is one of federal common law that is properly governed by the framework of Kimbell Foods, which holds that federal common law should take state law as its substantive source unless doing so would create a significant conflict with federal policy.
Keywords: administrative law, cooperative federalism, federal common law
JEL Classification: K23
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation