Presidential Maladministration

90 Pages Posted: 22 Dec 2016 Last revised: 27 Mar 2018

See all articles by Josh Blackman

Josh Blackman

South Texas College of Law Houston

Date Written: December 20, 2016

Abstract

In Presidential Administration, then-Professor Elena Kagan re-envisioned administrative law through the lens of the President’s personal influence on the regulatory state. Rather than grounding Chevron deference on an agency’s “special expertise and experience,” Kagan would “take unapologetic account of the extent of presidential involvement in administrative decisions in determining the level of deference to which they are entitled.” The stronger the President’s fingerprints on the executive action, a practice she praises as “presidential administration,” the more courts should defer.

There is a flipside to Kagan’s theory: four species of high-level influence, which I describe as “presidential maladministration,” are increasingly problematic. First, where an incoming administration reverses a previous administration’s interpretation of statute, simply because a new sheriff is in town, courts should verify if the statute bears such a fluid construction. Second, where an administration discovers a heretofore unknown power in a statute that allows it to confer substantive rights, courts should raise a red flag, especially when the authority exercised was one Congress withheld. Third, where an administration declines to enforce a statute that Congress refuses to repeal, under the guise of prosecutorial discretion, courts should view the action with skepticism. Fourth, where evidence exists that the White House attempted to exert its influence, and intrude into the rulemaking process of independent agencies, courts should revisit the doctrine concerning altered regulatory positions.

As the Federal Register turns the page from Obama to Trump, this article provides a timely analysis of how courts react to unpresidented approaches to maladministration.

Suggested Citation

Blackman, Josh, Presidential Maladministration (December 20, 2016). 2018 Illinois Law Review 397, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2888172 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2888172

Josh Blackman (Contact Author)

South Texas College of Law Houston ( email )

1303 San Jacinto Street
Houston, TX 77002
United States

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