From Rule of Law to Statute Drafting: Legal Issues for Algorithms in Government Decision-Making

Abstract

Governments are increasingly relying on algorithms to automate decision-making in diverse areas, including social welfare, criminal justice, healthcare, law enforcement and national security. This chapter sketches the way in which algorithms are or may be used across the spectrum of government decision making — from the drafting of legislation, to judicial decision making, to the implementation of laws by the executive branch. Then, based on scholarship in the field and our own empirical, doctrinal and theoretical work, the chapter examines the rule of law values affected by automated government decision making systems and the legal and practical issues that the implementation and supervision of such systems may pose in practice.

Keywords: rule of law, automation, algorithms, government decision making, statute drafting, judicial decision making, administrative decision-making, national security, law enforcement, transparency, accountability, administrative state