administrative law (chapter 4)

The area of law that addresses federal and state government agencies and their role in carrying out their delegated authority.

-Agencies are created by the government to conduct business on its behalf.
-Agencies are generally created by way of enabling statutes.
-These statutes set forth the purpose of the agency, the authority by which the agency is created, the powers of the agency, the overall structure of the agency, how it will be governed and what powers it is granted to carry out its mission including whether it has quasi legislative and/or judicial power and whether its decisions can be appealed to a court of law.

Agencies' rules about carrying on its business.

The general law governing how federal agencies must conduct business.

Each federal agency's own internal rules and regulations are set forth in its administrative regulations published in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

These general categories of
1) the law regulating agencies,
2) the agency's internal regulations for conducting business, and
3) the rules and regulations regarding the specific subject matter of the agency, all comprise the subject matter of administrative law.

Since administrative agencies promulgate rules and regulations pursuant to delegations of authority from the governmental entities, their rules and regulations must be complied with just as laws passed by the legislature must be.

Administrative agencies, each with its own procedures and regulations, are a considerable source of law and one that a discerning business person needs to know.

Administrative agencies, rules and regulations are extremely important for a business to know in order to be in compliance with whatever rules and regulations apply to the business.

Laws passed by Congress (or state legislatures) delegating some of the legislature's authority to an entity created by the statute. That entity is called an administrative agency.

The president can also create executive agencies by executive order, e.g., the Environmental Protection Agency, the CIA and the FBI.

The administrative agency does not stand alone and has no authority other than that which Congress delegates to it.

The agency is only operating under a delegation of authority and, as such, is responsible to its delegator for its actions.

Congress oversees the delegation of authority by monitoring the agency and making sure it is acting within its delegated authority.

The administrative agency does not exist apart from Congress and is only in existence to carry out Congress' wishes.

The powers that an agency is given in the enabling statute depends on what the agency is created to do.

Sometimes an agency does not need a good deal of authority because it is created merely for overseeing, monitoring or providing education or investigation in a given area.

Other times an agency may need more extensive powers to carry out its mission.

Under Article III of the Constitution the primary role of Congress is to enact laws.
This power to enact laws rests solely with Congress and may not be delegated to another body.

If Congress grants an agency the authority to issue regulations, the agency is said to have quasii-legislative authority.

The fact that the rule or regulation is promulgated under quasi-legislative power does not make the regulation any less effective as a dictate that must be followed much like law.

Equal Opportunity in Education Act. Prohibits, among other things, gender discrimination in school sports.

The federal government is constitutionally required by the Fifth Amendment (and states by the Fourteenth) to provide due process of law if there is the possibility of depriving a citizen of a right.

Administrative agencies are acting on behalf of the government, therefore citizens cannot be deprived of rights they would otherwise be entitled to when dealing with the government, without due process.

At a minimum, due process involves notice and an opportunity to be heard.

Notice and opportunity to be heard does not mean that the administrative agency cannot do what it thinks best.

Rather, it means that the agency will not unconstitutionally be operating in the dark to the disadvantage of those who may be adversely affected by its actions.

The notice must be appropriate to the action being taken by the agency. The more the public stands to lose, the more notice and opportunity to be heard is provided.

A judge employed by an agency to hear administrative disputes.

An important aspect of the regulatory power of administrative agencies is receiving input from affected constituents about rules and regulations proposed by the agency.

The Administrative Procedures Act sets forth certain requirements with which federal administrative agencies must comply in order to ensure that the agency's rules and regulations can withstand judicial scrutiny if challenged in court as unconstitutional.

Ensures that those affected by the rules and regulations of administrative agencies are are provided with such notice and opportunity to be heard before rules or regulations are passed by the agency that may adversely impact their interest.

The "official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other presidential documents," loaded with all sorts of information that we are responsible for knowing (which constitutes proper statutory notice) but about which many of us are clueless.

An agency may also be granted quasi-judicial authority in its enabling statute and have the power to hear and decide disputes involving agency regulations.

These agency decisions also become quasi-judicial law binding on the agency in its future decisions.

Many businesses address this issue by belonging to trade organizations comprised of those in the same business or industry.

The trade organization generally monitors relevant agencies for actions impacting the organization's members and notifies them when issues arise.

Unions may also serve a similar function for its members, notifying them and rallying them around issues important to the union's members.

The law will grant the agency authority to have courts hear and decide cases arising from agency decisions once the litigant exhausts administrative remedies as set forth under the agency's regulations.

Exhaustion means the claimant has done all he or she can do within the agency's regulatory structure and is still not satisfied with the outcome and wishes to take the matter to a court of law.

Exhaustion means the claimant has done all he or she can do within the agency's regulatory structure and is still not satisfied with the outcome and wishes to take the matter to a court of law.

The administrative agency's final decision may only be reviewed at the appellate level by a court of appeals.

Since "de novo" means "like new," this review is much broader.
De novo judicial review allows the administrative decision to be brought to court at the trial court level where the parties begin litigation all over again as if there has not already been an agency decision.
This trial court decision can then be appealed up through the various appellate levels of the court system if it complies with applicable procedural requirements.

If an administrative agency issues a final order in an adjudication, the order will have full force and effect only if the order is enforced by a court of law.

Remember that the Constitution rests authority in the courts and an agency performing quasi-judicial functions does not constitutionally have the final say to enforce its order since it is not a court of law.

The effect of this move is to take the issue out of the purview of the agency, with its limited authority, and give it the full force and effect of law as issued by a more comprehensive court of law.

Administrative law is the area of law that addresses federal and state government agencies and their role in carrying out their delegated authority.

Agencies are generally created by way of enabling statutes.

An enabling statute.

These statutes set forth the purpose of the agency, the authority by which the agency is created, the powers of the agency, the overall structure of the agency, how it will be governed and what powers it is granted to carry out its mission including whether it has quasi legislative and/or judicial power and whether its decisions can be appealed to a court of law.

Those given to it by Congress.

By Congressional oversight.

Administrative agencies, rules and regulations are extremely important for a business to know in order to be in compliance with whatever rules and regulations apply to the business.

Through admitting to past discriminatory practices which have caused the agencies to be liable for monetary damages.

yes.

The administrative agency's final decision may only be reviewed at the appellate level by a court of appeals.

De novo judicial review allows the administrative decision to be brought to court at the trial court level where the parties begin litigation all over again as if there has not already been an agency decision.

Exhaustion means the claimant has done all he or she can do within the agency's regulatory structure and is still not satisfied with the outcome and wishes to take the matter to a court of law.

Law governing federal administrative agency conduct of business.

If Congress grants an agency the authority to issue regulations, the agency is said to have quasii-legislative authority.

The power to hear and decide cases involving agency regulations.

The laws passed by agencies which form the governing law of the agency.

The agency rules and regulations, while not actual legislative or statutory law, are similar to it and for all practical purposes carry the same weight in the sense that violation of the regulation carries legal consequences.

In the Code of Federal Regulations.

At a minimum, due process involves notice and an opportunity to be heard.

No, if an agency does not adhere to the APA requirements regarding appropriate notice and an opportunity to be heard, the agency's decisions can be nullified as unconstitutional by a court of law.

It is important for the business owner to have a means of having his or her business interests heard and represented.

A judge employed by an agency to hear administrative disputes.

No. It must appeal through the administrate appeals first.