Federal Administrative Law Outline

 
Professior Burzych
FEDERAL ADMINISTRATIVE LAW OUTLINE
Spring 2011
 
 
 
 
I)                     ADMINISTRATIVE AGENCIES
A)         Every administrative law case involves a dispute between a private party and an administrative agency.
B)         Administrative agencies carry out their functions under the authority of the executive branch.
C)         Under ARTICLE III of the Constitution the executive branch is responsible for executing the laws.
D)        Administrative agencies are created by the legislature.
1)           Congress creates an enabling statute.
2)           The statute delegates authority to the administrative agency.
3)           They may be given legislative or judicative authority. Because legislative and judicative authority remains the domain of the Congress under ARTICLE I and the judiciary under ARTICLE III, administrative agencies create separation of powers issues.
4)           Gilmore v. Lujon, 947 F.2d 1409 (9th Cir. 1991) (P. 1)
(a)        ISSUE: Did the Bureau of Land Management properly reject leases containing a faxed signature and not a holographic signature as required?
(b)        The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) required Gilmore to return government leases to the Bureau of Land Management with a holographic signature and date within 30 days of receipt.
(c)         The leases were lost in the mail so Gilmore submitted fax copies before the deadline.
(d)        The fax copies were rejected by BLM because they did not contain a holographic signature.
(e)         HELD: The leases were properly rejected.
(i)               The use of rubber stamps created problems with previous bids. When the agency revised its regulations, it clearly intended to prohibit non-holographic signatures.
(ii)             The regulation gives fair notice to all bidders.
(iii)           When dealing with the government there is no allowance for deviating from the rules.
(iv)           “[C]itizens dealing with their government must turn square corners.” (P. 3)
E)         APA §551. Agency
1)           Each authority of the government, whether or not subject to review by another agency.
2)           Agency does not include:
(a)        Congress;
(b)        courts;
(c)         governments of U.S. territories and possessions; or
(d)        government of D.C.
F)         Independent Administrative Agencies
1)           Includes agencies such as:
(a)        the post office;
(b)        Amtrak;
(c)         the federal reserve.
2)           The appointment of a department head is independent of the executive.
3)           The Office of the Executive is not an administrative agency even though it meets the definition.
4)           Freytag v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 501 U.S. 868 (1991) (P. 5)
(a)        ISSUE: Does the special trial judge have the right to hear and decide the case if he was not appointed under the Appointments Clause?
(b)        Congress enacted the Tax Reform Act of 1969 establishing the U.S. Tax Court under Article I of the Constitution. Judges are appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(c)         The Act empowered the Tax Court’s chief judge to appoint special trial judges to preside in evidentiary hearings and other designated proceedings.
(d)        The chief judge assigned Special Trial Judge Powell to hear evidence and prepare written findings and an opinion in Freytag’s case.
(e)         Powell found Freytag deficient in his taxes. The chief judge adopted Powell’s opinion. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
(f)          Appointment Clause
(i)               The presidential must appointment primary officers with advice and consent of the Senate. Primary officers include:
—      ambassadors;
—      public ministers and consuls;
—      supreme court justices;
—      other officers of the U.S.
(ii)             Congress can vest the president, courts, or heads of departments with the authority to appoint inferior officers without the advice and consent of the senate.
(g)        Three categories of government official:
(i)               Primary officials must go through the appointment and advice and consent procedures of the Constitution.
(ii)             Inferior officers must comply with the Appointments Clause because their position is established by law. An inferior officer is supervised by another who is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the senate.
(iii)           Employees don’t need to be appointed because they don’t exercise governmental authority.
*** NOTE: An officer’s function determines whether he is primary or inferior. Determine if the officer’s functions are primary or inferior. Then determine if he was properly appointed. ***
*** NOTE: Article I officers must have some legislative duties, even though they may also perform Article III adjudicatory functions. ***
(h)        HELD: The special trial judge is an inferior officer.
(i)               The position is created by statute.
(ii)             The duties, salary and means of appointment are designated by Congress.
(iii)           They exercise significant discretion in performing judicial functions such as taking testimony, conducting trials, ruling on the admissibility of evidence, and enforcing compliance with discovery.
(iv)          They are overseen by the chief judge.
(i)          RULE: Whether the appointment is valid depends on whether the Tax Court is classified as:
(i)               a department with the chief judge as its head;
(ii)             a court of law; or
(iii)           neither a department nor a court of law.
(j)          RULE: To be the head of a department the head must be:
(i)               appointed by the president;
(ii)             appointed by legislation; or
(k)        HELD: The Tax Court is not a department.
(i)               The Appointments Clause limits Congress’s authority to designate appointment power.
(ii)             Making the Tax Court a department would diffuse the president’s appointment authority beyond its intended use.
(iii)           Congress intended the Tax Court to be an ARTICLE I legislative court.
(l)          ARTICLE I courts can be courts of law.
(i)               The Appointments Clause does not limit courts to ARTICLE III.
(ii)             The Constitution does not limit Congress’s appointment power to Supreme Court justices or other ARTICLE III judges.
(iii)           The Court has a “time-honored” tradition of reading the Constitution as providing Congress broad authority to designate judicial authority to legislative tribunals.
(m)      HELD: The Tax Court is an ARTICLE I court of law.
(i)               The Tax Court was created by Congress.
(ii)             It exercises judicial authority to interpret and enforce the Internal Revenue Code, to the exclusion of all other authority.
(iii)           Its function in the federal judicial scheme closely mirrors that of federal district courts which are indisputably courts of law.
(iv)          Its decisions are not subject to review by Congress or the president, or the federal district courts.
5)           Mulhearn v. Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., 66 A.2d 726 (N.J. 1949) (P. 11)
(a)        ISSUE: Is an agency’s adjudicative authority subject to ARTICLE III?
(b)        The State Division of Workmen’s Compensation had legislative authority to adjudicate workers compe