Administrative Law

Short Answer:  Make the best selection you can and explain briefly why you chose that answer.

1.  Judges will defer in part to
2.  Agency assessment of scientific facts
3. Agency assessment of witness testimony even if only the ALJ hears the witness
4. Agency interpretation of laws concerning agency power
5. Agency interpretation of the agencies’ own rules
6. All of the above

•  Congress cannot preclude judicial review of
•  Tort claims against the federal government
• Contract claims against the federal government
• Constitutional claims against federal agencies
• Claims based on the statutory authority of agencies to act.
• Congress can preclude review of all of the above

• Congress can vest the power to appoint an inferior officer in the executive branch in the following EXCEPT
•  The President
• The courts of law
• The Attorney General
• The Speaker of the House of Representatives
• All of the above

• Agencies can overrule ALJs based on
• Different interpretations of the Constitution
• Different policy preferences
• Different interpretations of the facts found by the ALJ
• Different interpretations of the governing regulations
• All of the above

Long Answers (show your reasoning!):

1. Inland Steel has applied for a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to open a new steel fabrication plant in Gary, Indiana to be made from recycled steel.  To issue a permit, EPA must be convinced under the statute that the new plant will not “materially deteriorate atmospheric quality.”  EPA denies the permit on the ground that “atmospheric quality” must be assessed in the particular neighborhood where the plant is located as opposed to the atmosphere more generally in the city itself.  It concedes that it formerly interpreted “atmospheric quality” with reference to the city but now has decided to construe that term with respect to the neighborhood where the plant is to be built so as to protect citizens who live near the proposed plant.  EPA relies on its experts’ predictions of significant emissions in the neighborhood.  Inland Steel has argued that the EPA experts’ evidence is biased.

Inland Steel is outraged and wishes to sue the agency under the APA.  What is its likelihood of success and why?

2.  United Pet Supply operates a series of pet stores throughout the Midwest of the United States.  Assume that the City of Chicago receives complaints of neglect and unsanitary conditions at a United Pet Supply store located in the city.  Investigators traveled to the store and found that the animals looked abused, had insufficient water, and that the temperature in the store was excessive.  Accordingly, the city investigators removed the animals from the store and revoked the owners’ pet-dealer permit.  They informed the pet store owners that they were entitled to a formal hearing before an administrative judge two months later to seek a return of the animals seized and that they could reapply for a permit whenever they deemed it appropriate.

United Pet Supply files suit in federal district immediately after the seizure alleging that the investigators’ actions violated Due Process.  What is the result and why?

3. Under the Social Security Act (SSA), individuals are entitled to disability benefits if they meet the statutory definition of disability.  Currently, SSA regulations provide that claimants are entitled to an evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, as   defined under the Administrative Procedure Act, if the agency denies their claims for disability.  Regulations also provide for an appeal from an adverse ALJ decision to the agency, and thereafter an appeal to federal district court.  SSA has delegated its      authority to resolve any appeals within the agency to the Appeals Council, whose members are appointed by the agency itself and can be removed from office by the agency for any reason.  

SSA has just announced that all individuals afflicted with back pain are entitled to a hearing before the Appeals Council instead of before an ALJ.  SSA is pursuing this policy because of the wildly inconsistent results from ALJs trying to assess whether back pain is disabling within the meaning of the SSA.

A claimant with back pain comes into your office complaining that the change is unfair.  Assuming that such a lawsuit is permissible, what are his best arguments and why?  

SAMPLE SOLUTION

Short Answer:  Make the best selection you can and explain briefly why you chose that answer.

1.  Judges will defer in part to
2.  Agency assessment of scientific facts
3. Agency assessment of witness testimony even if only the ALJ hears the witness
4. Agency interpretation of laws concerning agency power
5. Agency interpretation of the agencies’ own rules
6. All of the above

Answer: d

When judges find that an agency’s rules are deemed ambiguous, they can defer the rules to the agency for own interpretation (Henckels, 2017).

•  Congress cannot preclude judicial review of
•  Tort claims against the federal government
• Contract claims against the federal government
• Constitutional claims against federal agencies
• Claims based on the statutory authority of agencies to act.
• Congress can preclude review of all of the above

Answer: c Federal agencies must act within the confines of the constitution and therefore judicial review is permitted to ensure…