Prerequisites: None

Exam: One-Day Take-home

This course will study the law governing federal administrative agencies and related matters of policy and theory. Using the material covered in the first-year “Legislation and Regulation” course as a foundation, this class will cover a variety of more advanced topics, including the structure and function of administrative agencies; the role of agencies in interpreting statutes and regulations; the legal framework governing administrative adjudication as opposed to regulation; the president’s power to supervise the executive branch; congressional delegation and principal-agent problems; the theory and practice of statutory interpretation; and the role of private actors in the administrative process. The central theme of the course will be on the need to manage the tension between flexibility and constraint in the administrative state.