Administrative Law Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards for reviewing administrative law cases.

Goldberg v. Kelly

Pre-termination hearings are required in welfare termination cases in order to protect recipients from erroneous benefit termination.

Mathews v. Eldridge

When terminating disability benefits, the state may look solely to medical records when gathering necessary evidence which eliminates the need for a pre-termination hearing.

Hamdi v. Rumsfeld

Even enemy combatants who are U.S. citizens have a right to minimum due process.

State v. Loomis

Due process rights were not violated because the risk assessment tool was only one factor in the sentencing decision, and information was not refuted from the PSI. Thus the sentencing was justified independent of risk score.

Board of Regents State Colleges v. Roth

Pre-termination hearings are not required when there is no deprivation of a liberty or property interest.

Perry v. Sindermann

When there is tenure in a government job, a pre-termination hearing is required because the employee is entitled to their job.

Cleveland Bd. of Ed. v. Loudermill

There is a property interest in civil service employment and the gov’t must give employees a pre-termination hearing.

Richardson v. Perales

Benefits can be denied based on evidence heard at a hearing that would otherwise be inadmissible under the rules of evidence.

Nash v. Califano

Administrative Law Judges may rely on published guidelines when making decisions.

Air Line Pilots Association v. Quesada

The Administrative Procedure Act does not require individual hearings for a rule of general applicability that affects the property rights of individuals.

National Petroleum Refiners Association v. Federal Trade Commission

Agencies can create both procedural and substantive rules.

Pacific States Box & Basket Co. v. White

Rules can only be struck down as arbitrary if there is no rational connection between the rule and its purpose, deference must be given to an administrative agency exercising power delegated by the legislature.

Automotive Parts & Accessories Association v. Boyd

An informal hearing satisfies the informal rulemaking requirements of Section 553 of the Administrative Procedure Act.

Nat’l Tire Dealers & Retreaders Association, Inc. v. Brinegar

Rules adopted by agencies must be practicable and meet the need for which they seek to address.

Motor Vehicle Manufacturers’ Assoc. v.. State Farm Mutual Auto Ins. Co.

The standard for overturning the revocation of a rule is the same standard as overturning the adoption of a rule: arbitrary and capricious.

General Electric Co. v. EPA

An agency must provide fair notice of its regulatory interpretations to the regulated public before imposing a fine based on the alleged violation of the regulations.

Center for Auto Safety v. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Guidelines issued by an administrative agency that are nothing more than general policy statements with no legal force are not subject to the requirements of notice-and-comment rulemaking.

Texas v. United States

If an administrative agency’s purported general policy statement is applied by the agency in a way that indicates that it is a binding rule, the rule requires notice-and- comment rulemaking.

United States v. Novia Scotia Food Products Corp.

An agency promulgating a rule through informal notice-and-comment rulemaking is required to provide a concise general statement that identifies the major issues of policy considered by the agency and the rationale for reacting to those issues.

Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.

An agency does not have to follow more rulemaking procedures other than those required by §553 of APA unless Congress demands more or the agency itself chooses at its discretion to provide more.

Sierra Club v. Costle

An agency can take late comments or seek comments from experts as long as they are docketed to give the public the opportunity to rebut them.

Securities & Exchange Commission v. Chenery Corp.

When an agency fails, they can try again with a new rational basis, evidence, etc. A new basis will defeat an arbitrary and capricious challenge.

Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe

Informal agency action does not need to be accompanied by formal findings and conclusions, but the agency must nonetheless give reasons for its actions.

Federal Communications Commission v. Fox Television Stations, Inc.

The Administrative Procedure Act generally does not require an agency to show that its new policy is preferable to the existing policy it replaces.

Johnson v. Robison

Statutory preclusion does not apply in cases involving constitutional violations.

Webster v. Doe

Constitutional claims always receive judicial review, congress must provide clear and convincing evidence if it intends to preclude judicial review of constitutional claims.

Heckler v. Chaney

An administrative agency’s decision not to take enforcement action is presumed immune from judicial review.

Massachusetts v. EPA

States can be plaintiffs and have standing as long as all elements of standing are met. For standing to be appropriate, an actual case or controversy must be present, which is characterized by a truly adversarial relationship.

Norton v. Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance

Section 706(1) of the Administrative Procedure Act does not give courts the authority to enter general orders compelling agencies to comply with broad statutory mandates. The APA allows challenges only to final, discrete agency actions that are legally required.

Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner

Judicial review is only available to final agency action.

Toilet Goods Association v. Gardner

Speculation that injury may occur at some point does not meet the standard of “direct, immediate, and concrete injury”.

Dalton v. Specter

In order to have standing, there must be final agency action.

Association of Data Processing Service Organizations, Inc. v. Camp

Plaintiff must suffer injury-in-fact and the injury must be within the zone of interest under the applicable statute.

6 ways to overturn agency decision

Prove a decision/agency

1. Is arbitrary and capricious

2. Is contrary to a constitutional right/privilege/immunity

3. was made outside of the agency’s jurisdiction

4. Did not follow the proper procedures in making decision

5. Not supported by substantial evidence in the record

6. Unwarranted by the facts presented (to extent the facts are subject to a de novo review)

Hearing requirements

1. Notice

2. Opportunity to be heard

3. Right to cross examine adverse witnesses

4. Opportunity to present evidence

What constitutes a property interest?

1. Occupational/professional license issued by the government/granted by an administrative agency responsible for regulating these professions

2. Social welfare benefits to which a citizen is statutorily entitled (social security, unemployment, workers’ comp., disability)

3. Government employment (teachers, every civil service job)

   1. Business permits and liquor licenses

What constitutes a liberty interest?

1. Freedom to engage in occupation of choice

2. Freedom from physical restraint

3. Freedom to practice religion of choice

What interests require due process?

Termination of welfare benefits; termination of state teacher in system with tenure; public employment in a civil service system; physical detention.

What interests DO NOT require due process?

Termination of disability benefits; termination of a teacher with a one-year contract

Types of rules

Procedural - functioning of the agency

Interpretive - enacted to explain the relevant statute

Legislative - imposing new substantive rules

Informal / Notice & Comment Rulemaking

More common than formal rule making.

1. Publish notice of intended rule

2. Give public/industries time to comment on rule - between 30-90 days

3. Read and consider all comments

4. Decide to adopt the rule based on comments

5. Create a “Final Order” which gives opinion on why the rule was adopted and rationale for rejecting comments in opposition

6. Notice published in Federal Register

How to overturn an agency rule?

Find that it is arbitrary or capricious (aka, must be rational connection between the rule and its purpose)

Find that rule exceeds statutory authority of agency

Find that the rule was adopted without following proper procedure

What are the nine exceptions to FOIA disclosure?

1. Classified documents related to nat’l security/foreign policy

2. Internal rules/practice of the agency

3. Materials expressly prohibited from disclosure by statute

4. Trade secrets, financial information

5. Atty work product/Atty communication

6. Medical and personnel files of agency employees

7. Law enforcement records/investigatory reports

8. Bank Audits

9. Geological/geophysical information and data

When are agencies excepted from judicial review?

Agencies are excepted from judicial review when there is a statutory preclusion or the decision is committed within the discretion of the agency. Failure of agency to act is subject to judicial review in the same sense that agency’s decision to act is.

Elements of Standing for Judicial Review

1. Injury in fact - Plaintiff suffered concrete, particularized injury

2. Not speculative - Injury is actual, immediate, direct or imminent

3. Traceability - injury must be caused by defendant

4. It is likely that a favorable decision will redress the injury

When can a plaintiff bring a case?

Must have standing, and must be ripe for review — aka, there must be final agency action before being ripe for review.