Event Title

Independent Agencies Under Attack: A Skeptical View of the Importance of the Debate

Presenter Information

Susan Bartlett Foote

Location

Duke Law School

Start Date

26-2-1988 9:15 AM

End Date

26-2-1988 10:30 AM

Description

The 1980s have witnessed two related but distinct attacks on independent agencies. One attack is grounded in constitutional theory. Some have argued that independent agencies, those "strange amalgam[s]" that blend the functions of all three branches but are the creatures of none, violate the separation of powers doctrine in the Constitution. This approach has been labeled "neoclassical" or the "new formalism." These terms suggest a rediscovery of fundamental constitutional principles. Another attack proceeds from an organizational perspective. Without clear lines of authority from one branch of government, independent agencies are politically unaccountable, and therefore vulnerable to regulatory inefficiency and external manipulation. In essence, the independent agency form is organizationally dysfunctional. This functional critique is almost as old as independent agencies, yet the criticism continues unabated.

Comments

This event was not recorded.

Related Paper

Susan Bartlett Foote, Independent Agencies Under Attack: A Skeptical View of the Importance of the Debate, 1988 Duke Law Journal 223-237 (1988)

Available at: http://scholarship.law.duke.edu/dlj/vol37/iss2/2


This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Feb 26th, 9:15 AM Feb 26th, 10:30 AM

Independent Agencies Under Attack: A Skeptical View of the Importance of the Debate

Duke Law School

The 1980s have witnessed two related but distinct attacks on independent agencies. One attack is grounded in constitutional theory. Some have argued that independent agencies, those "strange amalgam[s]" that blend the functions of all three branches but are the creatures of none, violate the separation of powers doctrine in the Constitution. This approach has been labeled "neoclassical" or the "new formalism." These terms suggest a rediscovery of fundamental constitutional principles. Another attack proceeds from an organizational perspective. Without clear lines of authority from one branch of government, independent agencies are politically unaccountable, and therefore vulnerable to regulatory inefficiency and external manipulation. In essence, the independent agency form is organizationally dysfunctional. This functional critique is almost as old as independent agencies, yet the criticism continues unabated.