Course | Columbia Law School

Administrative Law is the civil procedure of the regulatory state. Administrative agencies today play an important role in determining the entitlements and duties of the public. The goal of Administrative Law is to introduce students to both the constitutional overlay and the statutory framework that regulates administrative agencies in their exercise of such authority.

The principal emphasis of the course is on the major federal agencies. We will cover the forms of agency action and the procedures agency officials must observe under the federal Administrative Procedure Act; the means used by the legislative, judicial, and executive branches to control and review what agencies do; and the constitutional constraints that limit agency action. As the course attempts to place agencies in their full operating environment, political as well as judicial controls are stressed. Beyond exploring the sources of agency authority and the limits on agency action, we will consider normative questions about the legitimacy and accountability of government agencies in our constitutional system.