Gray Matters (The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Administrative State)

Ronald A. Cass, Sally Katzen, and Noah J. Philips kick off the 2023 Annual Gray Lecture with a conversation about the "rule of law" in administrative law. This panel discussion builds on a forthcoming symposium featuring essays on the rule of law that will soon appear in the NYU Journal of Law & Liberty. The Gray Center and the NYU JLL cohosted an event in February on campus at NYU to discuss the themes of the essays. We were glad to bring the conversation to Washington, D.C., to continue the discussion.

Notes:

Video of the panel discussion

Former Director of the Office of Management and Budget Mick Mulvaney and Stanford Law Professor Michael W. McConnell discuss the importance of Congress's power of the purse in constitutional government, an issue of significant importance in cases now before the Supreme Court, in a conversation with Gray Center Co-Executive Director Adam White.

Former Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia delivers the Second Annual C. Boyden Gray Lecture on the Administrative State. Following an introduction by Boston University School of Law Dean Emeritus Ron Cass, Secretary Scalia discusses his time working at the Department of Labor and how his experience leading a cabinet agency affected the way he thinks about debates involving the administrative state.

Show Notes:

• Video of Panel

Jace Lington talks with Adam White about the new book, Scalia: Rise to Greatness, 1936–1986, by James Rosen. They discuss Scalia’s early life and career, including his family, his faith, and his work in private practice and as a lawyer and teacher. Adam highly recommends the book for anyone interested in Antonin Scalia and his contributions to our understanding of the Constitution and American institutions.

Show Notes:

• Scalia: Rise to Greatness, 1936–1986, James Rosen, Regnery
• Scalia’s Rise, Adam White, Commentary
• Teaching About the Law, Antonin Scalia, Christian Legal Society Quarterly
• Antonin Scalia, Legal Educator, Adam White, National Affairs

Adam White and Jace Lington talk with former Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt about his new book, You Report to Me: Accountability for the Failing Administrative State. In the book, Secretary Bernhardt offers his perspective on reforming the administrative state based on years of public service at the Department of Interior spanning multiple presidential administrations.

Show Notes:

You Report to Me: Accountability for the Failing Administrative State, Encounter Books, May 9, 2023

Adam White and Jace Lington talk with James-Christian Blockwood about his recent Government Executive article on civil service reform. They discuss current proposals to make more civil servants removable at will as well as ways to build a nonpartisan, professional federal workforce that protects the interests of the American people.

Show Notes:

• Let's Rethink the Management of our Civil Service, GovExec, April 28, 2023
• Partnership for Public Service, Website
• "You Report to Me” Gray Matters Podcast with David Bernhardt, May 10, 2023
• “Do Public Sector Unions Make Government Unaccountable?” Gray Matters Podcast with Philip K. Howard, January 24, 2023
• From Merit to Expertise and Back: The Evolution of the U.S. Civil Service System, Joseph Postell, Gray Center Working Paper, February 6, 2020
• Restoring Accountability to the Executive Branch, Philip K. Howard, Gray Center Working Paper, February 6, 2020
• Quick Actions to Improve Recruitment, Hiring, and Accountability in the Federal Workforce, Jeffrey Salmon, Gray Center Policy Brief, March 2021

• Civil Service: Pulling In or Pushing Away, Sally Katzen, Gray Center Policy Brief, August 2020
• Jimmy Carter and Civil Service Reform, Stuart E. Eizenstat, Gray Center Working Paper, May 22, 2019

Jace Lington talks with AEI’s Philip Wallach about his new book, Why Congress. They discuss what makes Congress central to the American system of representative government and reasons we should look to Congress as the best place to resolve the most contentious issues of our day.

Notes:

• Why Congress, Oxford University Press, 2023
  
• The Revolution That Wasn’t: Conservatives Against Congress, 1981-2018, Gray Center Working Paper 20-22
• Incompletely Theorized Agreements in Constitutional Law, Cass Sunstein, 2007

Adam White talks with NYU Law Professor Richard Epstein and Gibson Dunn Partner Allyson Ho about the upcoming Supreme Court term. They discuss the recent oral argument in the CFPB funding case, the major questions doctrine, how the court should approach revisiting Chevron deference in the upcoming Loper Brightcase, and the adjudication system in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Adam White and Jace Lington talk with Josh Chafetz and Noah Rosenblum about some of the big administrative law cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. They discuss the state of the Court, where things might be headed next, and problems with conservative critiques of the Administrative State.

Notes:

• Noah Rosenblum, What We Talk About When We Talk About the Rule of Law in the Administrative State, New York University Journal of Law & Liberty, Vol. 16, No. 3 (2023)
• Josh Chafetz, The New Judicial Power Grab, St. Louis University Law Journal, Vol. 67 (2023)
• CFPB v. CFAS, Brief of Professors of History and Constitutional Law as Amici Curiae (2023)
• Beau J. Baumann, Americana Administrative Law, Georgetown Law Journal, Vol. 111 (2023)
• Nikolas Bowie & Daphna Renan, The Separation-of-Powers Counterrevolution, Vol. 131, No. 7 (2022)
• Ashraf Ahmed, Lev Menand, Noah Rosenblum, The Tragedy of Presidential Administration, Gray Center Working Paper, 2021
• Josh Chafetz, Congress’s Constitution (2019)
• Leah Litman, Debunking Antinovelty, Duke Law Journal, Vol. 66, No. 7 (2017)
• Kent Barnett & Christopher J. Walker, Chevron in the Circuit Courts, Michigan Law Review, Vol. 116, No. 1 (2017)
• Daniel R. Ernst, Tocqueville’s Nightmare, Oxford University Press (2014)
• Richard E. Neustadt, Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents (1991)

The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and the George Mason Law Review recently hosted a full-day symposium on the future of Chevron Deference. This episode of Gray Matters features a discussion among Law Professors Kent Barnett, Christopher J. Walker, and Thomas W. Merril about the Loper Bright case and the future of Chevron deference, moderated by Judge Paul B. Matey of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Notes:

• Video of the panel discussion from the conference

The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and the George Mason Law Review recently hosted a full-day symposium on the future of Chevron Deference. This episode of Gray Matters features a discussion among Law Professors Lisa Schultz Bressman, John F. Duffy, and Daniel E. Walters about the Loper Bright case and whether some form of judicial deference is unavoidable in administrative law, moderated by Judge David J. Porter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Notes:

• Video of the panel discussion from the conference

The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and the George Mason Law Review recently hosted a full-day symposium on the future of Chevron Deference. This episode of Gray Matters features a keynote address from Paul J. Ray, presenting his new paper about the expertise rationale for Chevron deference, and a fireside chat between Mr. Ray and Gray Center Co-Executive Director Jennifer Mascott, discussing his time as Administrator of OIRA.

Notes:

• Video from the conference
• Paul J. Ray's new paper on the expertise rational for Chevron deference

The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and the George Mason Law Review recently hosted a full-day symposium on the future of Chevron Deference. This episode of Gray Matters is a panel discussion featuring Aditya Bamzai, Jonathan S. Masur, Eli Nachmany, Victoria F. Nourse, moderated by Judge Chad A. Readler of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Notes:
Video from the conference

The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and the George Mason Law Review recently hosted a full-day symposium on the future of Chevron Deference. This episode of Gray Matters is a panel discussion featuring Professors Caroline Cecot, Emily Hammond, and E. Donald Elliott, moderated by Senior Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. They focus on the future of Chevron deference in the context of environmental and energy law.

Notes:
Video from the conference

Adam White and Jace Lington talk with Jonathan Wolfson about a new Cicero Institute report that ranks state regulatory systems based on their accountability, responsiveness, and transparency. They discuss cost-benefit analysis, regulatory sunset provisions, state-level centralized review modeled on OIRA, and venue restrictions.

Notes:

• Matthew Nolan and Jonathan Wolfson, National Regulatory Reform: Progress Rankings Report 2023
• Matthew Nolan and Jonathan Wolfson, State Regulatory Processes Are Ripe for Reform, Governing
• Cicero Institute, Regulatory Sunset Model Bill
• Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Administrative Law in the States
• Eugene Scalia, 2023 C. Boyden Gray Lecture on the Administrative State, “The Administrative State Debate: A View From the Secretary’s Office”
• 2021, Stuart Shapiro, The Impossibility of Legislative Regulatory Reform and the Futility of Executive Regulatory Reform, George Mason Law Review

This episode of Gray Matters is the first of a three-part series and came out of a recent conference we hosted about the future of financial regulation. In this episode, Adam White speaks with former FDIC Chairman Jelena McWilliams about the current state of banking regulation. They discuss presidential oversight of the FDIC, how chairman McWilliams thought about her role, and the most pressing issues facing banks and regulators today.

Notes:

• Videos from the conference
• Chairman McWilliams's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about changes in FDIC practice
• Wall Street Journal editorial about Chairman McWilliams's resignation from the FDIC

The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, the Mercatus Center, and the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy recently hosted a full-day symposium on the future of financial regulation. This episode of Gray Matters is a panel discussion featuring the Hoover Institution's John H. Cochrane and professors Kathryn Judge, Jonathan R. Macey, and Todd J. Zywicki, moderated by Scalia Law professor Paolo Saguato. They discuss banking regulation, consumer finance, and what might be coming next in the world of financial regulation.

Notes:

• Videos from the conference

The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, the Mercatus Center, and the Journal of Law, Economics & Policy recently hosted a full-day symposium on the future of financial regulation.

This episode of Gray Matters is a panel discussion featuring law professors Bridget C.E. Dooling and Kristin E. Hickman along with former OIRA Administrator Paul J. Ray and AEI Senior Fellow Emeritus Peter Wallison, moderated by Gray Center Co-Executive Director Adam White.

They discuss OIRA oversight of financial regulators and how to reform federal financial regulations.

Notes:

• Videos from the conference

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with Ronald A. Cass about the future of judicial deference to agency actions. They discuss Cass’s recent papers, “Fixing Deference: Delegation, Discretion, and Deference Under Separated Powers,” published by the New York University Journal of Law & Liberty, and “Getting Deference Right,” published by National Affairs. Ron insists on the crucial distinction between court decisions on what the law means and agency decisions about policy implementation.

Notes:

• Fixing Deference: Delegation, Discretion, and Deference Under Separated Powers (NYU JLL, 2023)
• Getting Deference Right (National Affairs, 2024)
• Loper Bright Amicus Brief, Gray Center Separation of Powers Clinic
• Gray Center 2023 Rule of Law Symposium

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with Law Professor Michael D. Ramsey about how originalists can defend the major questions doctrine as a substantive canon of interpretation. He examines post-ratification court practice and other substantive canons designed by judges to minimize the harms of judicial error when interpreting ambiguous statutes. Ramsey recently presented a paper on this subject at a Gray Center research roundtable.

Notes:

• An Originalist Defense of the Major Questions Doctrine, Michael D. Ramsey
• The Major Questions Doctrine: Right Diagnosis, Wrong Remedy, Thomas W. Merrill
• The Ghosts of Chevron Present and Future, Gary S. Lawson
• Biden v. Nebraska: The New State Standing and the (Old) Purposive Major Questions Doctrine, Jed Handelsman Shugerman
• The Major Answers Doctrine, Lisa Heinzerling
• The New Purpose and Intent in Major Questions Cases, Anita S. Krishnakumar
• The Major Questions Doctrine: Unfounded, Unbounded, and Confounded, Ronald M. Levin
• The Minor Questions Doctrine, Aaron L. Nielson
• The Major Questions Doctrine Outside Chevron‘s Domain, Adam R.F. Gustafson

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with Law Professor Jed Handelsman Shugerman about lingering issues following the Supreme Court’s decision in the Biden v. Nebraska student loan case. They discuss a recent paper Shugerman presented at a Gray Center research roundtable, “Biden v. Nebraska: The New State Standing and the (Old) Purposive Major Questions Doctrine.”

Notes:

• Biden v. Nebraska: The New State Standing and the (Old) Purposive Major Questions Doctrine, Jed Handelsman Shugerman
• Major Questions About Presidentialism: Untangling the “Chain of Dependence” Across Administrative Law, Jed Handelsman Shugerman and Jodi L. Short
• Standing Without Injury, Jonathan H. Adler
• An Originalist Defense of the Major Questions Doctrine, Michael D. Ramsey
• The Major Questions Doctrine: Right Diagnosis, Wrong Remedy, Thomas W. Merrill
• The Ghosts of Chevron Present and Future, Gary S. Lawson
• The Major Answers Doctrine, Lisa Heinzerling
• The New Purpose and Intent in Major Questions Cases, Anita S. Krishnakumar
• The Major Questions Doctrine: Unfounded, Unbounded, and Confounded, Ronald M. Levin
• The Minor Questions Doctrine, Aaron L. Nielson
• The Major Questions Doctrine Outside Chevron‘s Domain, Adam R.F. Gustafson

Jace Lington chats with Scalia Law Professor Donald J. Kochan about Florida and Disney. They discuss his recent paper applying public choice theory to Florida’s Reedy Creek Improvement Act of 1967 and why the special treatment Disney received from the state is not a good model for state and local regulation.

Notes:

• Disney v. Democracy? A Public Choice and Good Governance Analysis of Florida’s Reedy Creek Improvement Act of 1967 and Its Resulting Regime, Donald J. Kochan
  

The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy recently hosted a series of webinars ahead of a forthcoming symposium on Equity and the Administrative State.

This episode of Gray Matters is a panel discussion about the use of racial classifications to make public policy and how race has affected the character of American institutions featuring David Bernstein, Jonathan Berry, and Joy Milligan, moderated by Renée Landers.

Notes:

• Watch a video of the discussion
  

The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy recently hosted a series of webinars ahead of a forthcoming symposium on Equity and the Administrative State.

This episode of Gray Matters is a panel discussion from February 23, 2024, about affirmative action and other ways regulators pursue equity through the administrative state featuring Ming Chen, Jesse Merriam, and Bijal Shah, moderated by Kmele Foster.

Notes:
Video of the Webinar

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with former OIRA Administrator Paul J. Ray about his new paper, “Lover, Mystic, Bureaucrat, Judge: The Communication of Expertise and the Deference Doctrines.” In the paper, Mr. Ray critiques the expertise rationale for Chevron deference, arguing that agency employees can share much of the special knowledge they use to make decisions with reviewing courts. 

Notes:

• Lover, Mystic, Bureaucrat, Judge: The Communication of Expertise and the Deference Doctrines, Paul J. Ray 
• Keynote Address and Fireside Chat, October 2023, Chevron on Trial: The Supreme Court and the Future of Agency Authority and Expertise 

This is a rebroadcast of the Gray Center's Federal Preemption and Environmental Regulation Webinar. We hosted this event on April 29, 2024, to discuss the issues involved in two pending cases where energy companies have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether the Clean Air Act preempts attempts by Honolulu, Hawaii, to redress certain climate change-related alleged injuries. 

Featured Speakers:

• Jonathan Adler, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
• Richard Epstein, New York University
• Edmund LaCour, Solicitor General of Alabama
• Jennifer Mascott, C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
• Adam White, C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State 

Notes:

• Video of the Webinar

This is a rebroadcast of a panel discussion from an event we co-hosted on May 15, 2024, with the Manhattan Institute and the Federalist Society. The panelists discuss whether state tort law is an appropriate tool for addressing climate change and the petition for certiorari in Sunoco LP, et al. v. City and County of Honolulu.

Featured Speakers:

• Jonathan Adler, Case Western Reserve University School of Law
• James Copland, Senior Fellow and Director of Legal Policy, Manhattan Institute
• Donald Kochan, Antonin Scalia Law School
• Jennifer Mascott, C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State

Jace Lington chats with Jenn Mascott about Judge Aileen Cannon's decision to dismiss the classified documents case against Donald Trump. They discuss the Appointments Clause and the broader context of the debate surrounding the special counsel investigation of the former president.

Notes:

• Judge Aileen Cannon's decision in US v. Trump
  
• Justice Thomas's concurring opinion in Trump v. US
  
• Jenn Mascott's Stanford Law Review article on the Appointments Clause
  

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with Beau J. Baumann about his historical research into the Offices of Legislative Counsel. They discuss his forthcoming paper, Resurrecting the Trinity of Legislative Constitutionalism, and how Progressive reformers at the turn of the twentieth century built institutions to arrest congressional decline.

Notes:

Resurrecting the Trinity of Legislative Constitutionalism, Beau J. Baumann 

How Chief Justice Taft Wrote the Famous Myers Opinion, with Robert Post, Gray Matters 

On June 11, 1946, President Truman signed the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) into law, and it was intended to be “a bill of rights for the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose affairs are controlled or regulated in one way or another by agencies of the Federal Government,” according to its lead sponsor in the Senate. If we were to redesign the APA for today’s version of the administrative... Source

In his confirmation hearing, Chief Justice John Roberts famously analogized his role to that of an umpire, “to call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat.” Dean Ronald Cass argues in a new paper that in three notable decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court— Kisor v. Wilkie, Department of Commerce v. New York, and Department of Homeland Security v. Regents of University of California—Roberts also... Source

This summer, Professor Jennifer Mascott joined the Gray Center as its new Co-Executive Director. With school back in session, and the Center’s fall programs underway, Jenn visited the podcast for a conversation with our other Co-Executive Director, Adam White. They discussed her current research interests, her recent experience in the Justice Department, and her plans for Gray Center programs... Source

On September 17, 2021, the Gray Center hosted an event in memory of Judge Stephen F. Williams: a conference for new papers written for a symposium on his enormous legacy in law and liberty. We are grateful to our authors, who discussed their newly completed papers at this event, hosted at the Decatur House in Washington, D.C., and followed by a reception where we were all able to continue the... Source

On September 17, 2021, the Gray Center hosted an event in memory of Judge Stephen F. Williams: a conference for new papers written for a symposium on his enormous legacy in law and liberty. We are grateful to our authors, who discussed their newly completed papers at this event, hosted at the Decatur House in Washington, D.C., and followed by a reception where we were all able to continue the... Source

On September 17, 2021, the Gray Center hosted an event in memory of Judge Stephen F. Williams: a conference for new papers written for a symposium on his enormous legacy in law and liberty. We are grateful to our authors, who discussed their newly completed papers at this event, hosted at the Decatur House in Washington, D.C., and followed by a reception where we were all able to continue the... Source

On October 1, 2021, the Gray Center hosted a conference to mark the twentieth anniversary of Elena Kagan’s landmark published article on “Presidential Administration,” where authors and scholars discussed and presented seven new working papers and two new books on this important and timely concept, during a series of panel discussions. The first panel was introduced by Gray Center Co-Executive... Source

On October 1, 2021, the Gray Center hosted a conference to mark the twentieth anniversary of Elena Kagan’s published article on “Presidential Administration,” where authors and scholars discussed and presented seven new working papers and two new books on this important and timely concept, during a series of panel discussions. The second panel looked at Kagan’s landmark piece... Source

On October 1, 2021, the Gray Center hosted a conference to mark the twentieth anniversary of Elena Kagan’s published article on “Presidential Administration,” where authors and scholars discussed and presented seven new working papers and two new books on this important and timely concept, during a series of panel discussions. D.C. Circuit Judge and Gray Center Founder Neomi Rao sat down with Gray... Source

On October 1, 2021, the Gray Center hosted a conference to mark the twentieth anniversary of Elena Kagan’s published article on “Presidential Administration,” where authors and scholars discussed and presented seven new working papers and two new books on this important and timely concept, during a series of panel discussions. The third panel analyzed current issues in presidential administration... Source

On October 1, 2021, the Gray Center hosted a conference to mark the twentieth anniversary of Elena Kagan’s published article on “Presidential Administration,” where authors and scholars discussed and presented seven new working papers and two new books on this important and timely concept, during a series of panel discussions. The fourth and final panel featured two authors of recent books on... Source

On October 21, 2021, the Gray Center and the Heritage Foundation co-hosted a special event to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States. This event, consisting of a daytime law symposium and evening lecture, brought together jurists, legal academics and practitioners, including many of the Justice’s former clerks... Source

On October 21, 2021, the Gray Center and the Heritage Foundation co-hosted a special event to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States. This event, consisting of a daytime law symposium and evening lecture, brought together jurists, legal academics and practitioners, including many of the Justice’s former clerks... Source

On October 21, 2021, the Gray Center and the Heritage Foundation co-hosted a special event to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States. This event, consisting of a daytime law symposium and evening lecture, brought together jurists, legal academics and practitioners, including many of the Justice’s former clerks... Source

On October 21, 2021, the Gray Center and the Heritage Foundation co-hosted a special event to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States. This event, consisting of a daytime law symposium and evening lecture, brought together jurists, legal academics and practitioners, including many of the Justice’s former clerks... Source

On October 21, 2021, the Gray Center and the Heritage Foundation co-hosted a special event to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court of the United States. This event, consisting of a daytime law symposium and evening lecture, brought together jurists, legal academics and practitioners, including many of the Justice’s former clerks... Source

When President Biden signed the new infrastructure law in mid-November, most attention was focused on the money it will spend, and the projects it might fund. But infrastructure expert DJ Gribbin was focused on a subtler part of the law: Title VIII’s provisions for “Federal Permitting Improvement,” which seek to streamline the infrastructure-approval process, making it more efficient and more... Source

On Friday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the legality of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (“OSHA”) vaccination-or-test mandate. The parties challenging the mandate contend that it is unprecedented in the breadth of its assertion of authority. On this podcast, Professor Jenn Mascott, co-director of the Gray Center, interviews Steve Lehotsky of Lehotsky Keller–the... Source

Louis Brandeis famously wrote that “a single courageous State may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory” for government reform. Today we see many states becoming laboratories for the reform of administrative law. Last year, the Gray Center hosted a roundtable to discuss new research on administrative law in the states. Those papers were recently released as Gray Center Working Papers... Source

When the Supreme Court ruled that OSHA’s Covid vaccine mandate was unlawful, Justice Gorsuch wrote separately that the Court’s decision “rightly applies the major questions doctrine.” The Major Questions Doctrine has been increasingly important in the Supreme Court and lower courts’ decisions, among judges who believe (as Gorsuch puts it) that the doctrine “ensures that the national government’s... Source

Please join us for a conversation on the Supreme Court’s term so far, and the cases soon to be heard. Halfway through the Supreme Court’s term, the Justices already have issued decisions with major consequences for the administrative state — most recently, its decisions on the OSHA and HHS vaccine mandates. Next the Court will hear cases involving the breadth and limits of the EPA’s powers on... Source

Steven Engel Today, in the Gray Center’s “Pulse of the Court” podcast series, Steve Engel of Dechert LLP and Jenn discuss the just-completed February oral argument sitting at the Supreme Court. They focus primarily on the final case of the sitting, Egbert v. Boule, which raises important questions about whether, and when, federal officers should be subject to monetary damages for alleged... Source

Last month, the Second Circuit heard oral arguments in Community Housing Improvement Program v. City of New York, a constitutional challenge to New York’s Rent Stabilization Law. The plaintiffs argue that New York’s law violates the Constitution’s Due Process and Takings Clauses. To discuss the case—and its relationship to federal administrative state issues—Adam chats with the plaintiffs’ lead... Source

On March 18, the Gray Center hosted the First Annual Gray Lecture on the Administrative State, an event that we hope to make a keynote of our calendar each year. This included a panel discussion, featuring Professors John Harrison, Aaron Nielson and Aditya Bamzai, along with Gray Center Co-Executive Director Adam White. They discussed the future of “agency independence” in the aftermath of Seila... Source

Adam chats with Wharton School Assistant Professor Brian D. Feinstein about his new paper, “Submerged Independent Agencies,” co-authored with the University of Chicago Law School’s Jennifer Nou. The paper covers hundreds of examples of administrative agency officials sub-delegating rulemaking powers to civil servants who are not appointed by the president, a court of law, or a department head and... Source

Matt Bowman of Alliance Defending Freedom, Andrea R. Lucas of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Roger T. Severino of the Ethics and Public Policy Center talk about developing policy challenges related to the free exercise of religion in a panel discussion moderated by D.C. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden. The panelists touch on issues like Covid-related limits on worship... Source

Attorneys Nathan Lewin, Erin E. Murphy, Mark Rienzi, and Marc D. Stern talk about upcoming religious liberty cases before the US Supreme Court in a panel discussion moderated by former Assistant Attorney General Steven A. Engel. The panelists debate the potential impact of Supreme Court rulings in those cases in addition to whether current approaches to protecting religious liberty are adequate to... Source

Ed Whelan, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, chats with Paul D. Clement, 43rd Solicitor General of the United States, about Clement’s experience with religious liberty cases leading up to the 110th case he has argued before the US Supreme Court, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. Source

Adam chats with AEI’s Peter Wallison and John Yoo about their new book: The Administrative State Before the Supreme Court: Perspectives on the Nondelegation Doctrine. They discuss common arguments about the nondelegation doctrine and whether the US Supreme Court is likely to start applying the doctrine to restrain administrative agencies. Source

This panel discussion, from the Gray Center’s May 25 Capitol Hill Conference, focused on how Congress can exercise effective oversight authority to get nonpublic information from the Executive Branch. It featured Sidley Austin LLP partner William R. Levi, Jones Day partner Hashim M. Mooppan, and was moderated by The Honorable Steven G. Bradbury, former General Counsel and Acting Secretary of the U. Source

This panel discussion, from the Gray Center’s May 25 Capitol Hill Conference, consisted of a timely discussion on the leaked Dobbs draft opinion and the implications of this relating to the institution of the Supreme Court. It featured Hunton Andrews Kurth Special Counsel The Honorable Thomas B. Griffith, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP partner Jeffrey B. Wall, Advisory Opinions podcast host Sarah Isgur... Source

Boyden Gray, former White House Counsel and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, chats with Gray Center Co-Executive Director Jennifer Mascott, where he described how Congress has changed over the decades, talked about his experiences as a law clerk at the US Supreme Court and as White House Counsel, and spoke about Justice Clarence Thomas’s legacy on the Court. From the Gray Center’s May 25... Source

Professor Jenn Mascott is joined by Chad Squitieri, associate at Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher LLP and Eli Nachmany, Senior Research Fellow at the C. Boyden Gray Center, to discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. EPA and what it means for the administrative state moving forward. Source

Adam White and Jace Lington, Research Director at the Gray Center, chat with Columbia Law School Professor Thomas W. Merrill about his new book: The Chevron Doctrine: Its Rise and Fall, and the Future of the Administrative State. They discuss theChevron doctrine, how to think about judicial review of agency interpretations of statutes, and the Supreme Court’s recent decision in West Virginia v. Source

Adam White and Jace Lington talk with Emily Bremer from the University of Notre Dame Law School about the Administrative Procedure Act and her two recent law review articles about how the original understanding of administrative rulemaking and adjudication differs from current practice. They also discussed the Bremer-Kovacs Collection, which brings together original sources related to the 1946... Source

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with NYU Professor Rachel E. Barkow about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspending a state attorney for announcing his intention not to prosecute certain cases involving abortion and other politically charged issues. They discuss how prosecutorial discretion works (or doesn’t), lessons the federal government can learn from state criminal law experience... Source

Join Prof. Steve Vladeck (U-Texas) & Prof. Jenn Mascott who discuss Prof. Mascott’s amicus brief in Nordlicht v. U.S. (21-1319), distributed for the Court’s 9/28 conference this week, that addresses Blackstone, Rule 33 motions, and a deep circuit split & Prof. Vladeck’s recently filed petition in Donziger v U.S. (22-274), addressing the Appointments Clause, special prosecutors, and a split Second... Source

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with NYU Law Professor Richard Epstein and Meta Oversight Board Member John Samples about the debate surrounding whether and how to regulate Big Tech companies. They discuss Epstein and Samples’ recent papers, published as part of the Digital Platforms and American Life project at the American Enterprise Institute, and think about content moderation decisions in... Source

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with Anthony P. Campau about his experience with regulatory budgeting during the Trump administration. They discuss Campau’s recent paper, Regulatory Budgeting in the U.S. Federal Government: A First-Hand Account of the Initial Experience and Recommendations for Future Regulatory Budgets, published as part of a symposium in the Harvard Journal of Law & Source

This episode is from the first panel of the Gray Center’s October 14 conference, “The Administration of Antitrust: The FTC and the Rule of Law.” It features the following experts: Andrew I. Gavil, Professor of Law, Howard University School of Law Thomas Hazlett, H.H. Macaulay Endowed Professor of Economics, Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business, Clemson University Bernard (Barry) A. Nigro... Source

This episode is from the second panel of the Gray Center’s October 14 conference, “The Administration of Antitrust: The FTC and the Rule of Law.” It features the following experts: Svetlana Gans, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP Jennifer Mascott, Assistant Professor of Law & Co-Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State, Scalia Law School Paul R. Source

This episode is from the Keynote Speech of the Gray Center’s October 14 conference, “The Administration of Antitrust: The FTC and the Rule of Law.” It was given by William E. Kovacic, Director, Competition Law Center; Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy; Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School; former Chairman... Source

This episode is from the third panel of the Gray Center’s October 14 conference, “The Administration of Antitrust: The FTC and the Rule of Law.” It features the following experts: Jeffrey S. Lubbers, Professor of Practice in Administrative Law, Washington College of Law, American University Thomas W. Merrill, Charles Evans Hughes Professor, Columbia Law School The Honorable Eugene Scalia, Partner... Source

This episode is from the fourth panel of the Gray Center’s October 14 conference, “The Administration of Antitrust: The FTC and the Rule of Law.” It features the following experts: Ashley Baker, Director of Public Policy, Committee for Justice Justin (Gus) Hurwitz, Professor of Law, Nebraska College of Law, University of Nebraska – Lincoln; The Menard Director, Nebraska Governance and Technology... Source

What do American and European administrative law have in common? How do they differ? And what might Americans and Europeans learn from each other? These questions were on the mind of Prof. Przyemyslaw Ostojski when he visited the Gray Center this year. As a professor at the Academy of Justice in Warsaw and a prosecutor in the Republic of Poland’s Attorney General’s Office, he is an expert on... Source

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling and his chief counsel, Brad Kelley, about how to address the threat of employment discrimination posed by artificial intelligence tools, the subject of their new article in the University of Miami Law Review. They discuss how AI can help make the hiring process easier for employers and how using those tools intersects with... Source

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with Philip K. Howard about the problems public unions create for modern governance, the subject of his new book, Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions. They discuss specific challenges faced by executive officials at the local, state, and federal level working with unionized employees and ways to address those issues. Source

On January 9, 2023, the C. Boyden Gray Center hosted a symposium, “Administrative Law in the States,” with the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy and the Harvard Federalist Society. It featured the following participants: -Justice Brian Hagedorn, Wisconsin Supreme Court -Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit -Justice David N. Wecht... Source

Adam White and Jace Lington chat with Andrew Wheeler and Reeve Bull about Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin’s new approach to regulatory policy. They discuss the commonwealth’s new Regulatory Economic Analysis Manual and how it will change the way Virginia regulatory agencies approach their work. Executive Order 19, Development and Review of State Agency Regulations VA Regulatory Economic Analysis... Source

Professors Noah A. Rosenblum, Thomas W. Merrill, and Philip Hamburger talk about what the rule of law means in the context of administrative law on a panel moderated by Judge Rachel P. Kovner. The discussion came out of a forthcoming symposium in the NYU Journal of Law & Liberty and took place on campus at NYU. Source

Professors Gary Lawson and Sally Katzen join Adam White to talk about the Roberts Court and administrative law on a panel moderated by Judge Steven J. Menashi. The discussion came out of a forthcoming symposium in the NYU Journal of Law & Liberty and took place on campus at NYU. Source

The Honorable Neomi Rao gives keynote remarks about the tendency of courts to look at tradeoffs between the executive and judicial branches and largely ignore Congress in separation of powers cases. Her speech came out of a forthcoming symposium in the NYU Journal of Law & Liberty and took place on campus at NYU. Source

Adam White and Jace Lington talk with Judge Glock, director of research and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, about how progressive reformers designed independent regulatory commissions to replace the function of juries, the subject of his new article in Regulation magazine. Glock argues that the original approach to staffing regulatory commissions during the Progressive Era focused on... Source

The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Administrative State, at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, supports research and debate on the modern administrative state, and the constitutional issues surrounding it. In this podcast, we’ll discuss some of the questions being debated around modern administration — some new questions, some timeless ones. And you can also get the audio from... Source

On September 13, the Gray Center hosted a conference on The Future of White House Regulatory Oversight and Cost-Benefit Analysis. At the conference, a number of scholars presented new research on cost-benefit analysis and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or “OIRA.” All of the papers are available on the Gray Center’s web site. And the conference was keynoted by the... Source

On September 13, the Gray Center hosted a conference on The Future of White House Regulatory Oversight and Cost-Benefit Analysis. At the conference, a number of scholars presented new research on cost-benefit analysis and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or “OIRA.” All of the papers are available on the Gray Center’s web site. And the conference was keynoted by the... Source

On September 13, the Gray Center hosted a conference on The Future of White House Regulatory Oversight and Cost-Benefit Analysis. At the conference, a number of scholars presented new research on cost-benefit analysis and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or “OIRA.” All of the papers are available on the Gray Center’s web site. And the conference was keynoted by the... Source

On September 13, the Gray Center hosted a conference on The Future of White House Regulatory Oversight and Cost-Benefit Analysis. At the conference, a number of scholars presented new research on cost-benefit analysis and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or “OIRA.” All of the papers are available on the Gray Center’s web site. And the conference was keynoted by the... Source

On October 8, 2019, the Gray Center lost a great friend and mentor when Michael Uhlmann passed away at the age of 79. Professor Uhlmann served most recently as a Professor of Government at the Claremont Graduate University and Claremont McKenna College; previously he served in the federal government’s executive and legislative branches, taught at George Mason University... Source

On October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source

On October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source

On October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source

On October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source

On October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source

On October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source

On October 25, 2019, the Gray Center hosted “The Administration of Immigration.” For this conference, the Gray Center invited scholars to write papers exploring ways to improve our nation’s immigration system, and discuss them alongside other experts in panel sessions addressing such topics as whether immigration law is special, the costs and benefits of immigration, judicial review of the... Source

On October 25, 2019, the Gray Center hosted “The Administration of Immigration.” For this conference, the Gray Center invited scholars to write papers exploring ways to improve our nation’s immigration system, and discuss them alongside other experts in panel sessions addressing such topics as whether immigration law is special, the costs and benefits of immigration, judicial review of the... Source

Does the Constitution set limits on the powers that Congress authorizes agencies to exercise? Last year, in Gundy v. United States, Justice Gorsuch issued a dissenting opinion calling for a reinvigorated “nondelegation doctrine.” He was joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Thomas. Gorsuch’s dissent, along with Justice Alito’s separate opinion, and a subsequent opinion from Justice Kavanaugh... Source

On October 25, 2019, the Gray Center hosted “The Administration of Immigration.” For this conference, the Gray Center invited scholars to write papers exploring ways to improve our nation’s immigration system, and discuss them alongside other experts in panel sessions addressing such topics as whether immigration law is special, the costs and benefits of immigration, judicial review of the... Source

On October 25, 2019, the Gray Center hosted “The Administration of Immigration.” For this conference, the Gray Center invited scholars to write papers exploring ways to improve our nation’s immigration system, and discuss them alongside other experts in panel sessions addressing such topics as whether immigration law is special, the costs and benefits of immigration, judicial review of the... Source

On October 25, 2019, the Gray Center hosted “The Administration of Immigration.” For this conference, the Gray Center invited scholars to write papers exploring ways to improve our nation’s immigration system, and discuss them alongside other experts in panel sessions addressing such topics as whether immigration law is special, the costs and benefits of immigration, judicial review of the... Source