Administrative Law & Regulations Flashcards

After Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024), how must courts treat an agency's interpretation of an ambiguous statute it administers?

Answer: Exercise independent judgment, though they may consider the agency's views for their persuasive value

Loper Bright overruled Chevron and requires courts to decide statutory meaning independently, giving agency views Skidmore-type respect.

Under Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Ass'n v. State Farm, an agency's rescission of a rule is arbitrary and capricious if the agency:

Answer: Entirely failed to consider an important aspect of the problem

State Farm requires reasoned decision-making, and ignoring an important aspect of the problem is arbitrary and capricious.

The APA's 'substantial evidence' standard of review applies primarily to:

Answer: Agency findings in formal proceedings subject to §§ 556–557 or reviewed on a hearing record

Section 706(2)(E) applies substantial evidence review to cases subject to §§ 556–557 or otherwise reviewed on the record of an agency hearing.

Under Bennett v. Spear, agency action is 'final' for APA review when it:

Answer: Marks the consummation of the agency's decision-making and determines rights or obligations or produces legal consequences

Bennett established a two-part test: consummation of decision-making and legal consequences flowing from the action.

Under Darby v. Cisneros, when is a party required to exhaust an optional internal agency appeal before seeking APA judicial review?

Answer: Only when a statute or agency rule requires the appeal and renders the action inoperative pending appeal

Darby held that § 704 limits exhaustion in APA cases to appeals mandated by statute or rule that suspend the action pending review.

Under Heckler v. Chaney, an agency's decision not to bring an enforcement action is:

Answer: Presumptively unreviewable as committed to agency discretion

Nonenforcement decisions are presumptively committed to agency discretion under § 701(a)(2), absent statutory guidelines.

Under Abbott Laboratories v. Gardner, a pre-enforcement challenge to a regulation is ripe when courts consider:

Answer: The fitness of the issues for judicial decision and the hardship to the parties of withholding review

Abbott Labs established the two-part ripeness test of fitness and hardship.