Administrative Law & Regulations Flashcards

Under the nondelegation doctrine, Congress may delegate legislative power to an agency if it provides:

Answer: An intelligible principle to guide the agency

Since J.W. Hampton, delegations are valid if Congress lays down an intelligible principle.

Under the major questions doctrine as applied in West Virginia v. EPA (2022), an agency claiming authority over a matter of vast economic and political significance must show:

Answer: Clear congressional authorization

The Court required clear congressional authorization for agency claims of power over issues of major economic and political significance.

In Seila Law LLC v. CFPB (2020), the Supreme Court held that:

Answer: For-cause removal protection for the CFPB's single director violates separation of powers

Seila Law held that insulating a single-director agency head from at-will presidential removal is unconstitutional, but the provision was severable.

In INS v. Chadha, the Supreme Court held that a one-house legislative veto of executive action:

Answer: Violates bicameralism and presentment requirements

Chadha struck down the legislative veto because legislative action must pass both houses and be presented to the President.

Under the Congressional Review Act, if a rule is disapproved by joint resolution, the agency:

Answer: May not reissue it in substantially the same form unless specifically authorized by later law

The CRA bars reissuing a disapproved rule in substantially the same form absent new statutory authorization.

An agency withholds internal predecisional memoranda reflecting staff policy recommendations in response to a FOIA request. Which exemption most likely applies?

Answer: Exemption 5 (inter- and intra-agency memoranda, including deliberative process privilege)

Exemption 5 covers privileged inter- or intra-agency memoranda, including predecisional deliberative documents.

Under Kisor v. Wilkie (2019), a court may defer to an agency's interpretation of its own regulation only if, among other things:

Answer: The regulation is genuinely ambiguous after exhausting traditional tools of construction

Kisor preserved but narrowed Auer deference, requiring genuine ambiguity and an authoritative, expertise-based, fair-and-considered interpretation.