Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2022
Publication Information
97 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 79 (2022).
Abstract
The Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in United States v. Florida East Coast Railway is widely regarded as obviously wrong—a flaw readily overlooked because the case eliminated formal rulemaking, a category of agency action that is almost universally maligned. This essay argues that administrative law has misunderstood Florida East Coast Railway. The decision vindicates an array of forgotten but foundational principles upon which the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) was based. The Supreme Court could have delivered a less opaque, confusing opinion. But it reached the right result. Understanding why it reached the right result can help to explain a key case in the administrative law canon, clarify the interpretive principles that apply to statutory hearing requirements, illuminate the deeper workings of the APA, and reveal some special but underappreciated challenges of interpreting and enforcing a quasi-constitutional framework statute.
Recommended Citation
Emily S. Bremer,
Blame (or Thank) the Administrative Procedure Act for Florida East Coast Railway,
97 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 79 (2022)..
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/1582
Comments
Commemorating the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of the Administrative Procedure Act