Administrative Law (Lee)
Faculty
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| Sophia Z. Lee Professor of Law and History slee@law.upenn.edu |
Additional Information
Skills Training
Team Projects
Expository Writing
Grading
10% Participation,
90% Exam
Exam
Essay,
Take Home,
Open-Book
No
Class meets in person.
Course Continuity
Students are encouraged to stay home if you are ill or experience flu-like symptoms. If you miss a class for any reason, it is still your responsibility to make up the work missed.
I offer the following to students who miss class due to illness:
- Class sessions are regularly recorded. I will make these recordings routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.
- I will make PowerPoint slides or other class materials routinely available on the course site to everyone in the class.
Meeting Times/Location
TR 3:00PM - 4:20PM
Gittis Hall 213
Category
First-Year
Credits
3.0
Since the founding, administration has been essential to American government. Government agencies have ensured everything from the delivery of the mails to the waging of wars to the protection of the environment. Today, we live in an administrative state populated by thousands of governmental bodies that exercise pervasive authority over the economy and lives of every American. But administration faces unique challenges to its legitimacy. Unlike courts, Congress, and the President which are explicitly described in the Constitution, administrative agencies are not, making them a constitutionally ambiguous “fourth branch of government.” Also, unlike the three named branches, which the Constitution constrains by separating and balancing against each other, most agencies exercise a blend of legislative (law making), executive (law enforcing and executing), and judicial (law interpreting and applying) authority. In addition to court-like adjudication, they also issue legislation-like prospective rules, and engage in executive-like enforcement. Indeed, some agency activities blend these powers in a single action. Constraining administration thus poses unique challenges. “Administrative law” is the body of constitutional, statutory, executive, and common law that constrains and thereby seeks to legitimate the exercise of agencies’ powers. A challenge for administrative law is to balance constraining and legitimating administration with not unduly frustrating agencies’ ability to do the work that led to their creation in the first place. This course will critically examine administrative law and the balance it strikes. Topics include: the place of agencies in our tripartite structure of government, the choice between rulemaking and adjudication as devices for making policy, procedural requirements for the exercise of various administrative powers, and judicial review of administrative decisions. We will examine such hot-button topics as the privatization of government, the modern “imperial Presidency,” current threats to the constitutional underpinnings of administrative law, and debates about the best basis for administrative legitimacy--expertise, procedure, executive oversight, and/or democratic engagement.
Constitutional Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of constitutional law; Perform legal analysis in the context of constitutional law; Communicate effectively on topics related to constitutional law; Demonstrate an understanding of constitutional law affects other areas of law.
Intellectual Property and Technology Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of intellectual property law; Perform legal analysis in the context of intellectual property law; Communicate effectively on topics related to intellectual property; Demonstrate an understanding of the interconnection between technology and intellectual property, and how they affect other areas of law and society.
Health Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of health law and policy; Perform legal analysis in the context of health law and policy; Communicate effectively on topics related to health law and policy; Demonstrate an understanding of the interconnection among health law and policy and issues of access to services, public and private financing of health industries, and the political and economic issues surrounding issues of health law and health services.
Tax Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of tax law and policy; Perform legal analysis in the context of tax law and policy; Communicate effectively on topics related to tax law and policy; Demonstrate an understanding of how tax law and policy affect other areas of law and business.
Environmental Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of environmental law; Perform legal analysis in the context of environmental law; Communicate effectively on topics related to environmental law; Demonstrate an understanding of how environmental law affects other areas of law.
Administrative and Regulatory Law Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of administrative and regulatory law and the administrative process, including the role of statutory authorization and work of administrative agencies; Perform legal analysis in the context of administrative and regulatory law; Communicate effectively on topics related to administrative and regulatory law; Demonstrate an understanding of the role administrative and regulatory law play in our legal system and in society as a whole.
Public Interest Learning outcomes: Demonstrate a core understanding of the varied legal aspects of public interest law; Perform legal analysis in the context of public interest law; Communicate effectively on topics related to public interest law; Demonstrate an understanding of how public interest law is connected to and affected by a wide variety of legal and regulatory structures and doctrines.
Textbooks
"Gellhorn and Byse's Administrative Law" by Strauss, et. al. |