Leg Reg Flashcards by THYP Smurf

Which part of the legislative process do we primarily study here?

how courts interpret enacted laws

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What must we examine after understanding how laws are passed?

administrative agencies’ role in implementation

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Which chamber has a ‘Rules Committee’ that limits debate?

the House

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Which chamber has unlimited debate (i.e., filibusters)?

the Senate

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What fraction of the Senate stands for reelection each cycle?

one-third

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How often are members of the House up for reelection?

every two years (all at once)

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Which actor is considered the most important legislative player for incentivizing legislators?

the President

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Why does a president’s popularity matter to legislators of the same party?

it affects their political survival

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What is one major resource the President has for shaping public opinion?

the bully pulpit

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Which court case involved Duke Power and a racially disparate impact from diploma requirements?

Duke Power

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Which type of federal agencies are headed by a multi-member group and enjoy ‘for cause’ removal protection?

independent agencies

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What is the most important independent agency mentioned in these notes?

the Federal Reserve

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Which branch creates federal agencies through statutes?

Congress

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Why do most laws come from agencies rather than Congress?

delegated authority to promulgate rules

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What is the key purpose of delegating lawmaking tasks to agencies?

expertise

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Which core principle justifies agencies’ role given that Congress can’t track constant changes in every sector?

flexibility

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What is a potential downside when Congress delegates complex decisions to agencies?

agencies bear the political heat

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What is one major question courts face about prior decisions: when do they overrule vs. stick to precedent?

stare decisis

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What is the standard textualist approach to statutory interpretation?

the meaning of the words on the page

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Which approach focuses on the legislature’s subjective mindset or goal?

intentionalism

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Which approach tries to advance a statute’s objective or goal?

purposivism

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What does ‘textualism’ consider irrelevant to interpreting the statute?

legislative intent or purpose

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What is the main difference between textualism and intentionalism?

objective vs. subjective focus

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Under textualism, whose perspective defines the ‘plain meaning’ of a statute?

a reasonable reader of the enacted text

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Which hypothetical is often used to illustrate the limit of purely literal readings?

the “Drug Store” example

Which famous canon suggests that ‘within the letter but not the spirit’ may allow ignoring plain text?

Holy Trinity’s approach

What did the Holy Trinity case rely on to override a plain textual reading?

the statute’s spirit or intent

What does the ‘mischief rule’ ask when interpreting a statute?

the defect in common law the statute aimed to fix

What critique did Radin offer against legislative intent searches?

intent is incoherent for large legislatures

What conflict can arise between literal statutory text and perceived ‘absurd results’?

judges may deviate from text to avoid absurdity

Which era saw the Supreme Court use constitutional doctrine to strike down economic regulations?

the Lochner era

What is the ‘legal realist’ critique of judicial decisions?

they reflect policy judgments, not pure law

Which famous fictional case frames debates about law vs. morality in dire situations?

the Speluncean Explorers

What is the concept that abiding by prior decisions fosters predictability and legitimacy?

stare decisis

What is a major drawback of strict adherence to stare decisis?

perpetuates error

Which case about baseball’s antitrust exemption shows how stare decisis can preserve odd rules?

Flood v. Kuhn

Which textual canon treats each word of a statute as meaningful, so none is redundant?

the anti-surplusage canon

Which interpretive rule prefers narrower readings of ambiguous criminal statutes to favor defendants?

the rule of lenity

Which canon avoids interpreting statutes in ways that raise serious constitutional doubts?

the avoidance canon

Which approach is sometimes called ‘new textualism’ and focuses on ordinary meaning rather than legislative intent?

Scalia’s textualism

Which case (involving LSD blotter paper) highlighted conflicting textual approaches (Easterbrook vs. Posner)?

United States v. Marshall

What does the ‘major questions doctrine’ insist upon for agency authority over significant economic or political issues?

clear congressional statement

Which case famously used that reasoning to hold that the FDA lacked authority to regulate tobacco?

FDA v. Brown & Williamson

Which concept suggests agencies cannot expand regulation to major new areas without explicit statutory direction?

elephants in mouseholes (major questions)

Which Supreme Court case held that Title VII covers sexual orientation, using a textualist rationale (Justice Gorsuch)?

Bostock v. Clayton County

Which interpretive canon looks to a term’s neighbors in a list to clarify its meaning?

noscitur a sociis

Which related canon restricts a general catch-all phrase to items similar to listed specifics?

ejusdem generis

Which case about fish disposal (tangible objects?) invoked noscitur a sociis?

Yates v. United States

Which case reaffirms that agencies must respond to significant comments and reveal data used in rulemaking?

Nova Scotia

Which Act is considered the charter for federal administrative procedure?

the APA (Administrative Procedure Act)

What standard do courts use to assess whether an agency’s rule is invalid under the APA?

arbitrary and capricious

Which clause of the Constitution vests the President with ‘the Executive Power’?

Article II, §1

Which clause requires the President to ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed’?

the Take Care Clause

Which case (by Chief Justice Taft) broadly affirmed presidential removal power over executive officers?

Myers v. United States

Which case created an exception for certain independent agency heads with ‘for cause’ removal protection?

Humphrey’s Executor

What is the general rule reaffirmed in Seila Law about removing executive officers?

at-will removal by the President

Name one narrow exception allowing limited ‘for cause’ removal protection

multi-member independent agency heads

Which Supreme Court case recognized an ‘inferior officer’ who could be protected from at-will removal?

Morrison v. Olson

Which doctrine prohibits Congress from delegating purely legislative power without an intelligible principle?

the nondelegation doctrine

Which case described that even a broad standard like ‘public interest’ can suffice as an intelligible principle?

Whitman v. American Trucking

Which case about endangered species recognized a broad reading of ‘take’ to include habitat modification?

Babbitt v. Sweet Home

Which interpretive canon did Justice Scalia invoke to argue for a narrow reading of ‘take’ in Babbitt v. Sweet Home?

noscitur a sociis

Which principle holds that federal law should not lightly intrude on traditional state functions without clear language?

the clear statement rule for federalism

Which case about state judges’ mandatory retirement used the ‘clear statement’ rule to protect state sovereignty?

Gregory v. Ashcroft

Which case on chemical weapons charges used the avoidance canon to avoid a major constitutional question?

Bond v. United States

Which concept suggests we expect a ‘loud’ legislative signal before drastically altering state-federal power balances?

the ‘dog that didn’t bark’ idea

What must occur if a regulation is truly major, involving vast economic/political significance?

explicit congressional authorization

Which rulemaking process typically requires publishing a proposed rule and gathering written comments?

notice and comment rulemaking

What standard do courts use to review agency choices under notice-and-comment rulemaking?

not arbitrary or capricious

Which legal mechanism can limit a judge's or official’s power to remove an officer?

for-cause removal protection

Which group of federal workers is not considered ‘officers of the United States’?

employees (no significant authority)

What does the APA require agencies to provide after public comments are received?

a concise general statement of basis and purpose

Why is there often strong judicial deference to agencies’ factual findings?

agency expertise

How can subsequent congressional acts implicitly ‘ratify’ an agency’s interpretation?

by legislating in reliance on that interpretation

What is the key difference between a ‘principal officer’ and an ‘inferior officer’?

direct vs. subordinate final decision authority

What is the Supreme Court’s current stance on the nondelegation doctrine?

rarely used to strike down delegations

Which clause in Article II triggers Senate confirmation for principal officers?

the Appointments Clause

Which two constitutional principles often collide in big agency cases?

separation of powers & federalism