Frequently Searched

Stop Deferring to Rule by Bureaucrats

April 3, 2019

April 3, 2019
by Jon Riches

We live in a system where administrative agencies exercise extraordinary power. Under existing law, administrative agencies are free to fine people, deny them licenses, and even recommend criminal penalties for alleged violations of agency rules and regulations. These rules and regulations are not made by elected lawmakers, but by the agency itself.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in Kisor v. Wilkie, a case that may fundamentally alter administrative law at the federal level. But states don’t need to wait — and shouldn’t wait — for the Supreme Court’s decision to address the same issues in their own backyards.

Administrative agencies are empowered to make rules through the rulemaking process (and often through less formal processes that have the force of law), investigate alleged violations of those rules, and adjudicate those alleged violations with an administrative-law judge hired and employed by the agency. In other words, this system allows unelected bureaucrats at administrative agencies to be lawmaker, sheriff, judge, and jury.

Read the full op-ed at National Review Online.

Jon Riches is the Director of National Litigation at the Goldwater Institute.

 

 

More on this issue

Donate Now

Help all Americans live freer, happier lives. Join the Goldwater Institute as we defend and strengthen freedom in all 50 states.

Donate Now

Since 1988, the Goldwater Institute has been in the liberty business — defending and promoting freedom, and achieving more than 400 victories in all 50 states. Donate today to help support our mission.

We Protect Your Rights

Our attorneys defend individual rights and protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Need Help? Submit a case.

Get Connected to Goldwater

Sign up for the latest news, event updates, and more.

Wait! Don’t close this yet!

We are grateful for your support of the Goldwater Institute’s efforts to advance and defend liberty throughout the United States. For over 36 years, we’ve been defending the rights of Americans to live their lives free from government interference.

And Goldwater is unique in that we direct our efforts to the 50 states where we introduce and advance innovative ideas that expand freedom. And we fight in courtrooms and capitals nationwide to defend individual liberty.

In 2024 alone, we scored over 50 policy and litigation victories defending liberty!

And that’s just the beginning.

Our plans for 2025 include:

  • Stopping pernicious DEI and other woke programs in America’s universities.
  • Ensuring that patients suffering from rare and terminal diseases have access to cutting-edge, lifesaving medical treatments, without having to first seek permission from the government.
  • Defending parental rights across the United States so that parents can send their kids to the school that best fits their needs, free from leftist indoctrination.
  • Eliminating government interference in the fundamental right of individuals to own property and use it as they see fit.
  • And much, much more

We seek to restore the presumption of liberty; that people are free to act without first asking permission from the government.

But we cannot do this without you. Will you join us as we fight to preserve and advance liberty throughout the country? As we seek new and innovative ways to defend freedom in all 50 states?

And there’s great news: Thanks to a generous Goldwater supporter, your donation today will be doubled!

So please, join us in fighting to advance liberty and score real wins for freedom from coast to coast!