A State Solution to the Administrative State

A new paper out today from the Goldwater Institute argues that state legislatures can and should play a role in reducing the power of the administrative state through laws that ensure the judiciary remains fair, impartial, and independent when deciding cases involving administrative agencies.

A fundamental tenet of our legal system is that when two parties appear before a court, they are on equal footing. That is, the court ought to apply the law equally to both parties, weigh the merits of each case impartially and not be predisposed in favor of one party’s legal arguments over another. Yet in judicial actions that involve decisions from administrative agencies, a series of deference doctrines require courts to defer to the government when the government is prosecuting or defending an action from an administrative agency. In other words, in cases in which a court applies deference to administrative agencies, the court is obligated to put its proverbial thumb on the scale for the government and its legal arguments. 

Read the rest of the op-ed at the Daily Independent. 

Jon Riches is the Director of National Litigation at the Goldwater Institute and the author of the new report Ending Deference to the Administrative State in State Legislatures.