Lloyd Cutler Lecture

The Supreme Court vs. the Administrative State

Since the New Deal, a vast array of federal administrative agencies — the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, just to name a few — have been critical to protecting the health, safety, and financial security of the American people. But in the past decade, a meta-battle has been playing out in the United States courts about whether and how the federal government can address such issues. It’s a battle over the so-called administrative state and the role of government agencies. In this talk, Judge David Tatel summarizes the historical background of this development, the tools —especially the so-called major questions doctrine — that the Supreme Court is using to limit the authority of such agencies, and the threat it poses to the American people and American democracy.