Administrative Agencies: 21st Century, Powers, Rules, and Delegation

This assignment delves into the realm of administrative agencies, focusing on their law-making capabilities and the delegation of power granted by Congress. It highlights the agencies' legislative, executive, and judicial powers, as well as the role of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) of 1946 in setting standards for their law-making. The document explores the non-delegation doctrine, which restricts Congress from delegating legislative powers, and examines instances of unconstitutional delegation through key cases like Panama Refining Company vs. Ryan, Schechter Poultry Corporation vs. United States, and Touby v. United States. The assignment also differentiates between the three types of rules promulgated by administrative agencies: procedural, legislative, and interpretative rules, providing a comprehensive overview of the agencies' functions and legal constraints.

Administrative agencies
& 21st century

 Administrative agencies are bodies concerned
with law making.
 They have limited powers that are delegated by
the Congress.
 They are established under the provisions of
Article 1 Section 1 of the Federal constitution.
 The rules and regulations created by them can
be enforced as law.
 Their standard of exercising their lawmaking
powers are set by the Administrative Procedure
Act 1946[i] (APA).
Administrative agencies:

 Though the US constitution has no mention
of administrative agencies, still in some
cases the Federal agencies are regarded as
the 4th branch of government.
 The legitimacy of the federal kind of
administrative agencies, for making rules
having the binding effect like the statutes
by Congress, are recognized by the
Supreme Court.
Administrative agencies
(Contd.):

 An administrative agency can be
established by Congress by means of a
legislation.
 When powers are given to an agency by
Congress, the legislation is called an
enabling act.
 Delegation of power by Congress to an
agency is called the delegation doctrine.
 Agencies have three types of powers, the
legislative, executive and the judicial
Delegation of authority by
Congress:

 A delegation may be unconstitutional when it is
violating the authority as provided under the
provisions of the Constitution.
 Unconstitutional delegations occurs in three ways:
 Violation occurs when Congress delegates huge power
and authority to the agencies as seen in Panama
Refining Company vs. Ryan, 293 U.S. 388(1935).
 Unconstitutional delegation also occurs when congress
delegates its own authority or that of courts to the
agencies. This was seen in Schechter Poultry
Corporation vs. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935)
(49).
Unconstitutional delegation:

 Delegation of power and authority can be
unconstitutional when Congress permits one
agency to control another which is again
the functioning of the other.
Unconstitutional delegation
(Contd.):

 Non-delegation Doctrine refers to a principle
enshrined under the administrative law.
 It states that legislative powers cannot be
delegated by the Congress to the administrative
agencies.
 Delegation of power and authority is allowed only
when clear and proper standard is being
prescribed by Congress for guiding an agency for
creating a policy.
 An intelligible principle must be present in case
of the agencies in order to base their regulations.
Non-delegation Doctrine

 The Attorney General was authorized by the
Controlled Substances Act for adding new
drugs to the 5 controlled substances’
schedules.
 In order to comply with the procedures of the
Act, long delays occurred.
 This helped the drug traffickers for creating
and marketing the ‘designer drugs’ having
same pharmacological impact but different
chemical composition before the Government
could begin prosecutions.
Touby v. United States, 500 U.S.
160 (1991)

 To solve this problem, section 201(h) is added
by the Congress to the Act.
 This resulted into scheduling any new
substance by the Attorney General
temporarily for avoiding imminent and serious
danger to the public and this temporary
scheduling cannot be reviewed by judicial
department.
 Regulations delegating power to Drug
Enforcement Administration was promulgated
by Attorney General.
Touby v. United States, 500 U.S.
160 (1991) (Contd.):

 During this, designer drug Euphoria was
designated as a controlled substance of
schedule 1.
 However, petitioners for the reason of
manufacturing and conspiring related to
Euphoria were indicted.
 District court held section 201(h) delegates
unconstitutional power to the Attorney
General.
 The Court of Appeal dismissed it stating that
the section is not unconstitutional.
Touby v. United States, 500 U.S.
160 (1991) (Contd.):

 They are procedural rules, legislative rule and
interpretative rules.
 Interpretative rules are statements which are
issued by an administrative agency to explain the
government statute’s construction.
 Procedural rules are issued to establish the
operation method of an organization as well as the
conduct rules to be practiced.
 Legislative rules are issued by the administrative
agency authorized by the legislature. These can
act as law if they are constitutional and as per
procedure.
3 kinds of rules promulgated
by Administrative Agencies:

 Panama Refining Company vs. Ryan, 293
U.S. 388(1935).
 Schechter Poultry Corporation vs. United
States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935) (49).
 Touby v. United States, 500 U.S. 160 (1991).
References: