Public Administration Theory and the "Soft" State

The role of the judicial branch in legitimizing federal executive power is a necessary part of the discussion about public administration and the state. One of its central roles in our governmental system is to reconcile or legitimize the administrative state as part of our constitu tional system of governance. During the 1960s and 1970s, federal courts handed down a series of decisions that shaped federal agency proce dures for rulemaking and adjudication. These cases expanded existing avenues of participation for advocacy groups representing consumer rights, worker safety, and protection of endangered species, among other values. Farina (1997) explains the model of constitutional legitimacy in this way: It conceives of the ideal ad ministrative process as a perfected legislative process, in which all af fected interests will be heard by the agency and reasonably accommodated (p. 179). The of the state reflected by the interest representation model is consistent with the vision of civil association, especially its concern for resolving conflicts among the particular ends of individuals and groups participating in the administrative process. In recent years, how ever, the U.S. Supreme Court has adopted a different model, attribut ing legitimacy to the president as head of a major political branch of the government. Farina points out in her analysis of recent cases that the U.S. Supreme Court has moved away from the interest representation model in two important ways. The new model?what some legal analysts call the theory of the unitary executive?grants deference to the statutory interpretations of administrative agencies because they report to the chief executive. The second step clinches executive control by associating the president with an undifferentiated public interest in enforcing the law: Through the President's exercise of his constitutional responsibility, agencies take their place within the constitutional design. Through him We, the People control the bureaucracy. Thus, the of the Chief Executive serves simultaneously as an opportunity to le

Adjudication · Administrative law · Agency (philosophy · Deference · Judicial deference · Judicial review · Law and economics · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Rulemaking · Separation of powers · Sociology · State (computer science · Statutory interpretation · Supreme court · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Law, Rights, and Freedoms · Legal and Constitutional Studies · Public Administration

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