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#Administrative State

58 entries

Branches (4)
Article I vs. Article III Courts
Why some federal judges serve for life and others for fixed terms, and which cases each kind may decide
Council on Environmental Quality
The White House office that coordinates environmental policy and oversees how agencies carry out the National Environmental Policy Act
The Office of Management and Budget
The largest office in the White House orbit: it builds the President's budget, controls spending, and reviews every major regulation
U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
The appeals court in Washington that reviews more federal agency actions than any other, often called the second most important court in the country
Departments (5)
Board of Veterans' Appeals
The VA body whose judges decide appeals of veterans' benefit claims
Executive Office for Immigration Review Reorganizing
The Justice Department agency that runs the nation's immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals
The Federal Aviation Administration
The agency that runs air traffic control, certifies every aircraft and pilot, and oversees 45,000 flights a day
The Food and Drug Administration
The regulator of drugs, vaccines, medical devices, food, tobacco, and cosmetics, roughly a fifth of what Americans buy
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The agency that writes and enforces workplace safety rules for 130 million workers with fewer than 2,000 inspectors
Agencies (14)
Administrative Conference of the United States
The small independent agency that studies federal agency procedures and recommends improvements in rulemaking and adjudication
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
The independent federal agency that oversees Section 106 review, the process requiring federal projects to consider their effects on historic places
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Reorganizing
The agency created after the 2008 financial crisis to regulate mortgages, credit cards, loans, and other consumer financial products
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) Reorganizing
The 2025 White House initiative to cut federal spending, staff, and contracts and modernize government technology
Federal Advisory Committees
The roughly one thousand outside expert panels that advise federal agencies, governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act's rules on openness and balance
Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission
The independent tribunal that decides disputes over mine safety citations, penalties, and miners' discrimination complaints
Government-Sponsored Enterprises
Privately owned, federally chartered financial companies created by Congress to steer credit to housing, agriculture, and education
Interstate Commerce Commission Dissolved
The nation's first independent regulatory agency, which regulated railroads and later trucking from 1887 until Congress abolished it in 1995
Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission
The independent tribunal that decides employer challenges to workplace safety citations and penalties issued by OSHA
The Environmental Protection Agency Reorganizing
The regulator of air, water, chemicals, pesticides, and hazardous waste
The Federal Communications Commission
The regulator of radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable communications and the airwaves they use
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The safety regulator for civilian nuclear power plants, reactors, and radioactive materials
The Securities and Exchange Commission
The regulator of stock markets, public companies, investment funds, and the disclosures investors rely on
U.S. Access Board
The independent federal agency that writes accessibility standards for buildings, transportation, and technology under the ADA and related laws
Offices & Roles (8)
Administrative Law Judges
The judges inside federal agencies who hold trial-like hearings and decide disputes over benefits, licenses, enforcement actions, and penalties under the Administrative Procedure Act
Competitive vs. Excepted Service
The two main tracks of federal employment: competitive jobs filled through open merit hiring, and excepted jobs filled under special authorities outside the usual rules
Deputy Secretaries and Under Secretaries
The Senate-confirmed officials just below each cabinet secretary who run day-to-day operations and lead major divisions of the federal departments
Inspectors General
The independent watchdogs inside federal agencies who audit programs and investigate waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct, reporting to both the agency head and Congress
Schedule C and Schedule F Reorganizing
The federal job categories that exempt certain policy-related positions from competitive hiring: Schedule C for political aides, and Schedule F, now Schedule Policy/Career, for career employees in policy roles
Senior Executive Service
The corps of about 8,000 top managers just below presidential appointees, created in 1978 to give the government a mobile, accountable class of career executives
The Federal Civil Service Reorganizing
The career workforce of the federal government: about two million civilians hired on merit and protected from political dismissal
The Federal Workforce by the Numbers
How many people work for the federal government, where they work, which agencies employ them, and how the workforce has changed, including the 2025 reductions
Processes (8)
Code of Federal Regulations
The official, subject-by-subject compilation of all federal regulations currently in force, organized into 50 titles and updated continuously online
Congressional Review Act
The 1996 law that lets Congress overturn recently issued agency rules by a simple-majority joint resolution and bars agencies from reissuing substantially the same rule
Federal Rulemaking
How agencies turn laws into binding regulations through notice and comment, White House review, and judicial oversight
Government Contracting and Procurement
How the federal government buys more than $700 billion a year in goods and services from private companies, under rules meant to ensure competition and fair dealing
Government Reorganization Authority
The power, once delegated by Congress to the President, to restructure federal agencies by submitting reorganization plans, and the limits on doing so without new legislation
Notice and Comment
The process under the Administrative Procedure Act by which agencies propose regulations, invite public comment, and respond before issuing a final rule
OIRA and Regulatory Review
The White House office that reviews significant agency regulations before they are issued, weighs their costs and benefits, and coordinates the President's regulatory agenda
The Federal Register
The government's daily journal of rules, proposed rules, notices, and presidential documents
Principles (10)
Agency Adjudication
How federal agencies decide individual cases, from benefits claims and immigration hearings to enforcement actions, outside the regular federal courts
Cost-Benefit Analysis
The practice, required by executive order since 1981, of weighing the expected costs and benefits of major federal regulations before they are issued
Deregulation
The reduction or removal of government rules on industries and the economy, from the bipartisan transportation reforms of the late 1970s to the regulatory budgets of 2017 and 2025
Major Questions Doctrine
The rule that agencies need clear congressional authorization for policies of vast economic or political significance
Regulatory Capture
The theory that regulatory agencies come to serve the industries they oversee rather than the public, and the safeguards designed to prevent it
The Administrative State Reorganizing
The hundreds of federal agencies that write rules, enforce them, and decide disputes, sometimes called the fourth branch
The Appointments Clause
The Article II provision dividing appointment power between the President and the Senate, and letting Congress assign inferior officers to the President, the courts, or department heads
The Deep State
A contested term for career officials, especially in intelligence and law enforcement, said to resist or work against elected leaders, and the debate over bureaucratic power it reflects
The Nondelegation Doctrine
The principle that Congress may not hand its lawmaking power to agencies or others, enforced by requiring that delegations come with an intelligible principle
The Revolving Door
The movement of people between government jobs and lobbying or industry positions related to their public work, and the cooling-off rules that limit it
Documents & Cases (8)
Administrative Procedure Act
The 1946 law that governs how every federal agency makes rules, decides cases, and is reviewed by courts
Chevron v. NRDC (1984) Dissolved
The case that told courts to defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, the most cited administrative law ruling until it was overruled in 2024
Federal Advisory Committee Act
The 1972 law requiring federal advisory committees to be chartered, balanced, and open to the public, so outside advice to government is transparent
Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024)
The case that overruled Chevron and ended forty years of judicial deference to agency readings of ambiguous laws
Paperwork Reduction Act
The 1980 law that created the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and requires OMB approval before agencies collect information from the public
The Reorganization Acts Dissolved
The series of laws from 1932 to 1984 that let Presidents restructure the executive branch through plans that took effect unless Congress objected
The Seventh Amendment
The 1791 amendment preserving the right to a jury trial in federal civil cases and limiting judges' power to overturn jury findings
West Virginia v. EPA (2022)
The case that formally named the major questions doctrine, limiting the EPA's power to shift the electricity grid away from coal
States & Local (1)
State Agencies
The departments, boards, and commissions that carry out state law, from transportation and health to universities and utility regulators
All Tags
Executive Branch 148 Legislative Branch 110 Separation of Powers 110 Economy 108 Cabinet Department 105 Constitution 94 Budget 80 Supreme Court 77 Elections 76 Federalism 75 States 70 Judicial Branch 65 National Security 62 Law Enforcement 59 Administrative State 58 Oversight 49 Military 45 Foreign Policy 40 Health 39 Environment 36 Independent Agency 35 Statute 31 Civil Service 30 Data & Statistics 29 Regulatory Commission 28 Former Agency 24 Emergency Management 24 Transportation 24 Intelligence 22 Education 22 Immigration 22 Taxation 21 Government Corporation 15 Territories 12 Veterans 9 Tribal 8