Gray Matters
151 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 5 ratingsThe C. Boyden Gray Center for the Administrative State, at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, supports research and debate on the modern administrative state, and the constitutional issues surrounding it. In this podcast, we’ll discuss some of the questions being debated around modern administration — some new questions, some timeless ones. And you can also get the audio from Gray Center events.
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Episodes
Thinking About “The Congressional Bureaucracy,” with Abbe Gluck, Jesse Cross, and Josh Chafetz (Congress and the Administrative State Series
October 26, 2020 18:25 - 49 minutes - 28.5 MBThe executive branch’s bureaucracy gets a lot of attention. But Congress’s bureaucracy gets much less—yet it is extremely important. In a new Gray Center working paper titled “ The Congressional Bureaucracy,” Professors Abbe Gluck and Jesse Cross analyze several parts of Congress’s bureaucracy—some well-known, like the Government Accountability Office, and others less so, like the Office of Law... Source
Congress and Cost-Benefit Analysis, with Caroline Cecot and Ricky Revesz (Congress and the Administrative State Series)
October 23, 2020 14:14 - 47 minutes - 27 MBWe often think of modern cost-benefit analysis as being a requirement primarily of executive orders, not statutes. Needless to say, Executive Order 12291 and 12866, and other executive orders and presidential documents, are of central importance. But Congress has done much on matters of cost-benefit analysis, too, often requiring agencies to consider costs and benefits... Source
Congressional Reform from 1981 Onward: Philip Wallach and Molly Reynolds (Congress and the Administrative State Series)
October 21, 2020 13:50 - 51 minutes - 29.4 MBIn 1994, Republicans won control of the House of Representatives for the first time in 50 years. Upon taking office, Speaker Newt Gingrich and his colleagues undertook major institutional reforms. What do those reforms tell us about conservatives’ modern views of the Constitution’s first branch of government, and how did those reforms affect Congress’s relationship to the President and... Source
“The Decision of 1946: The Legislative Reorganization Act and the APA,” with Joseph Postell and Jeremy Rabkin (Congress and the Administrati
October 19, 2020 15:40 - 44 minutes - 25.6 MBAdministrative Law scholars think of 1946 as the year that Congress enacted the Administrative Procedure Act. But too often we neglect another major law that Congress enacted in that year: the Legislative Reorganization Act. The LRA was intended to position Congress for long-term management of the administrative state. But its proponents were disappointed to see major provisions dropped from the... Source
“The Decision of 1946: The Legislative Reorganization Act and the APA,” with Joseph Postell and Jeremy Rabkin (Congress and the Administrative State Series)
October 19, 2020 15:40 - 44 minutes - 2.62 KBAdministrative Law scholars think of 1946 as the year that Congress enacted the Administrative Procedure Act. But too often we neglect another major law that Congress enacted in that year: the Legislative Reorganization Act. The LRA was intended to position Congress for long-term management of the administrative state. But its proponents were disappointed to see major provisions dropped from the final bill, and after its enactment the LRA generally failed to live up to its framers’ expe...
Joshua Wright on “Weaponizing Antitrust” Against Tech Companies
October 14, 2020 16:04 - 54 minutes - 31.1 MBToday’s guest is Professor Joshua Wright — a University Professor of Law at George Mason University, Director of the law school’s Global Antitrust Institute, a former FTC Commissioner, and one of the nation’s leading scholars of antitrust law and policy. Professor Wright and Jan Rybnicek recently co-authored an essay on recent calls to use antitrust law to regulate or break up “big tech” companies. Source
After 50 Years, What Is the National Environmental Policy Act Today?
October 08, 2020 18:04 - 1 hour - 35.4 MBOn September 24, 2020, the Gray Center co-hosted a live webinar, “After 50 Years, What Is the National Environmental Policy Act Today?” in partnership with Antonin Scalia Law School’s Society for Environmental and Energy Law. On January 1, 1970, President Nixon signed the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) into law. A briefly worded but powerful law, NEPA requires federal agencies to... Source
Adam Mossoff on the Innovation Economy and the Administrative State
October 05, 2020 15:29 - 59 minutes - 33.9 MBToday’s guest is Professor Adam Mossoff, a leading scholar of intellectual property and Co-Founder of Scalia Law’s Center for the Protection of Intellectual Property (CPIP). Three years ago, CPIP and the Gray Center co-hosted a major conference on the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), a new regulatory body empowered to revoke companies’ patents through an administrative process instead of a... Source
Teaching Administrative Law Outside the Classroom: Ballotpedia’s Christopher Nelson
September 23, 2020 14:02 - 32 minutes - 18.9 MBWe admit it, administrative law is a complicated subject — and, some say, a notoriously dull one. AdLaw is often a challenging subject to teach in the classroom, and even more challenging outside of it. The Gray Center is only one of several institutions that attempt to bring these issues to non-specialists. Another is Ballotpedia.org: Two years ago it created an Administrative State Project to... Source
Tech Regulation Series Keynote Conversation with FTC Commissioner Noah Phillips
September 17, 2020 14:03 - 47 minutes - 27.1 MBThe Federal Trade Commission is a century-old agency facing some of the most cutting-edge technologies and issues of our time. How should an agency apply old laws to new technologies? To conclude the Gray Center’s series of podcast conversations on innovation and regulation, Commissioner Noah Phillips joins Adam White to discuss issues ranging from the nondelegation doctrine... Source
Rethinking Regulatory Paradigms in a High-Tech Era (Tech Regulation Series)
September 16, 2020 14:01 - 1 hour - 36.5 MBDuring this era of disruptive technological change, heavy-handed regulation can stifle innovation and unintentionally undermine the public interest. Yet regulators are tasked by Congress with promoting particular policies, often under old statutes with outdated information. How can regulators best do their jobs in a way that promotes innovation and the public interest? In a pair of new Gray Center... Source
AirBNB and Local Regulators (Tech Regulation Series)
September 15, 2020 14:02 - 47 minutes - 16.3 MBConversations about “the administrative state” usually focus on federal regulators, but for many upstart tech companies, local regulation often presents the most significant challenges. Uber and Lyft, for example, famously collided with local taxicab regulations. And “short-term rental” companies like AirBNB have faced countless regulations from countless regulators. That is the subject of a new... Source
"Section 230" and the Regulation of Web Sites (Tech Regulation Series)
September 14, 2020 14:00 - 48 minutes - 27.5 MBNearly 25 years ago, Congress enacted Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, declaring web sites would not be treated as “publishers” in posting third-party statements, and that their “good faith” efforts to edit or moderate content would not expose them to legal liability. In those days, this legal protection helped the early generation of Internet web sites grow and change the world. Source
“Section 230” and the Regulation of Web Sites (Tech Regulation Series)
September 14, 2020 14:00 - 48 minutes - 2.81 KBNearly 25 years ago, Congress enacted Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, declaring web sites would not be treated as “publishers” in posting third-party statements, and that their “good faith” efforts to edit or moderate content would not expose them to legal liability. In those days, this legal protection helped the early generation of Internet web sites grow and change the world. Today, Section 230 has become the central focus of today’s debates surrounding Facebook, Twitte...
The Common Good: Rebuilding Trust and Rebooting the System with Philip Howard
September 04, 2020 18:00 - 47 minutes - 27 MBPhilip Howard, a lawyer and author, founded Common Good to call for fundamental reform of America’s bureaucratic, legal, and political institutions. And he sees the nation’s most recent controversies—government responses to Covid-19, and episodes of police misconduct—as exemplifying the breakdown of governance and social trust. In a July op-ed for USA Today, he wrote that “America needs a new... Source
Minutes to Midnight, or Four More Years: The Regulatory Agenda with Bridget Dooling & Philip Wallach
August 06, 2020 23:06 - 36 minutes - 12.6 MBThe fourth year of any presidential term is driven by a sense of urgency, and the administration’s regulatory or deregulatory agenda is no exception. President Trump’s fourth year has been further complicated by the Covid-19 outbreak, and the administration’s regulatory and deregulatory responses. To put the last few months into perspective and to look ahead to the coming months... Source
Executive Privilege: A Discussion with Dean Mark Rozell
July 24, 2020 12:30 - 43 minutes - 40 MBThe words “executive privilege” are not found in the Constitution, but some form of presidential secrecy has been asserted by presidents from George Washington onward. The Supreme Court’s latest term ended with major decisions in two cases involving executive privilege: Trump v. Mazars USA, involving subpoenas from the House of Representatives; and Trump v. Vance, involving subpoenas from a New... Source
Evasive Entrepreneurs: Innovation and the Administrative State
July 14, 2020 14:07 - 45 minutes - 41.3 MBHow should transformative technologies approach the administrative state, and vice versa? In his latest book, “Evasive Entrepreneurs & the Future of Governance,” Adam Thierer of the Mercatus Center reports that tech companies are finding ways to outpace the regulators—and that this is a very good thing. In this episode, the Gray Center’s director Adam White interviews Thierer about his book (and... Source
The Dubious Morality of Administrative Law
July 09, 2020 22:06 - 58 minutes - 33.2 MBOn July 6, the Federalist Society invited Adam White to interview Richard Epstein about his new book: “The Dubious Morality of Administrative Law,” for a public teleforum. Adam and Richard had a wide-ranging conversation about the book’s origin and major themes, and then Richard took questions from the audience. Richard previously keynoted two Gray Center conferences. Source
Tort Liability for Businesses During COVID-19
June 25, 2020 19:37 - 1 hour - 37.4 MBOn June 18, 2020, the Gray Center co-sponsored a live webinar, “A Discussion on Tort Liability for Businesses During COVID-19,” in partnership with the Law and Economics Center at Antonin Scalia Law School. Risks of the COVID-19 spread create substantial uncertainty for businesses when deciding whether to open up and conduct business, especially as they try to identify their duties in preventing... Source
Non-Presidential Administration
June 11, 2020 17:42 - 1 hour - 43.2 MBOn February 6, 2020, the Gray Center hosted a public policy conference on “Bureaucracy and Presidential Administration: Expertise and Accountability in Constitutional Government.” The conference was inspired in part by James Q. Wilson’s book, Bureaucracy, and Elena Kagan’s article, “Presidential Administration.” The panel sessions centered around new papers the Gray Center helped to incubate on... Source
The Tools of Administrative Management
June 04, 2020 16:19 - 1 hour - 48.2 MBOn February 6, 2020, the Gray Center hosted a public policy conference on “Bureaucracy and Presidential Administration: Expertise and Accountability in Constitutional Government.” The conference was inspired in part by James Q. Wilson’s book, Bureaucracy, and Elena Kagan’s article, “Presidential Administration.” The panel sessions centered around new papers the Gray Center helped to incubate on... Source
Bureaucracy and Presidential Administration: Keynote Remarks by Jonathan Rauch
May 28, 2020 15:59 - 47 minutes - 27.2 MBOn February 6, 2020, the Gray Center hosted a public policy conference on “Bureaucracy and Presidential Administration: Expertise and Accountability in Constitutional Government.” The conference was inspired in part by James Q. Wilson’s book, Bureaucracy, and Elena Kagan’s article, “Presidential Administration.” The panel sessions centered around new papers the Gray Center helped to incubate on... Source
Presidential Administration and Bureaucracy
May 21, 2020 18:47 - 1 hour - 39.9 MBOn February 6, 2020, the Gray Center hosted a public policy conference on “Bureaucracy and Presidential Administration: Expertise and Accountability in Constitutional Government.” The conference was inspired in part by James Q. Wilson’s book, Bureaucracy, and Elena Kagan’s article, “Presidential Administration.” The panel sessions centered around new papers the Gray Center helped to incubate on... Source
Bureaucracy, the Presidency, and the Origins of Federal Civil Service
May 14, 2020 15:36 - 1 hour - 44.3 MBOn February 6, 2020, the Gray Center hosted a public policy conference on “Bureaucracy and Presidential Administration: Expertise and Accountability in Constitutional Government.” The conference was inspired in part by James Q. Wilson’s book, Bureaucracy, and Elena Kagan’s article, “Presidential Administration.” The panel sessions centered around new papers the Gray Center helped to incubate on... Source
What is the Future of Administrative Law?
May 05, 2020 23:33 - 54 minutes - 50.2 MBWith the arrival of new Supreme Court justices, and with the emergence of new debates among scholars like Adrian Vermeule and Philip Hamburger over the Constitution and the administrative state, what will happen to Administrative Law? In a recent Harvard Law Review article, Notre Dame’s Professor Jeffrey Pojanowski assesses the scene and suggests a new school of thought: “Neoclassical... Source
Disruptive Technology and the Future of “Law”
April 23, 2020 16:31 - 1 hour - 40.3 MBOn November 15, 2019, the Gray Center hosted a public policy conference on “Technology, Innovation, and Regulation.” For this conference, scholars wrote and presented papers on the way regulation affects technological innovation, and vice-versa. The Gray Center convened expert panels on topics including whether social media should be regulated for “neutrality,” “regulatory sandboxes” and other... Source
Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Regulation
April 16, 2020 16:00 - 1 hour - 45 MBOn November 15, 2019, the Gray Center hosted a public policy conference on “Technology, Innovation, and Regulation.” For this conference, scholars wrote and presented papers on the way regulation affects technological innovation, and vice-versa. The Gray Center convened expert panels on topics including whether social media should be regulated for “neutrality,” “regulatory sandboxes” and other... Source
Technology, Innovation, and Regulation: Keynote Remarks by Kate Lauer
April 09, 2020 20:19 - 42 minutes - 19.6 MBOn November 15, 2019, the Gray Center hosted a public policy conference on “Technology, Innovation, and Regulation.” For this conference, scholars wrote and presented papers on the way regulation affects technological innovation, and vice-versa. The Gray Center convened expert panels on topics including whether social media should be regulated for “neutrality,” “regulatory sandboxes” and other... Source
“Regulatory Sandboxes” and Other Laboratories of Democracy
April 02, 2020 20:36 - 1 hour - 32.1 MBOn November 15, 2019, the Gray Center hosted a public policy conference on “Technology, Innovation, and Regulation.” For this conference, scholars wrote and presented papers on the way regulation affects technological innovation, and vice-versa. The Gray Center convened expert panels on topics including whether social media should be regulated for “neutrality,” “regulatory sandboxes” and other... Source
Should Social Media be Regulated for “Neutrality”?
March 27, 2020 17:30 - 1 hour - 38.2 MBOn November 15, 2019, the Gray Center hosted a public policy conference on “Technology, Innovation, and Regulation.” For this conference, scholars wrote and presented papers on the way regulation affects technological innovation, and vice-versa. The Gray Center convened expert panels on topics including whether social media should be regulated for “neutrality,” “regulatory sandboxes” and other... Source
Judging “Adjudication” with Will Baude
March 19, 2020 02:35 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBFor nearly a century, one of the most contentious issues in the Administrative State has been agency “adjudication” — that is, the power of agencies to adjudicate disputes among private parties, or disputes between private parties and the government. But what if a century’s debate has actually caused us to forget what the issues really are? In the new issue of the Harvard Law Review... Source
Judicial Review and Immigration Law
March 17, 2020 17:34 - 1 hour - 32.7 MBOn October 25, 2019, the Gray Center hosted “The Administration of Immigration.” For this conference, the Gray Center invited scholars to write papers exploring ways to improve our nation’s immigration system, and discuss them alongside other experts in panel sessions addressing such topics as whether immigration law is special, the costs and benefits of immigration, judicial review of the... Source
Costs of Our Immigration System: Who Does the Burden Fall On?
March 12, 2020 14:45 - 1 hour - 34.1 MBOn October 25, 2019, the Gray Center hosted “The Administration of Immigration.” For this conference, the Gray Center invited scholars to write papers exploring ways to improve our nation’s immigration system, and discuss them alongside other experts in panel sessions addressing such topics as whether immigration law is special, the costs and benefits of immigration, judicial review of the... Source
The Administration of Immigration: Keynote Remarks by James McHenry
March 05, 2020 23:45 - 32 minutes - 15 MBOn October 25, 2019, the Gray Center hosted “The Administration of Immigration.” For this conference, the Gray Center invited scholars to write papers exploring ways to improve our nation’s immigration system, and discuss them alongside other experts in panel sessions addressing such topics as whether immigration law is special, the costs and benefits of immigration, judicial review of the... Source
Discussing Delegations
February 27, 2020 17:05 - 57 minutes - 26.3 MBDoes the Constitution set limits on the powers that Congress authorizes agencies to exercise? Last year, in Gundy v. United States, Justice Gorsuch issued a dissenting opinion calling for a reinvigorated “nondelegation doctrine.” He was joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Thomas. Gorsuch’s dissent, along with Justice Alito’s separate opinion, and a subsequent opinion from Justice Kavanaugh... Source
Is Immigration Law Special? National Security, Special Courts, and “For This Ride Only” Law
February 21, 2020 00:12 - 1 hour - 33.9 MBOn October 25, 2019, the Gray Center hosted “The Administration of Immigration.” For this conference, the Gray Center invited scholars to write papers exploring ways to improve our nation’s immigration system, and discuss them alongside other experts in panel sessions addressing such topics as whether immigration law is special, the costs and benefits of immigration, judicial review of the... Source
The Moral Underpinnings of Immigration Law
February 13, 2020 23:58 - 1 hour - 34.6 MBOn October 25, 2019, the Gray Center hosted “The Administration of Immigration.” For this conference, the Gray Center invited scholars to write papers exploring ways to improve our nation’s immigration system, and discuss them alongside other experts in panel sessions addressing such topics as whether immigration law is special, the costs and benefits of immigration, judicial review of the... Source
The IRS, Congress, and the President’s Tax Returns
February 13, 2020 22:45 - 1 hour - 35.9 MBOn October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source
The Democracy of Administration
January 30, 2020 17:01 - 1 hour - 31 MBOn October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source
The Administration of the Census
January 23, 2020 19:38 - 1 hour - 27.7 MBOn October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source
The Administration of Federal Campaign Finance Laws
January 16, 2020 20:31 - 1 hour - 41.5 MBOn October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source
The Administration of Elections
January 09, 2020 20:21 - 1 hour - 32.5 MBOn October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source
The Administration of Democracy: Campaign Finance Regulation Today
December 19, 2019 19:15 - 50 minutes - 23 MBOn October 4, 2019, the Gray Center co-hosted “The Administration of Democracy⏤The George Mason Law Review’s Second Annual Symposium on Administrative Law.” For the second annual symposium, scholars wrote papers on such fundamental questions as: Is nonpartisan campaign-finance regulation possible? Who should draw electoral maps—and how? How can we best protect voting rights? How should the census... Source
Why Does Congress Delegate Power?
December 12, 2019 19:55 - 1 hour - 34 MBOn October 8, 2019, the Gray Center lost a great friend and mentor when Michael Uhlmann passed away at the age of 79. Professor Uhlmann served most recently as a Professor of Government at the Claremont Graduate University and Claremont McKenna College; previously he served in the federal government’s executive and legislative branches, taught at George Mason University... Source
Improving Agency Cost-Benefit Analysis
November 22, 2019 16:48 - 1 hour - 31.6 MBOn September 13, the Gray Center hosted a conference on The Future of White House Regulatory Oversight and Cost-Benefit Analysis. At the conference, a number of scholars presented new research on cost-benefit analysis and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or “OIRA.” All of the papers are available on the Gray Center’s web site. And the conference was keynoted by the... Source
Improving Agency Cost-Benefit Analysis
November 22, 2019 16:48 - 1 hour - 4.04 KBOn September 13, the Gray Center hosted a conference on The Future of White House Regulatory Oversight and Cost-Benefit Analysis. At the conference, a number of scholars presented new research on cost-benefit analysis and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or “OIRA.” All of the papers are available on the Gray Center’s […] Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/arbitrary-capricious/improving-agency-cost-benefit-ana...
Regulatory Budgets & Executive Order 13771
November 21, 2019 17:00 - 1 hour - 36.4 MBOn September 13, the Gray Center hosted a conference on The Future of White House Regulatory Oversight and Cost-Benefit Analysis. At the conference, a number of scholars presented new research on cost-benefit analysis and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or “OIRA.” All of the papers are available on the Gray Center’s web site. And the conference was keynoted by the... Source
Cost-Benefit Analysis in Court
November 20, 2019 22:26 - 1 hour - 33.9 MBOn September 13, the Gray Center hosted a conference on The Future of White House Regulatory Oversight and Cost-Benefit Analysis. At the conference, a number of scholars presented new research on cost-benefit analysis and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or “OIRA.” All of the papers are available on the Gray Center’s web site. And the conference was keynoted by the... Source
What Role Should OIRA Play?
November 19, 2019 20:33 - 1 hour - 38.4 MBOn September 13, the Gray Center hosted a conference on The Future of White House Regulatory Oversight and Cost-Benefit Analysis. At the conference, a number of scholars presented new research on cost-benefit analysis and the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or “OIRA.” All of the papers are available on the Gray Center’s web site. And the conference was keynoted by the... Source