Administrative Procedure Act

Title Your Name Subject and Section Professor’s Name Date Introduction In this essay, the author reasons that the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) should be changed to reduce the judiciary's tendency to defer to agency interpretations and to improve substantive procedural protections against excessive regulation. Some recent cases, including West Virginia v. EPA (2022) and Kisor v. Wilkie (2019), support a need to reform to address the state of appropriate restraints on agency power and accountability. Argument for Amending the APA Fears over Excessive Judicial Reference The Chevron doctrine, set down for the Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (1984), has been significant as a bone of contention. It empowers an agency to give meaning to what may be vague in the statute, sometimes even producing regulations with staggering impacts on society without proper legislative approximation. The case of West Virginia v. The Concern, EPA (2022) demonstrates the role of the Court where it restrained EPA, the agency whose authority is in question because this case demonstrates that the agency went beyond its statutory power to promulgate a broad regulation. This decision demonstrates a situation where agencies are given the capacity to go further than Congress envisioned. In the same way, recent Kisor v. Sistema votes guided by the American judicial system show that Wilkie (2019) limited the doctrine of Auer deference to mean that the Court should only defer to the interpretation of one of its regulations by the agency when the regulation is ambiguous. The interpretation is reasonable and made by the agency with the help of its expertise. The decision suggested an enhancement of judicial review. The rationale was clear for more changes to curb unfettered agency action. Proposals for Reform The APA was crafted for an administrative state far from as large and intricate as today. The current environment is characterized by a colossal number of federal regulations affecting all facets of human existence and often enacted without express congressional request. Agencies rightly have the technical capability to handle technical questions, but democratic accountability requires that they not act secretly without sufficient procedural protections. ...