ALJ Final Orders on Appeal: Balancing Independence with Accountability

Authors

Jim Rossi

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judges

Publication Date

1999

Page Number

1

Keywords

administrative law, law and policy, state courts, agency, final order

Disciplines

Administrative Law | Agency | Law

Abstract

This essay addresses how ALJ final order authority in many state systems of administrative governance (among them Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, and South Carolina) poses a tension between independence and accountability. It is argued that political accountability is sacrificed where reviewing courts defer to ALJ final orders on issues of law and policy. Standards of review provide state courts with a way of restoring the balance between independence and accountability, but reviewing courts should heighten the deference they give to the agency's legal and policy positions -- giving little or no deference to the ALJ on these issues -- even where the ALJ's decision had final status.

Recommended Citation

Jim Rossi, ALJ Final Orders on Appeal: Balancing Independence with Accountability, 19 Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judges. 1 (1999)
Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/faculty-publications/984