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Nondelegation Introduction Video
Nondelegation:
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Introduction to the Nondelegation Doctrine:
Video Transcript:
The nondelegation doctrine is one of five pillars key to understanding the main areas of debate about the nature and scope of the administrative state. The nondelegation doctrine sheds light on gray areas in American government. For example what constitutes a delegation of legislative authority? Are executive branch agencies creating rules, which are effectively new laws, simply through executive action? Are those rules constitutional?
Understanding debates about the nondelegation doctrine helps us know more about those gray areas. But what is the nondelegation doctrine in the first place? It’s a principle of constitutional and administrative law that holds that the legislative branch cannot delegate its legislative powers to other branches of government.
Delegate, in this context, means to entrust or hand over authority to another branch of government. In other words, the nondelegation doctrine holds that lawmakers cannot allow other government actors or entities, such as administrative agencies, to make laws.
The nondelegation doctrine is not explicitly spelled out in the Constitution. There is not a specific phrase that defines its parameters or stamps it into law. Rather, the doctrine is drawn from scholarly interpretations of the Constitution. While some scholars support the principle of nondelegation, others find fault with its premise.
The nondelegation doctrine is rooted in the separation of powers. The separation of powers is a defining characteristic of the United States Constitution, which Article I vests legislative authority in Congress, Article II vests executive power in the president, and Article III vests judicial power in the judiciary.
The separation of powers is sometimes referred to as a system of checks and balances because the Constitution provides each branch with certain powers over the other two branches.
Under a strict application of the nondelegation doctrine, Congress would not be allowed to let the president, administrative agencies, or courts pass laws.
Proponents of the nondelegation doctrine argue that Congress violates the separation of powers by delegating its legislative authority to agencies, which promulgate regulations in order to bring about statutory goals.
Opponents of the nondelegation doctrine claim that agencies only exercise executive power by implementing laws passed by Congress.
Though the Supreme Court hasn’t struck down a law on nondelegation grounds since 1935, it’s been said that nondelegation is dead as a doctrine. But it’s still hotly debated among administrative law scholars and practitioners and, in recent years, U.S. Supreme Court justices have signaled an openness to reviving its application.
