Delegation of Adjudicatory Power to
Agencies
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This mirrors some of the issues raised by
the delegation of rulemaking powers
Can Congress delegate the right to decide
individual disputes to agencies?
This is not a critical issue for this course
Article III Judges
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Protections
 Lifetime tenure
 Cannot reduce salary
 Cannot fire, only impeach
 Cannot discipline
Why do we have these protections?
How are ALJs different?
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Civil service protections
 Can be fired
 Can have salary lowered, but hard to do
this
 Can set work standards and discipline
How are the pressures different than those
on an Article III judge?
Adjudication of Public Rights
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Public rights have an evolving definition
 One definition is that these are rights created by
congress, such as the right to government land or
welfare benefits
One set of cases indicates that since Congress creates
these rights, they can set how they are awarded
 Congress can set up compensation that is not related
to real facts
 Remember this later when we see the "bitter with the
sweet" doctrine
Can an Agency Adjudicate Private
Claims?
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The United States Supreme Court invalidated
a law letting bankruptcy judges decide
contract issues in 1982 because it was not
reviewable by an Art. III judge
This was a narrow plurality decision driven by
the broad powers of bankruptcy courts
It has been implicitly limited by later cases
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
v. Schor
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CFTC can adjudicate disputes between
clients and brokers, and award damages
Can also adjudicate counterclaims because
otherwise everything would go do court
Does Adjudication of Private Claims
Violate Separation of Powers?
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A key question becomes the appeal rights to
the courts
 Orders must be enforced by the courts, so
they can be reviewed
 Decisions are subject to judicial review
We will see this in the judicial review section
as a debate over the proper record for
review
Right to Jury Trial
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There is a right to a jury trial for certain federal
civil matters that were part of the common law
when the Constitution was adopted
The courts have construed these rights
narrowly, limiting them to their historical
antecedents, such as maritime cases
Many states do not allow adjudication of private
disputes under state constitutional open courts
provisions
 LA had to have a constitutional amendment to
allow worker's compensation
Limitations on Adjudication
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An agency cannot imprison someone as a
punishment
Under federal and some state laws, a person
can be imprisoned for violating an agency
regulation
 Must get a criminal trial
 Regulation must pass the vagueness test
State v. Broom, 439 So.2d 357 (La. 1983)
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Defendant was prosecuted for violating the
Louisiana Explosives Code
Challenged on void for vagueness and on nondelegation theories
On first review, the LA SC rejected the challenges
and found that he could be prosecuted for violating
an agency regulations
On rehearing, the Court found that prosecuting on an
agency rule violated separation of powers