ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
Fall 2006
LP PROFESSOR THOMSON
dthomson@law.du.edu
(303) 871-6467
Office 480C
Office Hours: M/W 4:15 – 5:15
Any time by appointment
CLASS
Tuesday and Thursday - 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
Room 270
Welcome to Administrative Law! Here are some rules and procedures for the course, and a
list of topics and readings for each of our 28 classes together.
Rules, Procedures and Grades
I will take attendance in class and reserve the right to deny any student the right to take the
final exam if that student misses 20 percent of the class sessions offered (6 of 28 classes).
Your grade in this class will be based on your final exam (60%), a collaborative research
presentation to the class on a federal administrative agency (20%), and class participation
(which has two components described below) (20%).
The collaborative research project will be assigned (by me) to teams of 4 students and start
in the third week of class, always on Thursdays. The “deliverables” for this portion of your
grade are two: 1) A Wiki information site you and your team build together on the
Blackboard site for the course, with information about your assigned agency, and 2) A
presentation to the class on your assigned Thursday. Each presentation will be ½ hour in
length, and contain (at least) a checklist of requirements to be provided separately. The
web site your team builds will be available to your classmates as a reference tool about
your agency.
The class participation portion of the grade includes participation in the class discussion, as
well as contributing to the communal outline for the course on the Blackboard site. I will
call on you in class, but will be using a “no hassle” pass procedure as follows: At the
beginning of each class, if you are ready and willing to be called on in class - or if you are
not - denote that using a procedure I will describe in class. At the end of the semester, if
you had denoted that you were ready to be called on more than 80% of the classes, your
grade will be bumped up one step, if you were not, it will be dropped one step.
Concerning the communal outline portion of class participation, it has always troubled me
that some people manage to find a good outline for a course, and others (for whatever
reason) do not. Instead of having students’ learning affected by that potential imbalance, it
is my intention that everyone in the class will contribute to an outline for the course using
Wiki software on the Blackboard site (Teams LX) that they will then share and benefit
from. This software allows you to prepare a community outline much as Wikipedia
operates – where each of you will contribute and may even refine what someone else has
contributed. The software also keeps careful track of who has contributed (just like
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Wikipedia) and how much, so I can calculate this easily into your grade for the course.
The final examination will be given on December 6, 2006, from 1 – 4 p.m. in a location to
be announced by the registrar. You may take the final exam one of two ways: 1) handwritten in a bluebook, or 2) on a laptop using the registrar’s exam software. The exam will
be closed book, excepting only the text for the course and the communal outline from the
Blackboard site.
Class Schedule and Reading Assignments
If you are concerned that taking Administrative law is dull, try taking it without doing the
reading for class. Trust me, it’s much worse, so I strongly recommend that you set aside
the time to complete the assigned reading before each class.
Required Reading Cass, Diver and Beerman,
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, CASES AND
MATERIALS (Fifth ed. 2006) (Aspen)
(“Cass”)
and occasional documents on Blackboard
(denoted or TBA in class).
UNIT 1 – INTRODUCTION
August 22, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 1-15.
1. Introduction to
Administrative Law; Themes
for the course and Procedures
for the class.
August 24, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 15-38.
□ Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”)
§551 (Definitions): Cass, pp. 896-897.
2. Legislative Control; Review
of Bar Question.
August 29, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 38-77.
3. Legislative and Executive
Control. Clinton.
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August 31, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 78-108.
4. Executive Control;
Administrative Law Research.
UNIT 2 – POLICY FORMATION
September 5, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 333-368.
□ APA §553 (Rulemaking): Cass, pp.
902-903.
5. Policymaking.
September 7, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 377-409.
□ Rapanos v. United States, (provided on
Blackboard).
6. Public Participation in
Rulemaking.
Student Agency presentation:
Department of Defense – Army
Corps of Engineers
September 12, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 421-442.
7. Informal Rulemaking.
September 14, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 442-475.
8. Rulemaking (Continued).
Student Agency presentation:
Department of Agriculture –
U.S. Forest Service(USFS)
September 19, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 475-501.
9. Cost-Benefit calculations
and NEPA.
UNIT 3 – ADJUDICATION
September 21, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 503-533.
10. Adjudication.
Student Agency Presentation:
Department of Transportation
– Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) or
National Highway
Transportation Safety
Administration (NHTSA)
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September 26, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 548-583.
□ APA §556 and §557: Cass, pp. 905908.
11. Due Process. Matthews.
September 28, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 583-616.
12. Hearing Rights.
Student Agency Presentation:
Department of Labor –
Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA)
UNIT 4 – ENFORCEMENT
October 3, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 617-647.
13. Investigation. Marshall.
October 5, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 647-665.
14. Prosecution.
Student Agency Presentation:
Department of Commerce –
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA)
October 10, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 665-703.
15. Private Enforcement.
October 12, 2006
□ Reading to be provided on Blackboard.
16. EPA Enforcement – Public
and Private.
Student Agency Presentation:
Department of Homeland
Security – Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA)
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UNIT 5 – LICENSING AND FOIA
October 17, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 745-777.
□ APA §558; Cass, p. 908.
17. Occupational and Business
Licensing.
October 19, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 777-813.
18. Business Licensing.
Student Agency Presentation:
Department of Energy –
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC)
October 24, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 831-852.
19. Public Access.
□ APA §552 (Public Info): Cass, pp. 897902.
October 26, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 852-885.
20. Public Access (Continued).
Student Agency Presentation:
Department of Health and
Human Services – Food and
Drug Administration (FDA)
UNIT 6 – JUDICIAL REVIEW
October 31, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 109-129.
□ APA §701 – 706: Cass, pp. 909-911.
21. Standards of Review.
Citizens to Preserve Overton
Park v. Volpe.
November 2, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 130-159.
22. Deference to Agency
determinations. Chevron.
Student Agency Presentation:
Department of the Interior –
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
or U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service
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November 7, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 159-203.
23. Judicial Review.
November 9, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 205-242.
24. Availability of Review.
Student Agency Presentation:
Independent Agencies – The
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)
November 14, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 267-303.
25. Standing.
November 16, 2006
□ Cass, pp. 303-330.
26. Timing of Review.
Student Agency Presentation:
Department of the Treasury –
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
November 21, 2006
□ Review Communal outline on
Blackboard – must be substantially
complete by today.
27. Practice examination in
class.
November 28, 2006
□ Review Communal outline.
28. Review; preparation for
final examination.
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