About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

45 Fla. St. U.L. Rev. Online 1 (2017)

handle is hein.journals/fsuon45 and id is 1 raw text is: 






          WHEN COURTS BOW TO BUREAUCRATS:
      HOW FLORIDA'S DEFERENCE DOCTRINE LETS
              AGENCIES SAY WHAT THE LAW IS

                      JOHN G. VAN LANINGHAM*

    I. In trodu ction  .....................................................................................................  1
    II. Judicial Deference to Agency Interpretations ................................................  4
       A. Basic  Statem ent of the  Doctrine ..............................................................  4
          1. The Theory  Behind  the  Doctrine .........................................................  5
             (a) Similar to, but Less Obedient Than, Federal Chevron
               D eferen ce  .................................................................................... ..  7
             (b) Similar to, But Less Rigorous Than, Federal Skidmore
               D eferen ce  .................................................................................... ..  9
             (c) Similar to Federal Seminole Rock (or Auer) Deference,
               But Equally Applicable to Statutes and Rules .............................  10
          2. Lim itations  and  Exceptions  ...............................................................  11
             (a)  Decisions Not Requiring Agency Expertise .................................  12
             (b)  Beyond  the Agency's Power .........................................................  13
             (c)  Scope  of Agency  Jurisdiction  .......................................................  13
             (d) Special Interpretive Rules Requiring Strict Construction ...........  13
       B. Inconsistency  with  the  Florida  APA  .........................................................  14
       C . Constitutional Concerns ...........................................................................  26
   III. ALJ  Deference to Agency Interpretations .......................................................  27
   IV. Judicial Deference to Agency Fact-Findings ...................................................  31
   V . C on clu sion  ........................................................................................................  4 3


                          I.   INTRODUCTION

   As a longtime state administrative law judge (ALJ), I am accus-
tomed to being questioned about what ALJs do. Many people, I've
learned,  are  unfamiliar   with-indeed, have     never  heard   of-
administrative law. In the summer of 2017, however, as I write this
Article, that might be changing. Tensions between President Donald
Trump and the federal bureaucracy have been vividly on display dur-
ing the first months of the new administration, and with them, once
obscure terms such as administrative state and regulatory state,
not to mention the more sinister dark state, have crept into the
public discourse. When, shortly after taking office, the President
nominated Judge Neil Gorsuch for the position of Associate Justice of
the U.S. Supreme Court, it was reported that Gorsuch might be will-
ing to overturn Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense
Council, Inc.,1 the seminal deference doctrine case. Administrative
law was in the news, at last!



    * Administrative Law Judge, State of Florida, Division of Administrative Hearings.
    1 467 U.S. 837 (1984).

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

profiles profiles most