Note from the Editor: The Federalist Society takes no positions on particular legal and public policy matters. Any expressions of opinion are those of the author. We welcome responses to the views presented here. To join the debate, please email us at info@fedsoc.org.

Beginning with the Bureau of the Budget in 1921, The Executive Branch has operated through numerous offices to manage the growing regulatory state. In recent decades, the President seeks this control through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the larger Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

On November 18, The Federalist Society will host its third showcase panel of the 2017 National Lawyers Convention titled The Executive and the Regulatory State. Composed of distinguished law professors from across the country, the panel will discuss whether the current management structure is a positive development, and whether presidential review powers should apply to independent as well as executive branch agencies, which could be accomplished by allowing removal of independent agency heads by the President. Our panelists will also comment on possible changes to notice and comment rulemaking, and what guidance agencies ought to give to their prosecutorial law enforcement personnel.

The discussion will feature the following panelists:

  • Prof. Susan Dudley, Director, Regulatory Studies Center & Distinguished Professor of Practice, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, George Washington University
  • Prof. Aditya Bamzai, Associate Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
  • Prof. Lisa Heinzerling, Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., Professor of Law, Georgetown University
  • Hon. Neomi Rao, Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, The Office of Management and Budget
  • Moderator: Hon. David Barron, United States Court of Appeals, First Circuit

Would such implementation of the unitary executive lodge too much power in one man, as clearly the Framers feared? Do views on such matters depend on who is the President at any given moment? Join the panel on Saturday, November 18 from 9:00 – 10:45 AM in the Grand Ballroom of The Mayflower Hotel to entertain these questions and more as the National Lawyers Convention pursues its theme of Administrative Agencies and the Regulatory State.

Online registration ends Monday, November 13. Click here to register. Visit this site to consult the convention schedule.