Notre Dame Law Professor Jeffrey Pojanowski’s latest paper, “Neoclassical Administrative Law,” was the subject of a panel discussion earlier this month at the 2020 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Schools in Washington, D.C.
The panel discussion was titled “Administrative Law Perspectives Beyond the Liberal/Conservative Divide” and was moderated by Jack Michael Beermann from Boston University School of Law. The discussion featured diverse viewpoints from panelists Ronald M. Levin from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, Jennifer L. Mascott from Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, and Mila Sohoni from the University of San Diego School of Law as well as Pojanowski himself.
Pojanowski’s paper, published recently by the Harvard Law Review, identifies the jurisprudential underpinnings of three leading approaches to thinking about administrative law and offers a fourth alternative: one that contends courts should be less deferential in reviewing administrative agencies’ legal interpretations while being more restrained on questions of policy. Such an approach, Pojanowski argues, seeks to reconcile a classical understanding of separation of powers with the administrative state we have today and, in his words, “is not going away any time soon.”
Having his paper be the focus of AALS administrative Law Section’s panel discussion was an honor, he added, and the discussion was enjoyable. “It’s satisfying to deal with questions of government that don’t break down along party lines,” he said. “Arguments for strengthening or limiting administrative power will have different policy outcomes depending on which party controls the presidency. For that reason, administrative law scholars are arguing about deeper, more basic questions about political accountability, effective governance, and the rule of law.”
Pojanowski teaches and writes in the areas of administrative law, jurisprudence, legal interpretation, and torts. Visit his faculty page for more information and other publications.
Originally published by at law.nd.edu on January 15, 2020.