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bradleyjgtoday at 1:12 AM2 repliesview on HN

I suppose in that case you are wholly opposed to the regulatory system as legislative power should be part of the legislative branch?


Replies

rayinertoday at 3:58 AM

Even people who believe the administrative state is constitutional rest that conclusion on the premise that "rulemaking" is merely the formalization of the exercise of enforcement discretion. But that means that rulemaking must be performed by the executive branch, because that is the branch charged with enforcement of the law.

DMCA rulemaking is actually an example of something that would probably be constitutional if the executive did it--even if administrative agencies in general are unconstitutional. The DMCA creates civil and criminal penalties, and calls for rulemaking to define exceptions to those penalties. Defining exceptions to civil and criminal liability falls squarely within executive enforcement discretion.

roenxitoday at 2:04 AM

Well, probably in theory. I don't rate that on my top 50 issues I care about and haven't given the idea much thought. But having the legislative branch be responsible for the regulatory system does sound proper.

The US executive branch has very limited decision making bandwidth and it should really be reserved for matters of war and peace.