The Policymaking President
Policymaking presidents have long sought to centralize their authority: draw regulatory decision-making closer to the White House relative to administrative agencies. Given the weight of scholarship, one would be forgiven for thinking that the main manifestation of this phenomenon was the regulatory review process coordinated by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). This myopic focus on the President’s ex post means of agency influence, however, has obscured the centralized coordinating structures and processes developed to exert ex ante influence over agencies, that is, influence before rules come in for review.
In exploring these dynamics, this study foregrounds regulatory actors less familiar to the administrative law literature than stalwarts like OIRA. These include entities like the Domestic Policy Council and National Economic Council. By de-centering OIRA in this way, this paper explores questions about when and why the President delegates coordinating authority to some units within the institutional presidency rather than others. In addition, it also identifies the bureaucratic tools and techniques used by these actors to make presidential policy through its various stages: from agenda-setting, to implementation, to monitoring. Finally, this paper considers the implications for the optimal design of the presidential policy process and a range of administrative law doctrines, from arbitrariness review to the major questions doctrine.
About the Public Law Workshop
Michigan’s Public Law Workshop provides an opportunity for faculty and students from across the University to enjoy weekly presentations by leading scholars producing current work on topics ranging from constitutional law and administrative law to international law, statutory interpretation and beyond. Professors Julian Mortenson and Daniel Deacon organize the workshop. If you would like to receive workshop announcements, please contact Alex Wroble ([email protected]) and ask to have your name added to the workshop’s email list.
