Analysis of Role in Checking the Power of the United States Government Administrative Agencies - Assignment Example

Analytical Paper The United s government administrative agencies play a critical role in checking the power of businesses and other organizations that wield considerable economic, social, and political power in the United States today. A statute referred to as the enabling statute creates an administrative agency. The enabling statute naturally gives the agency a name and specifies its powers, structure, limits, and purpose. There are leading areas of administrative law, and they include business finance, energy, healthy competition, and free enterprise. Each agency is usually created in response to a need (Carper, McKinsey, and West, 2008). Such control can be seen in business finance. The government is not supposed to interfere in a free economy. However, the function and health of business can largely affect the general welfare and economy of the United States. If not regulated, business practices can be abused and exploited with considerable impacts for the economy. For instance, “since the Great Depression of the 1930s, the United States has maintained a strong regulatory oversight of the financial sector, including investment, banking, securities, accounting, and trading” (Carper, McKinsey, and West, 2008, p211). This is an indication that the government is doing an excellent work in checking the power of businesses and other organizations that have considerable power in the United States today. In the South Dakota v Dole case, however, the administrative agencies have gone too far in the checking the powers of the organizations. The Congress has drastically reduced the funds it appropriates to build a highway in states that have not changed the minimum drinking age to 21 years. The Congress has gone too far in this case, and based on research done by Presidential Commission, it has led to more fatalities and accidents related to alcohol drinking. This is because the lack of consistency in the States drinking age has generated a reason to drink and drive to Border States in which the drinking age is lower. The government had much to do to ensure that there was protection of the citizen’s lives while also ensuring that the individual rights are not violated. The administrative officers while executing these functions, ensured that competence was adhered to. The administrative law, which clearly indicated the rights of an individual, ensured that each officer respected it to the later. An action contrary to the written constitutional individual rights, allowed an individual to sue the officer (Goodnow, 2003). The government also ensured that the behavior of an individual does not go contrary to what has been stipulated. The age of those who are allowed to drink however guarantees that the younger people who are under the age of 21 are protected. In the case of South Dakota and its adjacent states, there was no uniformity in the drinking age and the rule was to help in minimizing the number of accidents associated with inter border commuting. This move showed that the U.S. government was keen in ensuring that the behavior of its citizens is manned while ensuring their protection against harm. The extent to which the United States agencies treat citizens unfairly or engage in arbitrary or unjustified policies varies. The standard administrative law model is applicable to decision-making in the agencies. This is an indication that the adjudicatory decisions are supposed to be based on evidence, which is substantial, and the records must support the rules. The adjudicatory decisions should not be capricious or arbitrary as seen in many cases. It is vital to note that the agencies possess a distinctively executive (Harter, McKee, Popper, and Varona, 2010). Before the issue of regulations, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has the chance to assess the regulations from all the executive agencies to decide if the rules are constant with the Presidential policies and if the rules offered are more beneficial, that is, they do not incur much cost (Harter, McKee, Popper, and Varona, 2010). On the other hand, the administrative laws seek to minimize the tendency towards unfairness and arbitrariness in a bureaucratic government. The law is a portion of the political culture that values putting controls on the utilization of power, therefore, keeping the exercise of power in the boundaries of democracy (Carter and Harrington, 2009). From the South Dakota v Dole case, it is evident that the United States agencies create policies that are arbitrary or unjustified and thus treating its citizens unfairly. The agencies formulated a federal law in which it withheld federal highway funds from states that did not amend the drinking age limit to 21 years. The Congress enacted legislation permitting the Secretary of Treasury to refuse 5% of the federal highway funds from the states that failed to put the drinking age limit to 21 years. The state of South Dakota argued that the rule was unconstitutional. The policy was unjustified because the drinking age limit is not in any way linked to the interstate highway construction. From the Rule of Law, it is clear that the spending power of the Congress must be utilized for the general welfare. The United States agencies remain within the boundaries of democratic government when exercising their power. The system of agency administration and statutory delegation is not a new phenomenon in the United States government. For close to a century, the United States Congress has passed numerous regulatory statutes that grant agency officials considerable power to adopt legal rules. These legal rules are for protecting consumers, environment, and workers and offering the government benefits, managing and monitoring a number of industrial and economic activities (Evans, Freedman, and Krever, 2011). The U.S. government agencies’ power to define the law is very wide but not constrained. The Congress via the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and other legislation, has enacted procedural necessities upon agencies exercise of rulemaking power. It has also offered the courts enormous authority to monitor the behavior of the agencies. The courts have utilized the APA to create a compromise of a kind that permits delegation in the name of flexibility and efficiency but uses judicial review, and procedural requirements to attain a respectable degree of transparency, accountability, and public participation. This is important when the agencies use delegated power to espouse legally binding rules and regulations (Evans, Freedman, and Krever, 2011). As aforementioned in the statements above, it is clear that the United States agencies remain within the boundaries of democratic government when exercising their power. This is achieved through the checks and balances offered by the court and the Congress. However, in this case, the courts have ensured that the agencies and the Congress are thoroughly checked when exercising their power. In the South Dakota v Dole case, the Congress and the agency had no power to cut the federal funds for states that did not raise the minimum drinking age to 21 years. The powers they exercised were not within the Congressional spending power. The administrative law in a way improves the quality of life of the United States citizens. This is because the law touches on almost all aspects of the government. The enforcers of the administrative law (administrative agencies of state and federal governments) do most of the work of implementing the law in various areas such as business finance, energy, healthy competition and free enterprise. These areas affect most of the nationals in the United States. It is important to note disability insurance and unemployment are other areas that the administrative agencies supervise. For instance, in business finance, the agencies make sure that all business practices are regulated and are not vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. This is because if left unregulated, it can greatly affect the economy, consumers, and businesses (Carper, McKinsey, and West, 2008). References Carper, D. L., McKinsey, J. A., & West, B. W. (2008). Understanding the law. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning. Carter, L. H., & Harrington, C. B. (2009). Administrative law and politics: Cases and comments. Washington, DC: CQ Press. Evans, C., Freedman, J., & Krever, R. (2011). The delicate balance tax discretion and the rule of law. Amsterdam: IBFD. Goodnow, F. J. (2003). The principles of the administrative law of the United States (1905). New York, NY: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. Harter, P. J., McKee, G. M., Popper, A. F., & Varona, A. E. (2010). Administrative law: A contemporary approach. New York, NY: West. Read More