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Delegation of Congressional Lawmaking Power to Agencies I

Learn about the ways that Congress delegates legislative power to agencies and constrains that power.

Transcript

I. Introduction

We’ve examined the growth of congressional power to legislate about even more subjects. Yet, along with Congress’s exercise of greater power is its willingness to delegate more of that legislative power to administrative agencies. Congress creates agencies to specialize in specific activities or economic sectors. Congress then delegates broad power to those agencies to regulate and make policy.

II. The Nondelegation Doctrine

There’s a certain irony in the fact that the first...