Delegation of Adjudicatory Power to Agencies This mirrors some of the issues raised by the delegation of rulemaking powers Can Congress delegate the right to decide individual disputes to agencies? This is not a critical issue for this course

Article III Judges Protections Lifetime tenure Cannot reduce salary Cannot fire, only impeach Cannot discipline Why do we have these protections?

How are ALJs different? Civil service protections Can be fired Can have salary lowered, but hard to do this Can set work standards and discipline How are the pressures different than those on an Article III judge?

Adjudication of Public Rights Public rights have an evolving definition One definition is that these are rights created by congress, such as the right to government land or welfare benefits One set of cases indicates that since Congress creates these rights, they can set how they are awarded Congress can set up compensation that is not related to real facts Remember this later when we see the "bitter with the sweet" doctrine

Can an Agency Adjudicate Private Claims? The United States Supreme Court invalidated a law letting bankruptcy judges decide contract issues in 1982 because it was not reviewable by an Art. III judge This was a narrow plurality decision driven by the broad powers of bankruptcy courts It has been implicitly limited by later cases

Commodity Futures Trading Commission v. Schor CFTC can adjudicate disputes between clients and brokers, and award damages Can also adjudicate counterclaims because otherwise everything would go do court

Does Adjudication of Private Claims Violate Separation of Powers? A key question becomes the appeal rights to the courts Orders must be enforced by the courts, so they can be reviewed Decisions are subject to judicial review We will see this in the judicial review section as a debate over the proper record for review

Right to Jury Trial There is a right to a jury trial for certain federal civil matters that were part of the common law when the Constitution was adopted The courts have construed these rights narrowly, limiting them to their historical antecedents, such as maritime cases Many states do not allow adjudication of private disputes under state constitutional open courts provisions LA had to have a constitutional amendment to allow worker's compensation

Limitations on Adjudication An agency cannot imprison someone as a punishment Under federal and some state laws, a person can be imprisoned for violating an agency regulation Must get a criminal trial Regulation must pass the vagueness test

State v. Broom, 439 So.2d 357 (La. 1983) Defendant was prosecuted for violating the Louisiana Explosives Code Challenged on void for vagueness and on non- delegation theories On first review, the LA SC rejected the challenges and found that he could be prosecuted for violating an agency regulations On rehearing, the Court found that prosecuting on an agency rule violated separation of powers