A cottage industry in administrative law studies the various mechanisms by which Congress, the President, and the courts exert control over administrative agencies. Restrictions on the appointment and removal of personnel, the specification of requisite procedures for agency decision making, presidential prompt letters, ex ante review of proposed decisions by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), legislative vetoes, and alterations in funding and jurisdiction are all potential mechanisms for controlling agency behavior. This Article focuses on a more basic mechanism of control that has surprisingly gone comparatively unnoticed in the literature on administrative agencies: control of the timing of administrative action.
Volume 156 Issue 4 2008 Article