« Indiana Gov't - More on Gov. Daniels' plan to "prune" boards | Main | Ind. Gov't. - Statewide medical error reporting and quality system »
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Adm. Law - Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe
Other X-TREME policy wonks will be, I'm sure, as excited as I was to learn about this. A 53-page paper is now available online titled "Administrative Law Stories: Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe," and authored by Professor Peter L. Strauss, Betts Professor of Law, Columbia University. The body of the paper begins:
Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe is easily one of the most important cases in the administrative law repertoire, with 4,640 citing opinions listed by Sheppards as of the end of 2004. The great bulk of those citations draw on its elaboration of the scope of review appropriate for agency exercises of judgment. In the instance, as you know, what was at issue was the Secretary of Transportation’s judgment that federal funds could be expended to build Interstate 40 through Overton Park, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the face of a pair of federal statutes that seemed severely to burden that judgment in order to protect parkland values. What may not be so readily apparent to you is that the case helps mark a turning point in American administrative law, brought about by a relatively small number of recent law school graduates. Its legal innovations occurred at the hands of lawyers just a few years out of law school, who successfully entered largely uncharted territory pro bono publico. It seems at least possible that you would be inspired by such a story. * * *The paper may be accessed here, from SSRN.
I was intrigued also by the Abstract to the paper, which relates that:
This essay is one of a series destined to appear in a Foundation Press book, Administrative Law Stories, now set for publication in the fall of 2005. The decision in Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe represents a transition from political to judicial controls over decisions broadly affecting a wide range of community interests. Unmistakable and dramatic as it is, that transition is not universally applauded. But the transition was striking and quick. The late sixties and early seventies saw an explosion of new national legislation on social and environmental issues, that often provided explicitly or implicitly for citizen remedies. In many respects, Overton Park marked the turn. It was an example, as well, of the success of highly motivated recent law school graduates in contributing to major developments in national law. If for that reason alone, it is a fitting subject for a collection of essays intended to give students a more concrete sense of their subject.Thanks to Professor Laurence Solem of the great Legal Theory Blog for the link.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 22, 2005 03:18 PM
Posted to Administrative Law | Environment