Also known as: administrative orders · agency order · administrative ruling
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
An order issued by a government agency after an adjudicatory hearing.
An agency regulation that interprets or applies a statutory provision.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
An order issued by a government agency after an adjudicatory hearing.
Alison reviewed a State A agriculture department bulletin stating that low-impact pesticides were exempt from buffer-zone rules near waterways. She sprayed within fifty feet of the river on three consecutive days and fish died on Ted's property. Alison asserts a mistake-of-law defense based on her reliance on the bulletin when charged with an environmental offense.
Citizens for a Better Environment sent notice to Steel Co. alleging failure to file required chemical inventory forms. The EPA had not commenced an administrative order or civil action to enforce the filing requirement. The citizens filed suit after the sixty-day notice period expired.
An agency regulation that interprets or applies a statutory provision.
Parents Involved in Community Schools challenged Seattle's student assignment plan that used race to achieve integration. The plan had been developed in part to comply with prior federal administrative orders addressing school segregation. The district court reviewed whether the plan satisfied strict scrutiny.
The Abington Township school district maintained a policy of daily Bible readings in public schools. Parents challenged the practice after the district continued it despite an administrative order from the state education agency directing compliance with Establishment Clause requirements. The Supreme Court addressed whether the readings violated the First Amendment.
Northern Pipeline Construction Co. sued Marathon Pipe Line Co. in bankruptcy court for breach of contract. The bankruptcy court entered judgment on the state-law claim under authority granted by an administrative order restructuring the bankruptcy system. Marathon challenged whether the order validly assigned Article III powers to a non-Article III tribunal.
The Industrial Union Department challenged an OSHA standard limiting benzene exposure in the workplace. The agency had issued the standard through an administrative order after formal rulemaking proceedings. Industry petitioners argued the order lacked sufficient evidence of significant risk.
A belief that conduct does not constitute an offense is a defense when the actor acts in reasonable reliance upon an official statement of the law contained in an administrative order or grant of permission. The defendant must prove the defense by a preponderance of the evidence. The order must come from the public officer or body charged with interpreting or enforcing the law defining the offense.
…districts—some acting under court decree, some acting in order to avoid threatened lawsuits, some seeking to comply with federal administrative orders, some acting purely voluntarily, some acting after federal courts had dissolved earlier orders—adopted, modified, and experimented with hosts of different kinds of plans, including…