You are the law clerk assigned to brief the issues for your judge and recommend a decision. Go for it.

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW EXAM – 2022 SAL

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW EXAM – 2022 SAL

All questions can be answered based on the powerpoints and readings. Please do not conduct any additional research, and do not rely on a friend!

Long Answers (show your reasoning!)
QUESTION 1
The U.S. Fisheries Act seeks to “conserve and manage the fishery resources found off the coasts of the United States.” Congress passed the law in 1987 after finding that aggressive fishing practices, especially by foreign trawlers (boats), had imperiled important fish stocks. The Act creates regional Fishery Management Councils – comprised of state and industry officials — to establish “conservation and management measures necessary and appropriate to restore and promote the long-term health and stability of the fishery industry, including steps to prevent overfishing.” Councils must submit plans for approval to the U.S. Fishery Service, a federal administrative agency within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act, for its approval.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council for the first time recently approved a plan to permit aquaculture, which is fish farming. Under the plan, the Council would approve ten permits for aquaculture operations over a five-year period, subject to certain environmental and reporting conditions. The Council announced that fish farming will place less pressure on traditional fishing in order to preserve scarce resources. The U.S. Fishery Service last month approved the plan.

A coalition of fishing and conservation organizations challenges the approval in district court, asserting that the plan clashed with the statute because it was not conserving fishing, but rather expanding it through artificial means, and that it could not be supported under the APA.

You are the law clerk assigned to brief the issues for your judge and recommend a decision. Go for it.

QUESTION 2

Friendly Pet Supply operates a series of pet stores throughout the Midwest of the United States. Assume that the City of Chicago receives complaints of neglect and unsanitary conditions at a Friendly Pet Supply store located in the city. Investigators traveled to the store and found that the animals looked abused, had insufficient water, and that the temperature in the store was excessive. Accordingly, the city investigators removed the animals from the store and revoked the owners’ pet-dealer permit. They informed the pet store owners that they were entitled to a formal hearing before an administrative judge two months later to seek a return of the animals seized and that they could reapply for a permit whenever they deemed it appropriate.
Friendly Pet Supply files suit in federal district immediately after the seizure alleging that the investigators’ actions violated Due Process. What is the result and why?

QUESTION 3
Under the Social Security Act (SSA), individuals are entitled to disability benefits if they meet the statutory definition of disability. Currently, SSA regulations provide that claimants are entitled to an evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Law Judge, as ​defined under the Administrative Procedure Act, if the agency denies their claims for disability. Regulations also provide for an appeal from an adverse ALJ decision to the agency, and thereafter an appeal to federal district court. SSA has delegated its ​authority to resolve any appeals within the agency to the Appeals Council, whose members are appointed by the agency itself and can be removed from office by the agency for any reason.

SSA has just announced that all individuals afflicted with back pain are entitled to a hearing before the Appeals Council instead of before an ALJ. SSA is pursuing this policy because of the wildly inconsistent results from ALJs trying to assess whether back pain is disabling within the meaning of the SSA.

A claimant with back pain comes into your office complaining that the change is unfair. Assuming that such a lawsuit is permissible, what are his best arguments and why?

Every long answer-1 page