Law 792:  Legislation and Regulation

This course is an introduction to how Congress and administrative agencies make law and to how courts interpret that law. The first half of the course examines the legislative process and statutory interpretation, including the use of dictionaries, legislative history, statutory purpose, canons of construction, and other interpretive tools to flesh out statutory meaning. The second half of the course turns to agencies’ implementation of statutes through regulations, addressing topics such as presidential control over agencies, notice-and-comment rulemaking, and judicial deference or nondeference to agencies. Lawyers working in virtually every practice area must routinely rely on statutes and regulations; this course aims to give students the understanding and tools they need to persuade courts to interpret statutes and regulations in their clients’ favor.

Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this course.

Evaluation: Exam.