The Case Against Administrative Law
2nd August 2025
Administrative Law is sufficiently significant that I was able to take a course by that title in law school in the 80s.
Every day the news brings word of edicts handed down from on high by rulers whose names we have never heard of or voted for. I mean the heads of the various administrative agencies that control every corner of our lives.
Administrative law is not an inherently interesting subject. You may not be interested in administrative law, but administrative law is interested in you. William F. Buckley, Jr. used to say that “a liberal is someone who is determined to reach into your shower and adjust the water temperature for you.” That was in the good old days, when we thought the threat was subject to direct political control. What once was a jape is now the law. Since Buckley spoke federal regulators have extended their hands into every aspect of the home bathroom, including toilets and, yes, shower heads.
Philip Hamburger is the Maurice & Hilda Friedman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. In 2014 Hamburger published his monumental treatise Is Administrative Law Unlawful? In this post I am adapting the review I wrote for National Review.
Professor Hamburger observed that, although administrative law is unrecognized by the Constitution, it “has become the government’s primary mode of controlling Americans.” He further noted, however, that “administrative law has avoided much rancor because its burdens have been felt mostly by corporations.” That is changing: “Increasingly, however, administrative law has extended its reach to individuals. The entire society therefore now has opportunities to feel its hard edge.”