Public administration and the erosion of the rule of law in the United States

The failure of public administration theorists, researchers, reformers, and practitioners to make the rule of law the foundation of U.S. public administration has contributed to an erosion of constitutionality and legality in the national administration. Prominent contemporary threats to the rule of law include standardless delegations of legislative authority to administrative agencies, theChevrondoctrine and related judicial deference, the use of administrative guidance documents in place of rules, presidential legislation by executive order, aggrandizement through unitary executive branch theory, and policymaking by concerted nonenforcement of statutory requirements. Together, these threats contribute to massive constitutional distortion. This raises questions of whether it is time for public administration theorists, researchers, and practitioners to consider a ‘rule of law restoration’ initiative in the U.S. and use the American case examined here as a potential basis for considering the role of the rule of law in contemporary public administration worldwide.