Courts and Congress responded to agency capture with standing doctrines and open-government laws

Evidence

In the 1960s, this situation—​the “capture” of the agencies—​became a real issue. New business laws were passed; but just as important was what Richard Stewart termed “the reformation” of administrative law. Regulatory processes were changed to allow for more agency accountability and citizen oversight. Courts came up with new “standing” doctrines that allowed citizens’ and advocacy groups to challenge agency action (and inaction) in court; they also began to take a “hard look” at agency decisions to make sure they were the product of a reasoned decisionmaking process based on sound evidence. Congress required federal agencies to produce and disclose the environmental effects of their decisions in “impact” statements. And, crucial to this project, Congress gave peo­ ple the information they needed to keep an eye on these agencies, through the Freedom of Information Act (1966) and other open government laws. — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 588

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces standing, hard-look review, and impact statements as reformation tools against capture.
• XREF: connects to: Regulated industries often capture their own regulators — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 583; Single-subject clauses served open government but mainly armed judges — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2083; Key federal statutes responded to demands for a single national authority — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2368

Broader Connections

• Single-subject clauses served open government but mainly armed judges #expands (0.80) — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2083