What can be anything more American than traditional jazz? Traditional jazz, a musical form which emanated in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in New Orleans, is characterized by a musical texture of a melody, countermelody and improvisation served with a rich plate of spirituals.
Administrative law addresses some of the most pressing issues of the day, including the separation of power among our respective branches of government; an issue which is of immense interest to our citizenry.
Unfortunately both of the aforementioned institutions are diminishing both in size and influence. With respect to traditional jazz, the public is simply more interested in new musical forms and provides increasing resources to these new musical forms by attending performances and the subsequent purchase of recordings; the resource pool for traditional jazz is diminishing at an alarming rate.
Classical administrative law is diminishing for a completely different reason; the size of the administrative state has grown at such an alarming rate that the academy has shrunken as a result of the emergence of subject matter specialties such as the environment, energy, health and finance. Nonetheless, unlike traditional jazz, the academy has two bulwarks of support, the Administrative Conference of the United States and the ABA Section on Administrative Law which are capable of reversing the trend.
Together these two institutions, supported by members of the academy, are the mainstay of ensuring that issues dealing with the separation of powers and related issues of due process are not submerged by the parochial interests of specialty practices. The existence of the two aforementioned institutions combined with their continued success and funding could make the difference between the demise of traditional jazz and the enhancement of classical administrative law and their demise.
