From: Administrative Conference of the United States
Submitted by Frank Massaro
This post is part of the ACUS Intern Blog Series. This article was authored by Victoria Barnard, a 2L at the George Washington University Law School. The views expressed below are those of the author and do not represent the views of ACUS or the Federal Government.
The first edition of ACUS’s Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, published in 1985, filled gaps in the public’s understanding of the regulatory processes by which federal government agencies operate. It also served as an invaluable resource for agency officials, by centralizing publication of analysis, legislative history, related regulations, and other references for 18 procedural statutes, including the Administrative Procedure Act, the Freedom of Information Act, and the Paperwork Reduction Act.
This and subsequent editions in 1992, 2000, 2008, and 2016 have provided both access to and explanations of key legal sources, including statutes, guidance, and executive orders, that broadly apply to federal agency officials governing administrative procedure. In addition to serving as an invaluable resource to administration and agency officials, the Sourcebook has also aided federal courts in their analysis of major administrative statutes. See, e.g., Harkonen v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 800 F.3d 1143, 1149 (9th Cir. 2015).