Call for Proposals: Investigating Policymaker Responses to the Revolution in Administrative Law

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In the last 15 years, the Supreme Court has rewritten the textbooks on administrative law. Typically, when judicial doctrine undergoes a profound transition at the high court, scholars and practitioners look to lower courts to see how these changes play out. For this workshop, however, we will investigate the effect of these blockbuster decisions on the other branches of government. That is, we seek papers that address how lawmakers and regulators are responding to the revolution in administrative law wrought by the Roberts Court. Below, we have provided examples of possible subjects.

• In cases like Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, the Supreme Court called on agencies to curtail adventurous readings of their enabling acts. Have agencies done so? How are agencies regulating “major questions”? Are agencies strategically advancing the “best reading” of statutes in their decisions?
• In Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) v. Jarkesy, the Court cast constitutional doubt on many agency adjudications. After Jarkesy, how have agencies changed their adjudicative practices? More broadly, how have administrative agencies and the Justice Department changed their enforcement strategies?
• The Court has articulated an expansive view of the President’s managerial authority over personnel in a series of cases, including Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and Seila law v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How are presidents exercising this new discretion? When a regime involves adjudication, to what extent are agencies ensuring independence of the decision-maker? Where do members of the Senior Executive Service fit within contemporary doctrine?
• What is Congress’s reaction, if any, to these seismic changes in administrative law? Has Congress enacted specific legislative responses to any of the significant regulatory decisions emanating from the Supreme Court? Is there lawmaker interest in providing clarity to enabling acts? Have doctrinal changes affected how Congress allocates resources to agencies?

This is a non-exclusive list. We welcome any submission that focuses on how these dramatic changes in administrative law are affecting lawmakers and regulators. For example, we would welcome a paper that addresses agency implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (also known as “NEPA”) in the wake of Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County.

We welcome submissions from a range of perspectives, including public policy and administration, economics, law, political science, the natural and physical sciences, and economic history. Cross-disciplinary collaboration is encouraged.

Paper proposals will be judged in terms of academic rigor and practical viability to ensure the final products can yield meaningful change. Conceptual, theoretical, and/or empirical proposals are welcome. Proposals should be no more than 700 words and highlight both the approach and practical implications of the research.

Once selected, authors will have approximately six months to draft their essays. In February of 2027, we will convene an invitation-only research roundtable at the George Washington University, which will bring together essay authors and other experts to workshop ideas and provide feedback to support the authors’ final papers. Paper authors will present their final manuscripts and participate in discussions at a full-day public event in Washington, DC, in July of 2027, aimed at interested academics, practitioners, and policy officials.

Authors will be encouraged to publish their papers, perhaps jointly as part of a symposium issue of an interdisciplinary journal. By eliciting research across disciplines and convening interdisciplinary experts to share their ideas and insights, we hope to break down silos that may pose barriers to realizing novel policy approaches that enable innovation.

Selected paper authors will receive an honorarium of $7,000, with $3,000 payable on delivery of the draft paper and $4,000 due on completion of the project.

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Please reach out with questions: RegulatoryStudiesgwu [dot] edu (RegulatoryStudies[at]gwu[dot]edu)