Podcast: The future of the regulatory state

USDA inspectors examine a shipment of imported frozen meat (credit: Anson Eaglin)

In his “Contract with the American Voter,” President-elect Donald Trump promised to “to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC” and “to restore … the constitutional rule of law.” He said he’ll do it, in part, by taking on what experts call the “administrative state”—the web of executive agencies and regulations that impact our daily lives in ways large and small.

What exactly have the President-elect and the new Congress proposed, and what does the Constitution allow them to do? How might the courts also challenge the status quo of federal regulatory power? Is much of the administrative state unconstitutional?

Joining We the People to discuss the administrative state in the Trump era are two of America’s leading experts in administrative and constitutional law.

Gillian Metzger is the Stanley H. Fuld Professor of Law at Columbia Law School.

David Bernstein is the George Mason University Foundation Professor at the George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School.

This show was engineered by David Stotz and produced by Nicandro Iannacci. Research was provided by Lana Ulrich. The host of We the People is Jeffrey Rosen.

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