Dean Richard Revesz was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) on December 9. The swearing-in took place on the first day of the ACUS’s 53rd plenary session, a two-day gathering of government and private sector executives at the National Archives in Washington, D.C.
The ACUS is an independent federal agency dedicated to improving the fairness and effectiveness of the administrative process through recommendations informed by applied research concerning federal agency procedures. In 1995 Congress suspended ACUS funding; President Barack Obama reestablished the agency earlier this year. The plenary session signified the long-dormant agency’s revival after a 15-year hiatus.
Paul Verkuil (LL.M. ’69, J.S.D. ’72), chairman of the ACUS, introduced the session. Scalia delivered remarks and swore in the membership, which includes both federal government officials and members of the public. Revesz, who is the Lawrence King Professor of Law as well as dean, is a leading expert on environmental and regulatory law and policy.
“This is a remarkable public-private gathering—an auspicious moment in the Administrative Conference’s history,” said Verkuil. “I can think of few forums in government where important agency and department officials come together with leaders of the bar, the academy, the business, and the public interest community to make government work better.”
The first day’s agenda included debate on a recommendation about agency procedures related to federal preemption of state law. Professor Catherine Sharkey, serving as an academic consultant on the ACUS regulatory preemption project, appeared at the session to present her report on the subject.
Posted on December 14, 2010