A Unified Corps of ALJs: A Proposal to Test the Idea at the Federal Level

Abstract

In this article, I briefly document the changing nature of the role of administrative law judges in the federal administrative process, and I discuss, in light of this change, concerns about the independence of ALJs as reflected by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and other statutes. Finally, I address proposals that ALJs be made into a unified corps - to act as a separate and independent administrative judiciary - and I suggest that we partially restructure the current system to test the practicality of such proposals.

Keywords: administrative law, administrative law judges