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Supreme Court Justices Testify at Cohen Panel

May 20, 2010

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law (CAL), chaired a bipartisan hearing today that featured testimony from Supreme Court Associate Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia. The Justices were there to discuss the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) – a federal agency charged with improving administrative procedures. Paul Verkuil, the new ACUS Chairman, also appeared before the Subcommittee.

“It was a pleasure and an honor to welcome Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia to the subcommittee,” said Congressman Cohen. “Both were administrative law experts before joining the Supreme Court and their testimony provided great insight into the benefits of having a strong, independent Administrative Conference of the United States. Having newly confirmed Chair Paul Verkuil on hand was also insightful. It is vital that we maintain ACUS to ensure efficiency and fairness in administrative agencies.”

ACUS is an agency of the federal government charged with making recommendations to improve administrative agencies and their procedures, particularly with respect to efficiency and fairness. It is considered both an independent agency and a federal advisory committee, and is charged with providing guidance to Congress on matters of administrative law.

President John F. Kennedy created ACUS on April 13, 1961 by executive order. ACUS was established as a permanent independent agency in 1964 and became operational three years later. ACUS was created to develop recommendations for improving procedures by which federal agencies administer regulatory, benefit, and other government programs. It served as a “private-public think tank” that conducted “basic research on how to improve the regulatory and legal process.” For more than 25 years, ACUS advised the federal government on and coordinated important reforms to the administrative procedural law that is the backbone of federal regulation.

ACUS enjoyed strong bipartisan support and assisted all three branches of government from 1968 until it was terminated in 1995. After failing to be appropriated funds for fiscal year 1996, ACUS ceased operations on October 31, 1995. The statutory provisions establishing ACUS were not repealed.

In 2004, CAL held a hearing on the reauthorization of ACUS. Justices Breyer and Scalia testified to praise the work and cost effectiveness of this modest agency. Congress then approved bipartisan legislation to reauthorize and resurrect the agency, which President Bush signed into law in 2004, but funds were not appropriated before the reauthorization period expired at the end of FY 2007. During the 110th Congress, both the House and the Senate again overwhelmingly approved a new bipartisan reauthorization bill, and on March 11, 2009, President Obama signed the Omnibus Appropriations bill that funded ACUS.

On November 2, 2009, President Obama nominated Paul R. Verkuil to serve as the Chairman of ACUS. On March 3, 2010, the Senate confirmed Mr. Verkuil as the Chairman of ACUS. This hearing was Verkuil’s first opportunity to testify before Congress in his capacity as the ACUS Chair.

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