Administrative Character: Hard and Soft Look Considerations. (November 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Newswander, Chad B.
• Is Part Of: American review of public administration. Volume 45:Number 6(2015:Dec.)
• Page Start: 746
• Page End: 759
• Publication Date: 2015-11
• Subjects: prudence -- administrative law -- Chevron deference; Public administration -- Periodicals; Public administration -- United States -- Periodicals; 351
• DOI: 10.1177/0275074014538313
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0275-0740

Abstract

Managerial competence expressed in the promise of science provides administrators with a set of dispositions. In attempting to achieve such a character, the Supreme Court set up a hard look orientation that used rational means to justify the substance of administrative power. Even though this mode of operation grants legitimacy resulting from meeting a high threshold, it also began to cripple administrative reasoning and movement. When problems are multifaceted, administrative character must be given room to explore. Taking this into consideration, the court also established an alternative space rooted in a soft look that encouraged a different type of administrative character. It has done this by establishing the foundations of a legal framework that privileges deference, which allows for prudence to emerge. Rooted in classical origin and updated in modern parlance, prudence can be leveraged as a way to not only deal with questions of law but also with substance.