This seminal book presents a fundamental reconsideration of modern American administrative law. According to Christopher Edley, the guiding principle in this field is that courts should apply legal doctrines to control the discretion of unelected bureaucrats. In practice, however, these doctrines simply give unelected judges largely unconstrained--and inescapable--discretion. Assessed on its own terms, says Edley, administrative law is largely a failure. He discussed why and how this is so and argues that law should abandon its obsession with bureaucratic discretion and pursue instead the...

Rejecting simplistic left-right arguments, Christopher Edley, Jr., offers a cogent and persuasive analysis of one of the most contended issues in politics today. He makes the powerful argument that affirmative-action laws are essential to social justice in this country, though they have flaws and drawbacks (for both of which he suggests precise and sensible remedies). He shows us what is at stake in the positions our elected officials take and in the arguments we make about fairness, justice, and progress.