◼ In short, the government agencies — having become politicized and infiltrated by leftwing ideologues — are essentially working in concert with their NGO adversaries to throw fights: the NGOs sue, the government agencies agree to settle, and deals that include regulation favorable to the NGOs become set in bureaucratic stone with no input from the public. - Protein Wisdom
◼ National Editorial: No more back-room deals between bureaucrats and liberal activists - Washington Examiner
Previously in this space, The Washington Examiner described an important new report compiled by an 11-person research team from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce entitled "Sue and Settle: Regulating Behind Closed Doors." The chamber's report identified at least 71 federal court cases since 2009 in which federal agencies -- most often, the Environmental Protection Agency -- made back-room deals with Big Green environmental activist groups like the Sierra Club and WildEarth Guardians. The activist groups then sued the agency asking the court to order the agency to do what it already agreed to do in the backroom. The group and the agency then told the court that they had settled their "issues" and the court issued a consent decree ratifying the whole rotten procedure.
Sue and settle is anti-democratic because it cuts out of the regulatory process everybody not present in the back-room dickering. Sue and settle is also unconstitutional -- at least in spirit if not fact -- since it supplants elected representatives making law in public with unelected bureaucrats making law behind closed doors. By denying an opportunity for public comment, the process also violates the Administrative Procedures Act that Congress approved in 1946 to insure transparency and accountability in the federal regulatory process. Finally, sue and settle is extraordinarily expensive because agencies typically use it to impose costly regulatory regimens without consideration of less expensive options typically proposed during the preliminary phase of rule-making under the APA.... read the whole thing, at the link
