Administrative Law

BUL 2241Activity 3·8 min read

Why it Matters

Most of the rules a business follows were written by an agency, not by Congress. Congress sets a goal in a statute, and an agency such as the EPA turns it into the detailed requirements that decide what a factory can emit or what a label must say. The rulemaking process is also one of the few places where a business or a citizen can shape a rule before it takes effect. This activity has you do exactly that with a real proposed rule.

Current Context

On June 29, 2026, the Supreme Court decided Trump v. Slaughter, holding 6-3 that the statute allowing the President to remove Federal Trade Commission members only for cause violates the separation of powers, and overruling Humphrey’s Executor, the 1935 decision that had shielded independent agencies for nine decades. Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the modern FTC “unquestionably exercises executive power,” so its commissioners must answer to the President, as SCOTUSblog’s analysis explains. A June 30, 2026 client memo walks through what follows for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, whose statute uses nearly identical language, and by extension for the other multimember agencies that write the rules businesses live under. The agency behind the rule you comment on in this activity may now serve at the President’s pleasure, which changes who you are really writing to.

Key Concepts

Enabling Legislation

A statute passed by Congress that creates an agency or gives an existing agency the authority to act in a defined area, such as environmental protection or workplace safety. It sets the agency’s mission and the limits of its power. Without it, an agency has no authority to regulate anyone.

Administrative Agency

A government body within the executive branch, such as the Environmental Protection Agency or the Securities and Exchange Commission, that carries out the goals set in enabling legislation. Agencies are staffed by unelected specialists who write, issue, and enforce regulations in their area. They sit where legislative intent meets real-world application.

Regulation

A detailed rule issued by an agency that carries the force of law. A statute may order clean air; the regulation sets the exact emission limit for a factory. Regulations are the day-to-day compliance requirements businesses actually live with.

Administrative Procedure Act

The federal statute that governs how agencies make rules and decide cases. It requires public notice of a proposed rule and a chance to comment, so agencies cannot write binding rules in private. Businesses that challenge a regulation in court often win by showing the agency skipped a step the APA requires.

Rulemaking

The formal process under the APA for creating, amending, or repealing a regulation. The agency must publish its proposal, justify it with data, and respond to public feedback before issuing a final rule. Watching rulemaking is how a business sees a regulatory change coming before it lands.

Notice and Comment

The stage of rulemaking in which the agency publishes a proposed rule in the Federal Register and opens a window, usually 30 to 60 days, for written public feedback. Anyone can file a comment, and the agency must address the significant ones in its final rule. A well-reasoned comment backed by evidence can change what the final rule says.

Resources

Very Brief Introduction: Administrative Law (Professor Nate’s short overview of how agencies make law; watch it first.)
A Brief History of Administrative Law (Where agencies came from and why they grew; background for the Authority Tracer conversation.)
Administrative Law, LawShelf (A free video course covering enabling legislation, rulemaking, and judicial review of agency action.)
Regulations.gov (The site where you find your proposed rule in Part 1 and file your comment in Part 3.)
Regulations.gov FAQ (How to search for open rules and what happens to a comment after you submit it.)
Learn About the Rulemaking Process, Regulations.gov (The government’s own walkthrough of the steps from proposed rule to final rule.)
Federal Register (The daily journal where proposed and final rules are published; every rule on Regulations.gov starts here.)
A-Z Index of U.S. Government Departments and Agencies, USA.gov (Find the official website of the agency behind your rule for Part 2.)
5 U.S.C. § 553, Rule making, Cornell LII (The section of the Administrative Procedure Act that requires notice and comment; the legal reason your comment must be considered.)
Administrative Procedure Act, Cornell Wex (A short explanation of the APA and the kinds of agency action it governs.)

What to Do

In this activity you work directly with the federal rulemaking process. You will find a proposed rule on Regulations.gov, learn about the agency behind it, and submit an official public comment. Most rules are written for specialists, so do not get stuck on technical details. The goal is to move through the process, see how a statute connects to a regulation, and take part in how rules are made.

Part 1: Find and Explore a Proposed Rule

Start on Regulations.gov. Search broadly by topic or keyword until you find a proposed rule that is currently open for public comment and that interests you. Read the summary carefully and identify the agency responsible for it. Then use the Rule Analyst to break down the rule’s purpose and key provisions and why the agency is proposing it. Focus on the big picture rather than every detail.

Part 2: Understand the Agency Behind the Rule

Shift to the agency responsible for your rule. Visit its official website, which you can find through the USA.gov agency index, and learn its mission, its basic structure, and the enabling legislation that gives it authority. Use the Authority Tracer to see how the agency fits within the constitutional and statutory framework, then use the Agency Profiler to connect what the agency does to the rule you chose and to a recent real-world example of its work. Confirm the example on the agency’s own site or in a news source before you rely on it.

Part 3: Write and Submit Your Public Comment

Return to your proposed rule on Regulations.gov and take a position for or against it. Use the Comment Drafter to write a clear, well-reasoned public comment of at least 100 words that stays grounded in the rule’s stated purpose and its real-world effect. Then submit the comment officially through Regulations.gov. Save a copy of the exact text you submitted.

Part 4: Post Your Deliverable

Create a new discussion thread of at least 300 words. In your first paragraph, identify the proposed rule and explain its purpose in plain terms. In your second paragraph, identify the agency, explain its mission and enabling legislation, and give one specific example of what it regulates, including a recent news event connected to the agency. Finally, paste the exact text of the public comment you submitted.

Include one AI chat link with a 1–2 sentence explanation of what the conversation shows and why you chose to share it.

Suggested AI Prompts

Use these prompts as a starting point, then adjust them to fit your goal. Strong prompting develops through trial, revision, and testing. It’s a foundational skill that grows into more advanced AI work such as context engineering and agent-based workflows.

Rule Analyst

Act as a regulatory compliance analyst. Help me analyze a proposed federal regulation. I will paste the text or upload the PDF of the rule. Summarize its main purpose and identify the agency proposing it. Then explain how the rule connects to the agency’s mission and enabling statute, and describe any recent developments that relate to it. Work only from the document I give you and from what you can state with confidence; if the rule does not say something, tell me rather than filling the gap. Keep your tone neutral and aimed at helping a student see how this rule fits into the federal rulemaking process.

Source grounding: the prompt supplies the document and tells the model to stay inside it. That single instruction is what separates a summary you can trust from one that quietly blends the rule’s text with whatever the model assumes about the topic.

Authority Tracer

Act as my administrative law tutor. Help me understand the basics of administrative law in the United States: the role of the Administrative Procedure Act, how executive agencies make regulations, and how Congress creates and empowers agencies through enabling legislation. I am especially interested in how this fits within the constitutional framework of separation of powers and checks and balances, and in how statutes and regulations interact. Use plain language and concrete examples, and organize the explanation like a lesson or study guide with headings.

Structured output: asking for a study guide with headings forces the model to cover each piece of the framework in order instead of writing one long essay. The result is something you can review before Part 3, not just read once.

Agency Profiler

Act as an expert in federal government operations. I am studying a specific federal agency and need help putting it in context. I will give you the agency’s name. Explain its mission, its legal authority including the enabling legislation, a brief history, and one recent example of something it regulates. For the example, tell me where I can confirm it, and if you are not certain an event happened as you describe it, say so. Then explain how the agency fits into the framework of executive power under the Constitution and how Congress uses enabling legislation to delegate authority. Keep the explanation organized and suited to a college law class.

Role assignment with a verification hook. The request for a place to confirm the example, and for an honest flag when the model is unsure, is the responsible-use move: agency histories are exactly where models produce confident but wrong details.

Comment Drafter

Act as a professional policy advocate and writing assistant. I need to submit an official public comment of at least 100 words on a proposed federal regulation through Regulations.gov. I will share the rule’s summary and my position, for or against. Help me write a thoughtful, well-reasoned comment that explains my perspective clearly and respectfully, in a tone suited to a public submission, grounded in the rule’s stated purpose and its real-world impact. Do not add facts, statistics, or claims that I did not give you. Keep the comment focused and easy to understand.

Constraint setting: the instruction not to add facts you did not supply keeps a persuasive draft honest. A public comment goes on the permanent record under your name, so the model’s job is to organize your argument, not to manufacture support for it.