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NCLA is building a new civil liberties movement to protect us from the Administrative State. Join us!

Event

SCOTUS Restores the 7th Amendment Right to a Jury Trial

SEC v. Jarkesy is one of the biggest SCOTUS cases of this term. The Wall Street Journal called it "a blow to regulators that could have ripple effects across the U.S. government." This decision revives one of the most important…

Event

Jennifer Sey's Fight to Reclaim Title IX, Protecting Women's Sports and Spaces

Jennifer Sey went from national champion gymnast in 1986 to being vilified 22 years later for blowing the whistle on the rampant abuse in national women's gymnastics. Ten years later, she lost her job as a top executive at Levi's…

Our Clients

NCLA represents citizens across America who are willing to take on the government. Whether it is federal, state, or local administrative power, that takes courage and conviction.
Meet some of the bravest people we know: our clients.

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Our Focus Areas

Judicial Deference

Deference doctrines require judges to defer to an administrative agency’s fact finding, or its interpretation of statutes and regulations. Thus, judges surrender their independent judgment and, where the government is a party, must exhibit systematic bias in the government’s favor, which denies due process of law to the other litigant.

Due Process of Law

The due process of law guarantees a right to be held to account only through the processes of an impartial court—something administrative tribunals violate every day.

Scope of Authority/ Nondelegation

The structure of the Constitution allows only Congress to legislate, only the Executive to enforce laws, and only the Judiciary to decide cases. But the Administrative State evades the Constitution’s avenues of governance when executive agencies issue regulations without statutory authorization from Congress.

Free Speech

The Administrative State tries to squelch speech, especially through licensing, speech bans, and speech mandates. Licensing requires one to get the government’s permission prior to speaking. Nothing was more clearly forbidden by the First Amendment than prior restraints on speech, but such controls are now commonplace.

Unreasonable Searches

The Fourth Amendment forbids warrantless searches and seizures of information, yet the Administrative State violates this right to privacy through administrative subpoenas and warrants, automated information collection devices, civil investigative demands, and “voluntary” requests for information.

Guidance Abuse

Agency guidance is easier to promulgate than formal rules and regulations, so agencies prefer to issue it. Such “guidance” supplies relatively informal indications of how an agency interprets rules and statutes. Although guidance is not permitted to bind Americans (unlike laws made by elected legislators), agencies treat guidance as binding and courts often fail to stop them.

Conditions on Spending

Administrative agencies use unconstitutional conditions on spending to regulate the conduct of grantees. Rather than rule through law, the government simply purchases submission.

Judicial Deference Cases