Meeting the Demands of Modern Governance: The Administrative Thought of Supreme Court Justice Byron White

Abstract

This dissertation examines the administrative principles found in retired Supreme Court Justice Byron White's administrative law case opinions. The purposes of the dissertation are to explore and identify the dominant themes found in White's administrative law opinions and to discover what public administration can learn from a Supreme Court justice who took more than a passing interest in governance matters.This study has the following research expectations: • There is an identifiable White administrative law jurisprudence; • Within this jurisprudence, there are principles that recognize and are sensitive to the demands of modern governance; and • White's administrative thought can be translated and used by public administrators to guide and instruct their work.The first part of the dissertation is descriptive as the dominant themes in White's administrative law jurisprudence are identified and examined. Standard case briefing analysis is used for this exploration. The second half of the project is normative, wherein Rohr's 'regime values' framework is used to explore what public administrators may learn from studying White's administrative law opinions. Moreover, this section of the dissertation will explore the extent to which White's conception of modern governance incorporates what scholars have referred to as the judicialization of the modern administrative state by the federal courts and what is White's conception of a constitutionally competent civil servant.