By Lawrence Ashery, Caesar Rivise PC (November 15, 2016, 12:45 PM EST) -- Perhaps no doctrine is more significant to our form of government than separation of powers. In the first draft of the Bill of Rights, James Madison wanted to explicitly state that our three branches of government — legislative, executive and judicial — "shall never exercise the power" of each other. His proposal was struck down as being redundant with language articulated by the U.S. Constitution. Separation of powers, it was argued, was already implicit. Yet here we are today, with accusations that the separation of powers doctrine has been eroded. The culprit, many commentators argue, is judicial deference to administrative agencies and their interpretation of statutes and rules. Even the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has treaded on this thorny issue....
Law360 is on it, so you are, too.
A Law360 subscription puts you at the center of fast-moving legal issues, trends and developments so you can act with speed and confidence. Over 200 articles are published daily across more than 60 topics, industries, practice areas and jurisdictions.
