Law School for Everyone: Legislation and Regulation

Course Description:
Explore how American laws are made, interpreted, and enforced. From statutory text to administrative agencies and judicial review, learn how courts read statutes, when “plain meaning” yields to purpose, and how Congress, agencies, and judges share (and contest) power in shaping public policy.

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Course Outline

01: Making Sense of Legislation and Regulation
A deceptively simple “no vehicles in the park” rule opens big debates: plain meaning vs. intent vs. the statute’s spirit—and how each guides interpretation.
31 min

02: Regulation by Statute and by Common Law
How legislation differs from judge-made regulation. Compare statutory schemes with tort/contract tools, using environmental rules and auto-safety incentives.
31 min

03: Legislation and the Administrative State
Why passing federal laws is hard—and why that matters for courts. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a case study in process and later interpretation.
33 min

04: Touchstones of Statutory Interpretation
Reading legal texts through everyday interpretive habits. Holy Trinity Church v. United States highlights parallels and limits of ordinary meaning.
29 min

05: The Letter versus the Spirit of the Law
Reconciling text with purpose: lessons from Riggs v. Palmer and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act on honoring statutory aims.
30 min

06: When Is Statutory Meaning Plain?
How “plain meaning” can collide with purpose. TVA v. Hill and WVU Hospitals v. Casey test whether departures from text should be rare or routine.
30 min

07: Semantic and Substantive Interpretive Rules
The canons of construction: language-based (semantic) vs. policy-leaning (substantive). McBoyle v. United States as a guide to both families of canons.
30 min

08: How Do Courts Really Interpret Statutes?
An LSD distribution case probes whether interpretation is coherent or ad hoc—and whether a unifying theory can explain judicial practice.
32 min

09: Federal Agencies as Regulatory Bodies
How agencies implement and enforce federal law (e.g., FTC). Should Congress delegate major policy choices to executive agencies?
31 min

10: Political Control of Agency Decision Making
Tools Congress and the President use to steer agencies—and the constitutional questions raised in contentious areas like immigration and trade.
31 min

11: Judicial Review of Agency Rulings
Courts police agency action for procedure and reasoned decision-making: the basics of administrative law’s hard-look review.
32 min

12: Weighing Agency Interpretations of Statutes
From Chevron v. NRDC to MCI v. AT&T and FDA v. Brown & Williamson: when courts defer, when they don’t, and how branches interact to make policy.
34 min