Administrative Procedure Act

The 1946 statute governing how federal agencies make rules and decisions

Overview

The APA laid down the modern administrative constitution, requiring notice and comment rulemaking, formal adjudication with hearings where statutes demand, and judicial review of agency action under structured standards. It divides rulemaking from adjudication and presumes reviewability of agency action. Chevron era debates over judicial deference played out on its terrain. Every American regulatory regime, from drugs to aviation to environment, runs through its procedures, and it is quietly among the most consequential statutes ever passed. It was passed in 1946 alongside the Employment Act, a package reshaping the postwar administrative state.