nondelegation

Nondelegation refers to a constitutional principle in United States law that Congress cannot transfer its legislative powers to the executive branch or to private actors without providing an intelligible principle to guide the use of that power. The idea is that Congress must retain ultimate authority over lawmaking and must set the standards and policy goals that agencies or other bodies must follow.

The doctrine is closely tied to the so-called intelligible principle test. In early cases, the Supreme Court required that any delegation of legislative power include a clear, practical rule by which the delegated authority would operate. The tests arose from the view that Congress cannot abdicate its lawmaking function, even when it authorizes agencies to fill in details.

Historically, the nondelegation doctrine reached a peak in the 1930s with strikes against broad delegations in the New Deal statutes, such as the Schechter Poultry Corp. and Panama Refining Co. decisions, which invalidated provisions for lack of adequate standards. Since then, the Court has allowed broader delegations so long as a workable intelligible principle guides the agency’s actions. In later decades, the Court reaffirmed this approach in cases like Mistretta v. United States (1989) and Whitman v. American Trucking Assns. (1997), recognizing that Congress may entrust agencies with significant duties if it provides guiding standards.

Today, the nondelegation doctrine remains a theoretical constraint on delegation in principle, but it operates in a constrained form. Delegations permitting agencies to implement broad policy choices, within an intelligible framework, are generally upheld, while delegations lacking sufficient standards face constitutional scrutiny.