The Yale Law Journal

Matthew C. Stephenson

Essay

Can the President Appoint Principal Executive Officers Without a Senate Confirmation Vote?

Matthew C. Stephenson


122 Yale L.J. 940 (2013).

It is generally assumed that the Constitution requires the Senate to vote to confirm the President’s nominees to principal federal offices. This Essay argues, to the contrary, that when the President nominates an individual to a principal executive branch position, the Senat…

Article

The Price of Public Action: Constitutional Doctrine and the Judicial Manipulation of Legislative Enactment Costs

Matthew C. Stephenson

118 Yale L.J. 2 (2008).

This Article argues that courts can, and often should, implement constitutional guarantees by crafting doctrines that raise the costs to government decisionmakers of enacting constitutionally problematic policies. This indirect approach may implement a kind of implicit balan…

Forum

The Costs of Voting Rule Chevron: A Comment on Gersen and Vermeules Proposal

Matthew C. Stephenson

Professors Gersen and Vermeule argue that we should replace “doctrinal Chevron,” which instructs courts to defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of a statute the agency administers, with “voting rule Chevron.” Under voting rule Chevron, judges would not defer to agency views. Inst…