CONSTITUTIONALISM AND ADMINISTRATIVE GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: A SKETCH
CONSTITUTIONALISM AND ADMINISTRATIVE GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES: A SKETCH

Summary/Abstract: One of the classic tasks of constitutionalism in all its many forms(l), and of modem constitutional law specifically in the American federal governments, is that of legal and constitutional control of the administrative system. In the American system the task is two-fold. It is that of preventing administrative injustice to individuals. It also is that of assuring that the powers, necessarily broad, of the administrative are properly usedj It is often said that „the bureaucracy is the core of modern government”(2). This vital core must be managed with alert care, and with attentive good judgment, wisdom, and consistency by the polity in general if these great powers are to do their work and to avoid derangement and loss of effectiveness, let alone actual abuse. Constitutionalism is usually an important means to this end. Certainly it is always an appropriate one particularly when it is coupled with appropriate politics and policy. This paper is a brief account of some central elements of American arrangements and American experience. Constitutionalism and constitutional law are of course much used on problems of every kind throughout the whole of the American political order, including the problems of the constitutionalization of the bureaucracy — the administrative system.

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