Analysis
The due process protections of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution require a hearing and opportunity to be heard whenever the government wishes to violate a citizen's life, liberty, or property. Due process rights attach to governmental activities that are adjudicative in nature, but not to activities that are legislative in nature. In the context of taxation, a legislative body has the power to tax without affording citizens due process protections. However, when the decision to tax particular individuals is made by a non-legislative body based on the individual facts and circumstances of a particular case, the decision becomes adjudicative in nature, and due process protections attach. These due process protections do not require a full trial, but the mere opportunity to file a written statement is insufficient. Due process in this context requires at least an opportunity to be heard in person and present evidence. No such opportunity was given. Therefore, the action violated due process, and the liens were void.
This case is one of the earliest to establish when an agency rulemaking process must submit to adjudication. While administrative agencies have wide discretion within the rulemaking context, there are many instances in which adjudication is required. Where complaints are particularized and specific facts are at issue, adjudication is preferable since it is within a judge's expertise to resolve matters involving personal rights. Whereas, when there is a general grievance bearing on future policies, rulemaking is preferable because the expertise and familiarity of an agency within its field helps to inform them on such decisions.
Here, the law of Colorado denied landowners post-deprivation hearings, the right to be heard after an assessment of taxes had been made. Thus, the right to a pre-deprivation hearing, allowing landowners to be heard prior to the assessment of taxes, was the only way in which the landowners could challenge the Government's actions depriving them of property.
In English law, natural justice is technical terminology for the rule against bias and the right to a fair hearing. While the term natural justice is often retained as a general concept, it has largely been replaced and extended by the general "duty to act fairly".
In United States constitutional law, a Due Process Clause is found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which prohibits arbitrary deprivation of "life, liberty, or property" by the government except as authorized by law.
Procedural due process is a legal doctrine in the United States that requires government officials to follow fair procedures before depriving a person of life, liberty, or property. When the government seeks to deprive a person of one of those interests, procedural due process requires at least for the government to afford the person notice, an opportunity to be heard, and a decision made by a neutral decisionmaker. Procedural due process is required by the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
In administrative law, rulemaking is the process that executive and independent agencies use to create, or promulgate, regulations. In general, legislatures first set broad policy mandates by passing statutes, then agencies create more detailed regulations through rulemaking.
An administrative law judge (ALJ) in the United States is a judge and trier of fact who both presides over trials and adjudicates claims or disputes involving administrative law. ALJs can administer oaths, take testimony, rule on questions of evidence, and make factual and legal determinations.
Goldberg v. Kelly, 397 U.S. 254 (1970), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires an evidentiary hearing before a recipient of certain government welfare benefits can be deprived of such benefits.
United States federal administrative law encompasses statutes, common law, and directives issued by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Executive Office of the President, that together define the extent of powers and responsibilities held by administrative agencies of the United States government. The executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the U.S. federal government cannot always directly perform their constitutional responsibilities. Specialized powers are therefore delegated to an agency, board, or commission. These administrative governmental bodies oversee and monitor activities in complex areas, such as commercial aviation, medical device manufacturing, and securities markets.
Bi-Metallic Investment Co. v. State Board of Equalization, 239 U.S. 441 (1915), was a United States Supreme Court case which held that due process protections attach only to administrative activities in which a small number of people are concerned, who are exceptionally affected by the act, in each case upon individual grounds. By contrast, rule-making or quasi-legislative activities that affect a large number of people without regard to the facts of individual cases do not implicate due process protections. It is an important case in United States administrative law.
The Coast Guard Judge Advocate General oversees the delivery of legal services to the United States Coast Guard, through the Office of the Judge Advocate General in Washington, the Legal Service Command, offices in the Atlantic and Pacific Areas, nine Coast Guard Districts, the Coast Guard Academy, three training centers, and a number of other activities and commands. Legal services are delivered by Coast Guard judge advocates and civilian counsel in ten legal practice areas: criminal law/military justice, operations, international activities, civil advocacy, environmental law, procurement law, internal organizational law, regulations and administrative law, legislative support and legal assistance.
The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) was founded in 1960 as a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization. CFC campaigns for state and federal laws and appears at the California state legislature in support of consumer-focused regulations. The Consumer Federation of California is led by Executive Director Richard Holober and President Lucinda Sikes.
Proposition 218 is an adopted initiative constitutional amendment which revolutionized local and regional government finance and taxation in California. Named the "Right to Vote on Taxes Act," it was sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association as a constitutional follow-up to the landmark property tax reduction initiative constitutional amendment, Proposition 13, approved in 1978. Proposition 218 was approved and adopted by California voters during the November 5, 1996, statewide general election.
Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U.S. 532 (1985), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that:
United States v. Florida East Coast Railway Co., 410 U.S. 224 (1973), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court.
Arnett v. Kennedy, 416 U.S. 134 (1974), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court rejected a nonprobationary federal civil service employee's claim to a full hearing prior to dismissal over charges he had brought the government into disrepute by recklessly accusing a superior of corruption. The governing federal law prescribed not only grounds for removal but also removal procedures. The employee could only be removed for "cause," but the procedures did not provide for an adversarial hearing prior to termination. The Court also rejected the respondent's claim that his First Amendment rights were violated.
The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Pub.L. 79–404, 60 Stat. 237, enacted June 11, 1946, is the United States federal statute that governs the way in which administrative agencies of the federal government of the United States may propose and establish regulations and grants U.S. federal courts oversight over all agency actions. According to Hickman & Pierce, it is one of the most important pieces of United States administrative law, and serves as a sort of "constitution" for U.S. administrative law.
The Alberta Municipal Government Board (MGB) is a provincial quasi-judicial tribunal in Alberta, Canada. The MGB is affiliated with the Alberta Ministry of Municipal Affairs. The MGB is established pursuant to the Municipal Government Act (MGA), which authorizes it to hear: appeals from subdivision applications involving a provincial interest, appeals of linear property assessments, intermunicipal disputes, municipal annexations, and other matters.
People of the State of California v. Federal Housing Finance Agency was a California state case in which several California-based plaintiffs filed suit against the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) for creating a lending rule that impeded the Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program, a program in which property owners repay energy-related property improvements gradually over time as an addition to their property tax.
The New York City Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) is an administrative office of the New York City government. It is a non-mayoral executive agency and is not part of the state Unified Court System.
Logan v. Zimmerman Brush Co., 455 U.S. 422, is a unanimous 1982 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court held that the petitioner was entitled to have his discrimination complaint adjudged by Illinois's Fair Employment Practices Commission (FEPC), which had dismissed it for its own failure to meet a deadline. The decision reversed the Illinois Supreme Court's holding to the contrary two years prior.
