Regulatory Czar

Regulatory Czar- Cass R. Sunstein *

Updates:

Cass Sunstein drafted ‘New Deal Fairness Doctrine’ 9.15.09

Cass Sunstein wants to change the Constitution by 2020

Title: Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Salary: unknown
Reports to: Office of Management and Budget head Peter Orszag
Appointed: January 2009
Nomination was sent to Senate on April 20, 2009 – no action yet taken
Agency that might have handled similar issues: OMB

• Will be responsible for reviewing draft regulations and assessing their costs and benefits

• Is a Harvard Law School professor; prior to that, was a professor at the Univ. of Chicago Law School (1981-2008)

• Academic specialties: constitutional law, administrative law, and regulatory policy

• Obama: “Cass is not only a valued advisor, he is a dear friend”

• Known for advancing a field called “law and behavioral economics” that seeks to shape law and policy around the way research shows people actually behave; though embraced by conservatives, critics say it fails to account for the sometimes less-than-rational aspects of human behavior.

• In his 2002 book, Republic.com, discussed the drawbacks of limitless choices on the Internet that allow people to seek out only like-minded people and opinions that merely fortify their own views; he talked about the idea of the government requiring sites to link to opposing views. He later came to realize it was a “bad idea.”

• In his 2004 book, Animal Rights, suggested that animals ought to be able to bring suit, with private citizens acting as their representatives, to ensure that animals are not treated in a way that violates current law.

• In a 2007 speech at Harvard he called for banning hunting in the U.S.

• The American Conservative Union started a website, Stop Sunstein, in an effort to keep him out of the White House.

• The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

• The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

• The right of every family to a decent home;

• The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

• The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

• The right to a good education.

• The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

• The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;