Great Lakes Legal Foundation Turns 10

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Great Lakes Legal Foundation.

“We started with a goal,” says founding member and GLLF President and General Counsel, Robert Fassbender, “to assure people are regulated fairly, consistent with statutory administrative law procedures. We set three priorities: eliminating judicial deference, enforcing compliance with Act 21’s explicit authority mandate, and ensuring agencies follow Chapter 227’s rulemaking procedure. We’ve consistently won on all three issues.” 

Some of GLLF’s big wins have included:

• Complete elimination of judicial deference to agencies’ interpretation of the law in Wisconsin. You can read about how the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s plurality opinion tracked our amicus brief.

• Judicial recognition of the fact that agencies can only operate within the explicit boundaries of their enabling legislation.

• And most recently, a holding that agencies must prove explicit authority before regulating.

We aren’t resting on our laurels yet—Clean Wisconsin v. DNR is on the horizon and will determine the relationship between explicit delegation and statutory preamble provisions. But today we celebrate the many ways GLLF has worked to make life better for the regulated community in Wisconsin.