Online session on 15 May 2023 with Prof. Michael Asimow

Dear interested participants,

JMN EULEN is organising an online session to discuss the draft article from prof. Michael Asimow on ‘Greenlighting Administrative Prosecution in the US’.  The event will be held in an online format on Monday 15 May 2023, from 16.30 to 18.00 CET (Central European time) (7:30-9.00 AM PST (US Pacific time zone)).

Please register via sending an email to eulen@uu.nl . Only then, you can get the link to the online venue.

The topic concerns administrative decision-making and in particular the administrative decision of whether or not to charge a target with a violation of the law. This online session brings together the US-based views of the author Prof. Michael Asimow (University of Santa Clara) alongside the European perspectives on the issues raised.

Prof. Paul Craig (University of Oxford) and Mr. Aart De Vries (Utrecht University) will act as discussants. Dr. Mira Scholten (Utrecht University) will act as chair.

About the Topic

“Greenlighting” is the process whereby the heads of a combined-function federal regulatory agency determine whether to accept the staff’s decision to charge or not charge a target with a violation of law.  The charging decision is often the most consequential decision point in a regulatory prosecution and typically sets off a settlement negotiation.  Yet the charging decision is unchecked by legislative, execution or judicial mechanisms.  Greenlighting is an important accountability tool with respect to the staff’s prosecutorial discretion.  It is often used to correct misalignment between the priorities of the agency heads and their staff.  Yet greenlighting is controversial because of concern about confirmation bias; having approved a prosecution, the agency heads may be unable to render an unbiased decision when the case returns to them for the final adjudicatory decision.

The online session will shed some further light on this exciting and innovative regulatory topic.

You may find more information about the author and the participants in the Programme. You may also find the draft article, which will be the subject of the discussion here.