The New Sovereign Immunity

The federal government is engaged in the administration of massive programs intended to eradicate poverty, or at least to attack it in its most rudimentary aspects and alleviate its most shocking manifestations. Dr. and Mrs. Cahn disclose the threat to the success of this worthy venture which is pos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Harvard law review 1968-03, Vol.81 (5), p.929-991
Main Authors: Edgar S., Cahn, Jean Camper
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administrative agencies
Administrative law
Decision making
Government
Housing
Immunity
Poverty
Rule of law
Statutory law
Tenants
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Summary:The federal government is engaged in the administration of massive programs intended to eradicate poverty, or at least to attack it in its most rudimentary aspects and alleviate its most shocking manifestations. Dr. and Mrs. Cahn disclose the threat to the success of this worthy venture which is posed by entrusting its conduct to the hands of administrators who are relatively unaccountable to a popular constituency and who are often insensitive or unsympathetic to grass roots problems and realities. Tracing the history of a successfully operated community action organization which was the victim of a cut-off of federal poverty funds, they explore the legal theories and remedies available to compel an agency denying funds to observe standards of procedural and substantive fairness. But the role to be played by the courts has its limitations; new procedures and new institutions are necessary if the new sovereign immunity is to yield to administrative responsibility, sensitivity, and accountability.
ISSN:0017-811X
DOI:10.2307/1339433