How Process Battles Monkey-Wrench Policy: New at Reason

Arguments over process can actually be arguments over policy.

A. Barton Hinkle writes:

Two recent controversies—one national, one in Virginia—prove it. But they also prove two other things: that process still matters, and that ignoring process can impede policy.

This past Monday a federal judge temporarily halted the Obama administration’s directive on accommodating transgender students in public education, at the behest of 13 states that had sued to block it.

The states argue that the administration improperly promulgated new regulations outside of the normal rule-making process, and U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor said they had a good chance of prevailing on that point.

But the states made the challenge in the first place because they clearly don’t like the substance of the directive.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange says he objects to “social experimenters in Washington” writing state policies about bathroom use. What he really means is that he objects to letting members of one biological sex use the bathrooms and locker rooms designated for use by the other biological sex, regardless of their self-identification.

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