The Landis Report was written by James M. Landis

James M. Landis

James McCauley Landis was an American academic, government official and legal adviser.-Biography:Landis was born in Tokyo, Japan, where his parents were teachers at a missionary school...

 as a transition team analysis of the United States' administrative agencies for incoming President John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

 on December 21, 1960.

Landis was a friend of the Kennedy family for years; he served as a legal advisor to Joseph P. Kennedy and he was President Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

's Special Counsel. At the time of the report, Landis was on the faculty of Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

.

The report recommended greater clarity on the roles and authority of agency chairs. The Kennedy Administration adopted many of the report's recommendations.

Summary

The report reviewed the overall state of United States administrative law and the relationship between the independent agencies and the executive branch. Landis expressed a concern for the backlog in administrative law cases and the cost of participating in administrative hearing. The report expressed concerns about ethic of administrative proceedings including extensive ex parte communications.

Administrative Conference of the United States

A major recommendation of the Landis Report was the establishment of the Administrative Conference of the United States

Administrative Conference of the United States

The Administrative Conference of the United States is an independent agency of the United States government established by the Administrative Conference Act of 1964. It is also considered to be a federal advisory committee...

, which is a permanent agency to study Federal administrative procedures and develop recommendations for improvement. Similar recommendations were made during the Eisenhower and Kennedy admininstrations. In addition, the Landis Report recommended that legislation be adopted to establish a permanent agency. Such legislation was adopted in 1964 after President Kennedy's death.

Power of agency chairs

Many federal administrative agencies have multiple members and operate as collegial bodies with one member designated as chairman. The report noted that before World War II, the main role of an agency chair was to preside at meetings, and agencies frequently rotated the chair duties among members annually. However, under post-World War II reorganization plans, the President was given the responsibility to designate the chair from among the agency's commissioners, and the chair was given the power to set the internal organization and policy direction of the agency. Landis noted that most chairs did not exercise this added authority, leaving the leadership of the agency to group decision making. Landis recommended that the reorganization plans for the Federal Power Commission and the Interstate Commerce Commission be amended to make the chair of each agency serve at the pleasure of the President. Landis also recommended that the plans for the administrative agencies clarify that the chair sets the budget, allocates funds and appoints the staff.

External links

• Full text of the Landis Report