The Optimal Precision of Administrative Rules

A state judge enjoins a liquor licensing board from denying future license applications until it adopts written rules to flesh out a vague "public interest" standard.1 A federal court orders the Federal Communications Commission to entertain requests for waivers from its "clear channel" rules, noting that "a system where regulations are maintained inflexibly without any procedure for waiver poses legal difficulties."'2 A congressional committee studying federal bank chartering by the Comptroller of the Currency assails the Comptroller's "reliance on vague standards [which accord him] unbridled discretion in the chartering process."' Meanwhile, two political scientists lament the increasing "imposition of uniform regulatory requirements in situations where they do not make sense.' 4