Nonacquiescence

Nonacquiescence

In law, nonacquiescence is when one branch of the government fails to comply with the decision of another. In the context of lawsuits, executive nonacquiescence in judicial decisions can lead to bizarre Kafkaesque situations where parties discover to their chagrin that their legal victory over the government is an empty one. Nonacquiescence can also possibly lead to a constitutional crisis, given certain critical situations and decisions.

In the United States, certain federal agencies are notorious for practicing nonacquiescence (essentially, ignoring court decisions that go against them).[1] The Social Security Administration and the Internal Revenue Service are particularly well-known for such conduct.[2] Although executive nonacquiescence has been heavily criticized by the federal courts,[3] the U.S. Congress has not yet been able to pass a bill formally prohibiting or punishing such behavior.

In one of the most serious instances of nonacquiesence in the U.S., U.S. President Andrew Jackson ignored the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Georgia had stolen Cherokee lands for the Cherokee Land Lottery in the early 1830s, when the first gold rush occurred. They were then forced off of their own land on to the Trail of Tears and defrauded in the Treaty of New Echota. The president was never officially held responsible for his blatant contempt of the court, about which he reportedly said: "They have made their decision, now let them enforce it".[citation needed]

Notes

  1. ^ Bradley C. Canon, "Studying bureaucratic implementation of judicial policies in the United States: conceptual and methodological approaches," in Judicial Review and Bureaucratic Impact: International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, eds. Marc L. M. Hertogh and Simon Halliday, 76-100 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 91-92.
  2. ^ The SSA publishes Acquiescence Rulings and the IRS publishes Actions on Decisions, in which they state whether they will obey a particular court decision or not.
  3. ^ See, e.g., Hutchison v. Chater, 99 F.3d 286, 287-88 (8th Cir. 1996); Allegheny General Hospital v. NLRB, 608 F.2d 965 (3d Cir. 1979); and Lopez v. Heckler, 713 F.2d 1432 (9th Cir.), rev'd on other grounds sub nomine Heckler v. Lopez, 463 U.S. 1328 (1983).

See also


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Nonacquiescence — Non*ac qui*es cence, n. Refusal of acquiescence; failure to yield or comply. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • nonacquiescence — non·ac·qui·es·cence /ˌnän ˌa kwē es əns/ n: an administrative agency s disagreement with and refusal to follow judicial precedent in cases before the agency to which the precedent applies Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 …   Law dictionary

  • nonacquiescence — n. * * * …   Universalium

  • nonacquiescence — n. absence of acquiescence, lack of compliance …   English contemporary dictionary

  • nonacquiescence — An administrative agency s policy of declining to be bound by judicial precedent which is contrary to the agency s interpretation of its organic statute, until the Supreme Court has ruled on the issue. At its most extreme, it is the policy of… …   Black's law dictionary

  • nonacquiescence — An administrative agency s policy of declining to be bound by judicial precedent which is contrary to the agency s interpretation of its organic statute, until the Supreme Court has ruled on the issue. At its most extreme, it is the policy of… …   Black's law dictionary

  • nonacquiescence — n …   Useful english dictionary

  • Acquiescence — is the term used to describe an act of a person in knowingly standing by without raising any objection to infringement of his rights, when someone else is unknowingly and honestly putting in his resources under the impression that the said rights …   Wikipedia

  • acquiescence — /skwiyesans/ Conduct recognizing the existence of a transaction, and intended, in some extent at least, to carry the transaction, or permit it to be carried, into effect. It is some act, not deliberately intended to ratify a former transaction… …   Black's law dictionary

  • acquiescence — /skwiyesans/ Conduct recognizing the existence of a transaction, and intended, in some extent at least, to carry the transaction, or permit it to be carried, into effect. It is some act, not deliberately intended to ratify a former transaction… …   Black's law dictionary

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