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Abstract

This Article offers recommendations and best practices for federal administrative agencies interested in improving the accessibility of orders, opinions, briefs, and other materials filed or issued in administrative adjudication proceedings on their websites and in maintaining more comprehensive online collections of such adjudication materials. Part I provides an overview of federal administrative adjudication and the laws and policies relevant to the online disclosure of adjudication materials. Part II summarizes a survey the author conducted of 24 federal agency websites and presents its results. Part III analyzes the survey’s findings, dividing the analysis into two sections. The first section discusses the degree of accessibility of adjudication materials on agency websites by assessing the general ease of navigating to adjudication materials on the surveyed websites. The second section discusses the general disclosure practices of agency websites. Part III also relays key points derived from telephone and e-mail discussions with personnel from the Federal Maritime Commission, Consumer Product Safety Commission, and National Labor Relations Board. Next, Part IV presents case studies of the Federal Trade Commission, Federal Mine Safety & Health Review Commission, and Social Security Administration’s websites. These websites, each of which sits on a different point on the continuum of comprehensiveness and navigability that was revealed during the survey, are helpful in understanding the general range of agency practices. Lastly, Part V offers the author’s recommendations and best practices.

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