Association of National Advertisers v. FTC

In this case, the D.C. Circuit considered the issue of whether the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission was prohibited from participating in pending rulemaking proceedings concerning children's advertising. The petitioners argued that the chairman was prohibited because he had prejudged the issues involved in the rulemaking. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia agreed and ordered the chairman disqualified. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed this judgment, holding (1) that the chairman could not be disqualified from rulemaking proceedings for having prejudged the issue; and (2) that the chairman could have been disqualified if there was a clear and convincing showing that he had an unalterably closed mind on matters critical to the disposition of the rulemaking, but that the petitioners had failed to make such a showing.

In April 1978, the FTC issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking under Section 18 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. § 57a (1976)) concerning suggested restrictions regarding television advertising directed at children. The FTC stated that it had decided to commence rulemaking on this issue after a staff report concluded that advertising directed at children who were too young to understand the selling purpose of the commercials may be unfair and deceptive within the meaning of Section 5 of the FTC Act. 6

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hered in the rulemaking, or legislative process, are used for a completely different purpose and evidentiary hearings are not required for the rulemaking process. Therefore, the evidentiary hearings used in rulemaking do not acquire the same character as those used in adjudicative proceedings. Evidentiary hearings may be necessary in the rulemaking process to resolve questions concerning specific facts. However, these facts remain legislative facts, pertaining to policy; they are not adjudicative facts, pertaining to the rights or liabilities of specific parties. Since the use of evidentiary hearings does not transform the nature of proceedings from rulemaking to adjudicative, the standard established in Cinderella does not apply in this case. 627 F.2d at 1164. The appellate court cited the Supreme Court decision in United States v. Florida East Coast Railway, 410 U.S. 224 (1973), as support for its ruling on this issue. In that case, the Supreme Court held that an Interstate Commerce Commission ratemaking proceeding was rulemaking, not adjudication, even though the proceeding determined the measure of financial responsibility of one railroad for its use of rolling stock on another railroad through the use of evidentiary h
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1551
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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