Administrative Conference of the United States
The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) is an independent federal agency within the executive branch whose statutory mission is to identify ways to improve the procedures by which federal agencies administer regulatory, benefit, and other government programs. ACUS issues approximately a dozen recommendations per year to agencies, Congress, the President, and the Judicial Conference, aimed at enhancing efficiency and fairness in administrative procedures. The agency maintains the Federal Administrative Adjudication Database (with Stanford Law School), the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) online database, and various open data resources under the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018.
APIs
Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) Database
ACUS maintains an online database of Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA) awards, tracking awards of attorney's fees and other costs against the United States government. ACUS col...
Federal Administrative Adjudication Database
A joint project between ACUS and Stanford Law School, the Federal Administrative Adjudication Database provides comprehensive data on federal agency adjudication processes acros...
Features
Issues approximately a dozen formal recommendations per year to federal agencies, Congress, the President, and the Judicial Conference aimed at improving the efficiency, fairness, and transparency of administrative procedures and regulatory programs.
Joint project with Stanford Law School providing comprehensive data on federal agency adjudication processes, administrative law judges, and hearing statistics across all federal agencies.
Annual reporting to Congress on awards of attorney's fees and costs against the United States under EAJA, with an online database of all EAJA awards accessible to the public.
Comprehensive reference resource documenting the structure, authority, and programs of all U.S. executive agencies, updated periodically to reflect organizational changes.
ACUS consultants and staff prepare research reports, model rules, and periodic summaries of administrative law reform bills on topics related to administrative procedure and government efficiency.
ACUS maintains open data resources and has designated a Chief Data Officer in compliance with the Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018.
Use Cases
Legal researchers, law schools, and practitioners can access ACUS recommendations, reports, and the adjudication database to study trends in federal administrative law and regulatory practice.
Federal agencies can use ACUS recommendations and research to benchmark their regulatory and adjudicative procedures against best practices and ACUS-recommended reforms.
Researchers and policymakers can use the EAJA database to analyze government litigation costs, identify agencies with high fee award rates, and evaluate the effectiveness of EAJA in providing access to justice.
Congressional staff and agency officials can draw on ACUS reports and model rules for guidance on improving rulemaking procedures, notice-and-comment processes, and public participation.
Public interest organizations and policy researchers can use ACUS data and publications to analyze opportunities for improving government administrative processes and reducing regulatory burdens.