Legal Lacuna, Sovereignty, and Deference: A Radical Critique of Liberalism and the Chevron Doctrine

Jacquelyn A. Poapst

Advisor: Tim Gibson, PhD, Department of Communication

Committee Members: Anne M. Nicotera, Richard T. Craig

Research Hall, #161
December 04, 2019, 01:00 PM to 03:00 PM

Abstract:

This dissertation examines how administrative procedure law operates semiotically to ensure a bureaucratization of civil society, specifically analyzing how this process can be seen in rhetoric surrounding the doctrine of judicial deference. I will make the argument that sovereignty does indeed still function in a hegemonic manner that has utilized the obscurity of the law, such as complex and often contrarily applied substantive canons like Chevron deference, to ensure its continuance. I argue that semiotic bureaucratization has provided sovereignty an arena for power expansion that is, in many ways, impervious to criticism.