Peabody Coal Co. v. Indiana Department of Natural Resources

SHEPARD, Chief Justice.

In classic administrative law, the chief executive officer or the board of a government agency makes final decisions for the organization, based on the recommendations of subordinates and evidence presented to a hearing officer or an administrative law judge (ALJ). Aggrieved parties outside the agency may seek review of these final decisions in the courts.

This appeal presents a question decidedly outside that traditional framework: may the director of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) seek judicial review of an adverse decision by an ALJ in his own department?…