Morelli v. Cedel: Ignoring Jurisdictional Limits and Outflanking Congress Towards the Internationalization of the ADEA

Abstract

Throughout the Twentieth Century, legislatures at all levels of American government have sought admirably to protect workers from a host of economic and societal ills by enacting broad-based remedial legislation. At times, these same legislatures have abdicated responsibility to the executive bureaucracy for further regulatory development. Without ensuring the attendant transfer of political accountability commensurate with the authority of the regulatory state, the delicate balance of powers crafted by the founders becomes skewed. Armed with the combined might of legislative fiat and unfettered enforcement power, the heavy hand of an over-zealous executive bureaucracy extends itself beyond the bounds initially established by the legislature in what is known as “mission creep.” And, in the modern economy, the ramifications of mission creep are global.