Legitimacy and Accountability in the Information-Era Administrative State

Authors

• Nina-Simone Edwards, Washington and Lee University School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

The current assault on administrative institutions and the rapid influx of automated “solutions” have exacerbated the problems of a system that was already buckling under the strains of functional opacity, technical opacity, unequal access and influence, process proliferation and paralysis, and inaction. An overarching reason for the legitimacy and accountability challenges confronting the administrative state is a paradigm for administrative legitimacy and accountability that is court-centered and no longer fit for purpose.

In this concept paper, we describe two core requirements of legitimacy and accountability–which, as we will explain, are interdependent concepts–and then articulate three component requirements–transparency and demystification, care and respect, and oversight–that are designed to give those concepts more concrete and specific meaning. Next, we present recommendations for operationalizing the criteria of legitimacy and accountability and the component requirements of transparency and demystification, care and respect, and oversight across the domains of policymaking, enforcement, citizen-focused decision-making, and government technology and data. Finally, to help implement those recommendations, we recommend creating two new offices with cross-cutting authority: a government information commission to ensure better and more consistent accountability and an Office of Government Integrity to oversee uses–and detect and disclose misuses and abuses–of government technical systems and data. In addition, we recommend revised and streamlined processes for hiring into agency civil service positions.

Recommended Citation

Julie Cohen et al., Legitimacy and Accountability in the Information-Era Administrative State (2026).