Alaska hunters and the DC circuit: A defense of flexible interpretive rulemaking

This Note identifies and analyzes recent cases from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals that have construed the Administrative Procedures Act to mandate notice and comment procedure whenever an administrative agency changes a p reviously promulgated interpretation of one of its own rules. The Note desc ribes this new development and critiques this doctrine arguing that it offe rs the wrong incentives to agencies, is based on an incorrect reading of th e Act, and fails to address the real problems with agency interpretive rule making. The Note ends by examining possible developments of the doctrine, a nd arguing that it should be construed as narrowly as possible.