Liberals’ penchant for suing to enforce regulations contributes to the cramped professional thinking that loses sight of the big picture. As scholars have demonstrated, litigation changes agencies over time.6 To begin with, the more they are sued, the more legal staff they must invest in. But more importantly, courts tend to hold agencies accountable not for their outcomes but rather for their fidelity to procedures, compounding the accountability trap the bureaucracy is already stuck in.
