Faculty Spotlight
In North Carolina Law Review, Dean Queenan Studies Exhaustion through the Lens of IDEA
Rosemary Queenan
In “Delay & Irreparable Harm: A Study of Exhaustion Through the Lens of the IDEA,” Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Professor Rosemary Queenan examines the lack of clarity in the courts as to the interpretation of the exhaustion doctrine and the potential for irreparable harm caused by the often lengthy administrative processes. She notes that courts have long grappled with requests to bypass the exhaustion requirement in various legal contexts, often navigating the tension between the benefits of exhaustion and the harm caused by the procedural delay.
The paper is forthcoming in the North Carolina Law Review.
As a way to highlight the ways in which adherence to the doctrine can result in irreparable harm, and explore a potential framework for addressing those cases, Queenan focuses on the exhaustion requirement under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a federal statute that provides children with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate education, as it illustrates the need for a path to immediate judicial relief in certain cases to prevent the threat of irreparable educational harm.
On this episode of the Albany Law School Podcast, she talks about her paper and the framework she proposes to address the exhaustion requirement under IDEA, which can also serve as a model for courts in interpreting exhaustion requirements in other legal contexts where immediate or emergency relief is needed based on irreparable harm that could result from administrative delay.
Read more:
• More about Dean Queenan's background and scholarly interests.
• Dean Queenan's SSRN profile.
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