Whether New York's driver license restoration regime violates due process by allowing the DMV to write, administer, and adjudicate its own rules without independent judicial review

QUESTIONS PRESENTED FOR REVIEW In the State of New York, the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the Department of Motor Vehicles (collectively the DMV), is legislatively assigned the task of both revoking a driver license when appropriate and restoring that same driver’s license. The legislation establishing this regime is found in the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law (the VTL), and in the regulation promulgated by the DMV, which is found in Title 15 of the New York Compendium of Rules and Regulation (the NYCRR). Based upon both statute and regulation the DMV is granted unlimited discretion to either restore a person’s driver license, or not. The DMV regime provides for several layers of review, but all determinations and review are conducted by either employees or appointees of the DMV. Only after exhausting the multiple steps of the administrative process can an applicant for restoration of a driver license petition a court for additional review. The reviewing court, however, must defer to the findings and conclusions of the DMV so long as they meet the low threshold of having any rational basis. The issues raised by this procedure are: A. Does the driver license restoration regime established in New York violate Petitioner’s right to due process of law because DMV, although given legislative permission, writes the rules, administers the rules, and adjudicates ii the application of those rules? All of these steps are conducted by either employees or appointees of the DMV and the only hearing is conducted on the papers submitted by the applicant. Furthermore, judicial review is conducted after the administrative proceedings and is circumscribed by the deference the court must give to the administrative agency, thereby denying Petitioner review by an independent magistrate. B. Does the driver license restoration regime deny Petitioner equal protection of the law because there is no method to determine if Petitioner is treated differently than other similarly situated applicants for driver license restoration? C. Does the license restoration regime violate the separation of powers so as to deny Petitioner access to an independent judiciary? D. Does the license restoration regime constitute the unconstitutional taking of property either because it is an additional penalty for prior criminal acts or is punishment disproportionate to the underlying civil action.