Boreali v. Axelrod

After the New York legislature repeatedly failed to enact broad smoking restrictions, the state Public Health Council (defendant), claiming authority under its enabling statute, issued its own regulations banning smoking across a wide range of areas, with various exemptions. Affected parties (plaintiffs) sued. The trial court declared the regulations invalid and the appellate court affirmed; the case reached New York's highest court.

Whether an administrative agency exceeds its constitutional limits when it uses its enabling statute to draft a code reflecting its own assessment of what public policy should be.