Kaelan Deese writes for the Washington Examiner about a potential U.S. Supreme Court decision that would limit Biden administration regulatory overreach.
The Supreme Court will soon issue a ruling that could reshape the balance of power between federal agencies and the judiciary, give small litigants due process leverage, and ultimately disrupt President Joe Biden’s progressive regulatory agenda.
The nearly 40-year-old precedent known as the Chevron doctrine tells courts to defer to federal agencies’ reasonable interpretations of ambiguous statutes, which many business and industry groups say has led to stifling regulations. Conversely, the federal government contends the precedent respects courts’ authority to interpret law while also respecting Congress’s ability to delegate power to agencies in the executive branch, according to Justice Department legal briefs.
Major industry groups encouraging the high court to diminish or toss out Chevron include oil giants such as Chevron and Exxon Mobil. Agriculture giants such as the North American Meat Institute have also urged the Supreme Court to move away from broad agency deference, as have trade groups representing e-cigarette companies.
Conservative interest groups that are sympathetic to the industry groups describe Chevron as a legal framework that typically gives more favor to “experts” within executive agencies, such as in cases where industry groups challenge climate change rules or other environmental regulations.
Carrie Severino, president of the conservative JCN (formerly the Judicial Crisis Network), told the Washington Examiner that Chevron essentially “gives the regulators a thumb on the scale in any court case.”
“That’s a huge disadvantage for any person challenging the federal government,” Severino said.
The cases before the high court, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, were brought by two fishing companies challenging a National Marine Fisheries Service mandate that forces their fishing companies to pay and house at-sea herring monitors. But the core dispute provides a stage for the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to reassess Chevron.
