Four justices appeared absolutely determined, on Wednesday, to overrule one of the most consequential Supreme Court decisions in the Court’s entire history.
Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council (1984) is arguably as important to the development of federal administrative law — an often technical area of the law, but one that touches on literally every single aspect of American life — as Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was important to the development of the law of racial equality. Chevron is a foundational decision, which places strict limits on unelected federal judges’ ability to make policy decisions for the entire nation.
As Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said during Wednesday’s arguments, Chevron forces judges to grapple with a very basic question: “When does the court decide that this is not my call?”
And yet, four members of the Supreme Court — Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh — spent much of Wednesday’s arguments in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce speaking of Chevron with the same contempt most judges reserve for cases like Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the pro-segregation decision rejected by Brown.
The open question is whether the Court’s four most strident opponents of this foundational ruling can find a fifth vote.
None of the Court’s three Democratic appointees were open to the massive transfer of power to federal judges contemplated by the plaintiffs in these two cases. That leaves Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett as the two votes that remain uncertain. To prevail — and to keep Chevron alive — the Justice Department needed its arguments to persuade both Roberts and Barrett to stay their hands.
The Daily had a great podcast on this. Overturning Chevron shouldn’t be on the table, but due to mismanagement of one agency and way over reaching because they were out of money and wanted to expand other programs is the real cause behind this. It only takes one bad apple to spoil the batch. William Bright, one of the men in the lawsuit, ended up having a regulation enforced differently on him that forced him to pay outrageous fees to take an inspector on his fishing boat that he agrees is important oversight, but never had to pay for previously. He filed a complaint and the Koch brothers jumped on this case to fund attorneys to destroy Chevron deference.
Whatever idiot in the National Marine Fisheries Service decided to start charging for this program that’s required and has never been charged to the individuals being inspected previously needs to be crucified for this. Killing Chevron deference will have so many far reaching consequences that have been providing safety regulations for the past 40 years are going to go away. It’s now going to be up to Congress, who are nowhere near experts on any of these operations or industries, to come up with specific laws that have to be enforced. These idiots don’t do their job already, and the expectation that they’re suddenly going to do it well is insane.
https://pca.st/episode/ec42952c-851c-4273-a7e2-29b0ca304b75