The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Jan. 17, 2024, in two cases that center on fisheries management, but could have broad impacts on federal regulatory power.
The question at the core of Loper Bright Enterprises vs. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. vs. Department of Commerce is whether the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the National Marine Fisheries Service and following the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, can require commercial fishers to pay for onboard observers whom they are required to take on some fishing voyages. In both cases, the plaintiffs assert that the Commerce Department has exceeded its legal authority. That claim turns on how much deference the court should give the agency’s interpretation of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
The plaintiffs are challenging a nearly 40-year-old doctrine of federal administrative law, known as Chevron deference for the 1984 case in which it was set forth. This tenet provides that when a federal statute is silent or ambiguous about a particular regulatory issue, courts defer to the implementing agency’s reasonable interpretation of the law.
In other words, if the agency and federal courts disagree about the “best” interpretation of a federal law, the courts cannot force the agency to accept their version of what the statute means or allows, so long as the agency’s own interpretation is reasonable.
During oral argument, the justices voiced concerns about issues including legal stability, past rulings and the proper relationship between federal courts and federal agencies. They also expressed differing views about how statutory interpretation actually works in practice. Several justices asked whether overruling Chevron would reopen prior decisions to new challenges.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, one of the Chevron doctrine’s most prominent critics, worried instead that deferring to regulators created legal instability by allowing agencies to change the law, flip-flopping when presidential administrations changed. Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan most clearly supported relying on agencies’ expertise, particularly in highly technical situations.
The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Jan. 17, 2024, in two cases that center on fisheries management, but could have broad impacts on federal regulatory power.
The question at the core of Loper Bright Enterprises vs. Raimondo and Relentless Inc. vs. Department of Commerce is whether the Secretary of Commerce, acting through the National Marine Fisheries Service and following the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, can require commercial fishers to pay for onboard observers whom they are required to take on some fishing voyages. In both cases, the plaintiffs assert that the Commerce Department has exceeded its legal authority. That claim turns on how much deference the court should give the agency’s interpretation of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.
The plaintiffs are challenging a nearly 40-year-old doctrine of federal administrative law, known as Chevron deference for the 1984 case in which it was set forth. This tenet provides that when a federal statute is silent or ambiguous about a particular regulatory issue, courts defer to the implementing agency’s reasonable interpretation of the law.
In other words, if the agency and federal courts disagree about the “best” interpretation of a federal law, the courts cannot force the agency to accept their version of what the statute means or allows, so long as the agency’s own interpretation is reasonable.
Conflicts between herders and the wild ancestors of their yaks, camels and reindeer are a serious threat to both people and wildlife, writes a scientist who has seen these clashes firsthand.
U.S. wildlife officials are embracing a contentious plan to deploy trained shooters into dense West Coast forests to kill almost a half-million barred owls in coming decades
Sizzling sidewalks and unshaded playgrounds increasingly are posing risks for surface burns as air temperatures reach new highs during the searing summers in Southwest cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas