By Bonchie
In the biggest news to come out of the Supreme Court of the United States since Roe v. Wade was overturned, the Court has granted a review of Loper Bright Enterprises vs. Raimondo. In its deliberations, the court will deal with the question of whether to overrule the infamous Chevron Doctrine, a ’70s-era precedent that granted broad powers to the bureaucratic state to interpret vague, often narrow statutes with near zero accountability.
Here’s a quick explainer on the Chevron Doctrine via Cornell Law School.
One of the most important principles in administrative law, the “Chevron deference” was coined after a landmark case,Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 468 U.S. 837 (1984). The Chevron deference is referring to the doctrine of judicial deference given to administrative actions. In Chevron, the Supreme Court set forth a legal test as to when the court should defer to the agency’s answer or interpretation, holding that such judicial deference is appropriate where the agency’s answer was not unreasonable, so long as Congress had not spoken directly to the precise issue at question.
The scope of the Chevron deference doctrine is that when a legislative delegation to an administrative agency on a particular issue or question is not explicit but rather implicit, a court may not substitute its own interpretation of the statute for a reasonable interpretation made by the administrative agency. Rather, as Justice Stevens wrote in Chevron, when the statute is silent or ambiguous with respect to the specific issue, the question for the court is whether the agency’s action was based on a permissible construction of the statute.
In other words, lower courts have been bound by former Justice Stevens’ assertion that “reasonable interpretations” of statutes by administrative agencies are to not be overruled. In this case, the word “reasonable” has been stretched to absolute extremes, and that has allowed the bureaucratic state to reign supreme with near impunity.
That’s how you get the ATF banning bump stocks despite there being no actual statutory allowance for such a violation of personal freedom. It’s also how you get the lion’s share of environmental regulations, including literal puddles in backyards being hit with ridiculous, costly EPA enforcement. The federal government has been completely out of control for decades, and the Chevron Doctrine has been at the heart of many of the abuses.
Now, the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the doctrine at some major level. Justice Kentaji Brown Jackson is already recused from the case, meaning that the conservative wing would only need to muster four votes. On that front, most of the conservatives on the court have already signaled a willingness to curb the power of the bureaucratic state by rolling back the Chevron Doctrine.
Why would Jackson recuse herself? Democrats NEVER recuse themselves due to conflicts. That’s odd. But, just because it is law, what makes anyone believe that Democrats would recognize and respect limitations to their assumed dictatorial and extra-constitutional powers?
The swamp can’t be rolled back. It can only be destroyed. It is like a cancer.
That is a sad fact.
At the heart of this case before the court is a concept known as the nondelegation doctrine.
Nondelegation Doctrine
This has been problematic for decades as the make up of the administrative state has become infected with ultra left wing elements. Much like the left going to the courts to achieve their goals they were unable to do legislatively, the left has used the administrative state to enact regulatory actions to curb freedoms of the citizenry.
Congress under the Constitution cannot delegate its authority to any other agency who may enact a regulation that can impose the force of law. The EPA has been one of the most egregious offenders of this. The last term of the Court heard West Virginia v. EPA, and the ruling has set in motion the ability to reign in the administrative state.