Supreme Court looks to rein in Deep State

 Washington Examiner:

A decades-old Supreme Court precedent seen by critics as giving too much power to federal agencies was highly scrutinized on Wednesday by members of the high court’s Republican-appointed majority.

Arguments in two separate hearings on Wednesday surrounded appeals filed by two fishing companies of lower court rulings that allowed the National Marine Fisheries Service to force commercial fishermen to help pay for “at-sea” human monitors to be on board their vessels and keep track of the number of herring fish caught. The companies argue that Congress never authorized the agency, which is part of the Commerce Department, to establish the program.

The majority of the nine justices, six of whom were appointed by Republican presidents, appeared critical of the 40-year-old precedent known as the 1984 Chevron doctrine, which states that if a federal rule is challenged in court, the court should defer to the agency and its “reasonable” interpretation of the congressional statute it says grants them permission to create the rule.

At least one conservative justice appeared skeptical of completely overruling the doctrine. All three Democratic-appointed justices appeared certain about preserving the doctrine’s deference to the expertise of agencies if a statute is written ambiguously.

The Supreme Court could also take an alternative approach that would place additional limits on when lower court judges can defer to agencies without necessarily overturning Chevron.

One of the most staunch skeptics of Chevron on display Wednesday was Justice Neil Gorsuch, a former President Donald Trump appointee, who mentioned that the doctrine created confusion in lower courts and said it had even prompted circuit judges to write letters asking the high court to overturn the precedent.

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The problem with the current practice is that the more liberal members of Congress may deliberately create ambiguity in writing legislation to give more power to federal agencies.  

See also:

Supreme Court signals it will claw back federal agency power