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.
Your understanding of my question is faulty. I did not ask if Congress intended for the FCC to suspend net neutrality. I asked if Congress intended for the FCC to have the power to suspend net neutrality. The answer is yes, that power is well within the FCC’s charter.
Your position here directly contradicts virtually all of Article III, and effectively strips the people of their power to petition for redress of grievances. Your position is constitutionally invalid. Constitutionally, the court’s power to make this determination is a vital check on the other two branches. Your unhappiness with the current composition of the courts is not a sufficient justification for suspending this check.
The answer is not unambiguously yes! Again, net neutrality is based on a law decades older than the internet. It would be trivial for a judge to say the FCC doesn’t even have the power to enforce Net Neutrality at all!
And it does not override Article III. Again, all regulations have to reasonably follow the law. That is the line for the courts, are they following the law or not. Going beyond that, answering policy questions, contradicts Articles I and II.
You are far too confident judges will rule in your favor.
Whether they rule in my favor or not is irrelevant to the issue. They may very well rule against me. The relevant factor is that a separate entity should be empowered to review the decisions of the agency; the agency should not be judging themselves. That is how the Constitution was set up. Chevron weakens that standard.
When environmental groups sue the NHTSA for their ridiculously weak and counter-productive CAFE standards, they courts should be allowed to say: “Your CAFE standards are supposed to be reducing total vehicle emissions. Instead, they are driving manufacturers to stop producing smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles, and shift toward larger, less fuel-efficient vehicles that can more easily comply. Your standards are driving an increase in total emissions, and are having an effect opposite to that of your agency’s mandate. You have 90 days to either develop new standards to be enacted one year from the date of this letter, or have Congress ratify your current standards as law. Do your job, or I will have Plaintiff do it for you.”
Your CAFE suit would never succeed, and there is no way the courts would allow the plaintiff to craft a new standard.
Also, in my opinion, Chevron Deference allows review to determine if the standards reasonably meet the law without allowing courts to dictate policy. We just fundamentally disagree.
The hypothetical scenarios I presented include the assumption that the plaintiffs have conclusively proven incompetence or malfeasance on the part of the agency, and offered a remedy to correct them. Under Chevron, these suits would fail, because the court is not allowed to consider whether the agency’s actions are effective, but must instead defer to the agency’s own evaluation of their effectiveness.
That my suit would fail demonstrates the problem.
No, you don’t get it, even without Chevron, I guarantee your suit would fail. If you think you would win, please cite a statute that would invalidate the NHTSA’s method?
I also like how you assume that you can prove incompetence or malfeasance. That is near impossible to prove.
Under a proper standard, it’s a longshot. Under Chevron, it’s an impossibility.