The 1984 SC Chevron Ruling went down in flames on Friday, and with it the never-ending expansion of presidential ruling by decree. This will have a major positive impact.
President Biden is having an amazingly bad week. The overturn of Chevron is the best and most significant ruling of this court.
Supreme Court Pares Back Federal Regulatory Power
The Wall Street Journal reports Supreme Court Pares Back Federal Regulatory Power
The Supreme Court upended the federal regulatory framework in place for 40 years, expanding the power of federal judges to overturn agency decisions involving environmental, consumer and workplace safety policy, among other areas.
The 6-3 decision, along ideological lines, discards a 1984 precedent directing federal courts to defer to agency legal interpretations when the statutory language passed by Congress is ambiguous.
In abandoning the doctrine called Chevron deference, the justices have given parties unhappy with agency decisions—typically businesses and property owners—more opportunities to overturn regulations by persuading federal judges that officials exceeded their authority.
“Agencies have no special competence in resolving statutory ambiguities. Courts do,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Even before the decision, the conservative-dominated court had been hammering away at federal regulatory power, in opinions that threw out Biden administration policies ranging from public-health measures to contain Covid-19 to a blanket cancellation of student-loan debt. But while the Supreme Court hasn’t cited Chevron for authority in years, many lower courts said they remained bound by the doctrine as long as it remained on the books.
“The Supreme Court’s previous deference rule allowed each new presidential administration to advance their political agendas through flip-flopping regulations and not provide consistent rules of the road for businesses to navigate, plan and invest in the future,” said Suzanne Clark, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which filed a brief urging the court to overrule Chevron.
Friday’s decision brings the Chevron saga full circle. Conservatives initially hailed the Chevron decision, which required the then-liberal leaning federal judiciary to defer to Reagan administration policies rolling back environmental protections.
Over subsequent decades, however, Democratic administrations used regulatory tools to advance their agendas in the face of congressional gridlock. With Congress often passing vaguely worded legislation, the Chevron doctrine limited judges from second-guessing regulators’ application of ambiguous provisions except when manifestly unreasonable.
Masters of Vagueness
Congress passed vaguely worded bills on purpose, but Democrats were the masters of this process. In addition to purposeful vagueness,
Democrats were also masters of finding accidental vagueness in bills from decades ago an having Biden issue regulation on that basis. Many of Biden’s environmental decrees were on such premises.
So were his student loan decrees even though then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Biden did not have the legal power to do what he did.
This led to a circle situation where Republicans and Democrats were constantly reversing each other.
Biden on Student Debt Cancellation: “The Supreme Court Didn’t Stop Me”
On February 6, I commented Biden on Student Debt Cancellation: “The Supreme Court Didn’t Stop Me”
And this is from a President who complains “no one should be above the law”. Ironies abound.
Biden’s Prosecutorial Overreach on Jan. 6 Riot Cases Backfires
Yesterday, I commented Biden’s Prosecutorial Overreach on Jan. 6 Riot Cases Backfires
The Justice department’s prosecutorial overreach, no doubt influenced by Biden, blew up in the Supreme Court today.
No one has used the the courts more as a prosecutorial weapon than this administration and Democrat cronies at the state level.
Rioters destroyed many cities and Democrats sat back and did nothing. Two wrongs don’t make a right and I have little sympathy for most of those involved in the January 6 event.
Instead of going after those smashing things and getting into physical situations with police officers, team Biden trotted out an obscure law which the Court ruled applied to something else.
Trump Found Guilty in New York
In the most politically obvious and unwarranted prosecution in history, Trump was found guilty of 34 counts of felonies.
A misdemeanor, on which the statute of limitations had run out, was used to produce 34 felony counts on committing a Federal offense for which he was not charged.
I commented Trump Found Guilty – a Travesty of Justice for America
Trump was found guilty of a crime, but can anyone say what it is? Prosecutorial misconduct is dripping.
If they can do this to Trump, they can do whatever they want to anyone. And they will, for political purposes.
One does not have to like Trump to see what is happening here. For the record, I am a Libertarian who has not voted Republican or Democrat for President for decades.
Only political Ideologs can support Team Biden here. The same applies to many ridiculous statements Trump has made on tariffs or whatever.
Let’s now discuss the debate. Trump did not turn in a glowing performance. But he didn’t have to.
I noted Biden Looked Like a Zombie on Drugs, MSNBC “You Cannot Sugar Coat This”
To appreciate how badly Biden performed, you had to be watching MSNBC, not Fox News. I have a slew of notable quotes.
Biden performed so badly that the MSNBC commentators trashed Biden across the board. Click above for details.
To say the president had a bad week is the understatement of the year.