Boise, ID – Attorney General Labrador joined with 27 States led by West Virginia to file an amicus brief in the United States Supreme Court. Labrador called on the Court to grant certiorari in the case of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and to correct an earlier decision in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. that has paved the way for administrative overreach. Chevron has been interpreted by lower courts to require deference to an executive agency’s interpretation of statutes that it administers and that may be ambiguous.
The Chevron deference doctrine has made our country less democratic and provided the executive branch with inordinate power. Idahoans did not elect federal agencies to legislate for them. Overturning Chevron is a vital step in curbing bureaucratic overreach and putting power back in the hands of voters.
“The 1984 decision to defer interpretations of a statute to federal agencies was wrong. Federal agencies extending their authority through statutory interpretation in ways Congress never intended can lead to unreasonable actions. The founders never intended for the executive branch to wield such power. We encourage the Supreme Court to reverse course,” Attorney General Labrador said.
The Loper Bright case concerns a regulation by the National Marine Fisheries Service that required herring fishing boats to have an additional person on board to monitor compliance with federal regulations. The problem is that the federal agency has tried to shift the costs of that requirement to fishing companies, forcing them to pay the federal official’s salary, which would cost around $700 daily.
The herring fisheries sought relief in federal court, but the lower courts deferred to the federal agency’s interpretation because of the Chevron decision, and upheld the agency’s practice of shifting costs to fisheries. The fisheries have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case, with the hope of correcting Chevron.
Read the full amicus brief here. Other states joining West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.