Score one for the little guy! Supreme Court victory for NJ fishing family
It’s official: A small, family-owned fishing business from New Jersey scored a significant victory against the federal government in the Supreme Court case of Loper Bright v. Raimondo.
The Supreme Court decision also overrules Chevron deference – and, in doing so, delivers a critical win for the constitutional checks and balances that our nation’s Founders envisioned.
The fishermen were represented by Cause of Action Institute, of which I’m Executive Director, in addition to being Chief Policy Counsel of Americans for Prosperity Foundation.
Here’s Cause of Action Institute on the decision:
The fishermen in the Loper Bright case face an unlawful requirement imposed on them by an executive branch agency that could force them to surrender 20 percent of their earnings to pay at-sea monitors. Because that fee resulted from unlawful overreach and threatened their ability to make a living, the fishermen decided to challenge the requirement in court four years ago.
After a split decision in the D.C. Circuit, the Supreme Court decided to review the Chevron doctrine, which is the legal theory the government cited to justify its controversial monitoring rule.
For 40 years, Chevron has required federal courts to abdicate their constitutional role to interpret the law by deferring to agency interpretations of statutes whenever those same agencies deem the law “silent” or “ambiguous.” In practice, such deference permitted agencies to engage in egregious overreach, often at the expense of ordinary citizens.
No branch of government should overstep its bounds, and this decision reaffirms our Constitution’s separation of powers. pic.twitter.com/VntUKtgkIi
— Cause of Action Inst (@CauseofActionDC) June 28, 2024
We’ll dive deeper into the Supreme Court decisions in newsletters in the weeks to come – but Casey and I wanted to make sure we shared a quick note about the decision!
In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about the case:
- Senator Eric Schmitt from Missouri wrote about what the overturn of Chevron means for members of Congress.
- The fishermen joined the AFP Potential podcast last March to talk about the New Jersey regulations that negatively impacted their ability to earn a living.
- Another fantastic resource is the Cause of Action Institute website about Loper Bright v. Raimondo.
- And you can also refer back to previous newsletters – Casey wrote about Chevron deference last May, and I wrote about the Supreme Court oral arguments in January.
— James Valvo
