Supreme Court May Axe Controversial Doctrine

Supreme Court May Axe Controversial Law

(ReliableNews.org) – The Supreme Court has recently proven it has no problem with throwing out a decades-old precedent if it lacks support. The court proved that in the Dobbs decision that rolled back federal abortion protections. Now the court is reportedly taking aim at another precedent that Conservatives have long complained about.

On Monday, May 1, the Supreme Court announced it would hear arguments in the case Loper Bright Enterprises et al. v. Raimondo next term. The issue at hand is whether to override the nearly 40-year-old precedent set in the Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.

In 1984, the Supreme Court created what’s known as the Chevron deference, or Chevron doctrine. It is a principle dealing with administrative law that requires federal courts to defer to a federal agency’s interpretation of statutes that are unclear or ambiguous. It gives the federal government broad power to interpret laws. Justice Neil Gorsuch is known to disagree with the legal doctrine.

During his time as an appeals court judge, Gorsuch issued a ruling that stated the Chevron doctrine allowed “executive bureaucracies to swallow huge amounts of core judicial and legislative power” while concentrating federal powers that don’t mesh with the Founding Father’s intentions. It was reportedly one of the reasons former President Donald Trump chose the judge for the high court when he was trying to shrink government bureaucracy. Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Samuel Alito are also known for questioning the doctrine.

During his time on the Supreme Court, Gorsuch has reportedly tried to convince his colleagues to take a case that challenges the longstanding legal doctrine. The latest news means his campaign has likely succeeded.

Thomas Cooke, a Georgetown University business law professor, told the Washington Examiner that the result of Chevron has been that federal agencies have developed a pattern of “imposing their own regulations” when laws governing business practices aren’t clear. Now the court will have to decide whether it is going to give the doctrine the Dobbs treatment.

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