How you killed Chevron Deference!

By killing Chevron Deference, we now have three large, landmark Supreme Court victories!

We asked for your help to file a legal brief to the Supreme Court in the case Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. We titled that message, “Is this our most important legal brief ever?”

You understood the opportunity and provided financial assistance. We filed the brief. Now, you get to enjoy a HUGE VICTORY!

You can know this victory is a big deal because of the biased way The New York Times described the Supreme Court’s ruling. Dig this headline…

The Supreme Court reduced the power of executive agencies, endangering countless regulations and handing a victory to the conservative legal movement.

When The Times calls something dark, you can be pretty sure it’s really light. And so it is in this case. But the distortions don’t stop there…

Common Cause sent out an email comparing this new decision to the Citizens United ruling, another large landmark case where our legal briefs played a crucial role. In that case, we uniquely argued that individuals have a right to freedom of the press, just like The New York Times. The resulting decision helped to protect that right.

After our Citizens United victory, we had another huge success in the Jones case. Our unique arguments helped to re-establish a property rights basis for the Fourth Amendment.

Now, in this most recent landmark victory, we tackled…

A Doctrine of Deference

This bit of legal jargon derives from the landmark case Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council. That ruling held that courts should defer to reasonable federal agency interpretations of “ambiguous” statutes, even if the court would have interpreted the legislation differently! That’s why this doctrine was called “Chevron Deference.”

The late Justice Antonin Scalia once described Chevron as the most important administrative law ruling since the creation of the administrative state. It is one of the most cited decisions in U.S. law – 70 Supreme Court cases have relied on it, as have 17,000 lower court rulings. But now, thanks in part to you…

Chevron Deference is no more!

The court overruled Chevron 6 to 3! Chief Justice Roberts wrote the majority opinion. His key point was this…

“…the reviewing court–not the agency whose action it reviews–is to decide all relevant questions of law and interpret … statutory provisions.”

In other words, the decision re-establishes the Court’s duty to say what the law is!

Justice Gorsuch wrote a concurring opinion that addressed “First Principles” going back to Common Law. Justice Thomas praised the Gorsuch opinion and wrote his own concurring opinion dealing with the violation of Separation of Powers caused by Chevron Deference. Thomas, in particular, understood the argument we made, in the brief you funded. And that brings us to…

The Bigger Picture

This is all about delegated legislative power. Congress isn’t doing its job.

But the Loper Bright Enterprises ruling is another step in the direction of our Write the Laws Act.

Plus, we’ve been reporting for some time that the courts have been moving in our direction on the issue of stripping away delegated legislative powers from un-elected Executive Branch bureaucrats.

Well, the Supreme Court also just ruled in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy that the SEC cannot fine people without a jury trial! This too is another step toward restoring the separation of powers! Administrative agencies cannot be an all-in-one prosecutor, judge, and jury!

This ruling is likely to be applied to all other Executive Branch agencies, not just the SEC!

Be happy!

Not everything is going wrong. Some things are moving in the right direction. Your direction!

You’ve won many cases over the years. Three of those cases have been large, landmark victories – Jones, Citizens United, and now Loper Bright Enterprises!

The Jarkesy decision is a big bonus!

Of course, hyperventilating left-statists like Common Cause, The New York Times, and even Barbara Streisand are claiming that Loper Bright Enterprises replaces expert opinion with rule by courts. It does nothing of the sort. It says that…

INSTEAD OF relying on 1984’s Chevron Deference…

NOW, the government will resume operating under a 1946 law called the Administrative Procedure Act, and the courts will do as they’ve done since Marbury vs. Madison (1803) – they’ll interpret the law.

All of this goes to show how powerful our legal brief program is. We’ve been able to deliver big successes at a very low cost. If you want to reward our success and help us do more of these briefs, please make a contribution or start a monthly pledge!

Support the Amicus Brief Program

Clicking that link will take you to the Zero Aggression Project, an initiative of our sister organization, Downsize DC Foundation. That way, your contributions are tax-deductible if you itemize.

Set your own agenda,

Jim Babka, President
Agenda Setters by Downsize DC

Today’s Action: Support our legal briefs in the federal courts!