Renee Parsons
Against the backdrop that public trust in the US government is at an all time low including the Congress, career civil servants as well as the upper-crust Senior Executive Service, the Chevron Doctrine finally made its way to an oral hearing before the Supreme Court.
In a 1984 unanimous Supreme Court decision, the Doctrine articulated a concept known as ‘judicial deference,’ as it gave Federal agencies wide latitude to reinterpret complex Congressional statutory intent. Since that time, those same agencies have operated with little real oversight or accountability.
Judicial deference is implemented when enabling legislation might be silent or where ambiguity might exist on a specific legislative question, the rules say the Federal courts must then defer to regulatory agencies which claim to benefit from their own ‘expert’ opinion.
That’s when Chevron’s Constitutional problems were codified with little deference to Article III, section 2: “judicial power shall extend to cases in law and equity arising under this Constitution, the laws of the United States..” Article III establishes clear authority for US laws to be adopted by a publicly-elected Congress and reviewed by its judicial branch as the Constitution remains stubbornly in the way of the Uniparty strategy to destroy the American experiment in self –government.
Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio) further suggests that the ‘real Constitutional Republic has been replaced by an unaccountable administrative state.”
In a nutshell, Chevron provides federal agencies with the authority to issue their version of rule-making regulations and enforce laws in all Federal areas, some of which have had far-reaching reverberations, even extending beyond initial Congressional purpose. The question being addressed by the Court in Chevron is who is best qualified to decide when a law’s ‘ambiguity’ needs ‘expert’ consultation; the Courts or an unelected ideologic Federal bureaucracy?
Here’s where Chevron made its contribution to legislate beyond Congressional intent: since American voters could not be counted on to elect a globalist, deep state agenda, there was another option to dominate US policy; that is to manipulate a legislative agenda in a more slick, clever manner by intercepting its intent just prior to its point of final determination.
This is where weaponization against the American public may occur as thousands of embedded partisan bureaucrats, hired as ‘experts’ with a hefty price tag, function as liaison for Deep Staff forces including Federal clerks with seniority who have ‘grown’ into assuming more decision-making authority, asserting more aggressive Federal policies than they are legally entitled.
Maintaining a monster Federal bureaucracy of 2.87 million civil servants (including 4,000 SES) has contributed to the current $34 trillion debt as an attribute of an out-of-control Fed spending addiction while making sometimes sweeping changes to legislation. Repeal of Chevron would benefit the country by reducing the size and scope of the Federal government while increasing transparency.
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The two Plaintiffs in the current Chevon case may appear to be less than earth-shaking in their specifics but are indicative of how the process of intercession is easily accomplished:
They are Loper Bright Enterprises from Cape May, NJ and Relentless, Inc of Rhode Island; both of whom are suing the Department of Commerce. At issue is a 2020 National Marine Fisheries Service regulation that requires the plaintiffs to pay a $700 daily fee for an on-board agent assigned to monitor and confirm that regulations like established fish quotas are being followed.
As a further example of Federal overreach and excess: every day the government must know what fish are being sought including issuance of a government ankle bracelet called a Vessel Monitoring System. Then the Feds must know where the fishermen are at all times, how fast they are traveling and what direction they are headed and let’s assume it is vital for the Feds to keep records of all this minutiae.
According to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the NOAA has required professional monitors on commercial fishing boats for the past thirty years but did not specify the herring fishermen. When the government ran out of money for at-sea programs; voila, NOAA began to charge the fishermen for the privilege of monitored on-board inspections as the two Plaintiffs assert that Congress never intended to levy such a fee on the fishermen that would negatively affect their profits and force a shutdown.
The herring fishermen may seem one minor instance of how the Federal bureaucracy seized the initiative beyond an American business’s ability to cope with an increased expense as it would negatively affect their bottom line. Hypothetically, as each agency employs an ‘expert’ to identify the ‘ambiguity,’ those agencies took advantage of increasing their professional staff while bloating their budgets without consideration of the American taxpayer’s ability to finance administrative staff decisions.
In another popular example of government over reach under Chevron, the EPA assumed the responsibility to legislatively interpreting all Clean Water Act issues like building or improving a pond on your private property which might require a costly Environmental Impact Statement.
With Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh leading opposition to Chevron, Court reversal is possible. If so, it is that final stage of Committee deliberation when Congressional intent can become watered-down, allowing the administrative state to identify “ambiguity’ as it opens the door to Uniparty political narrative usurping Congressional authority. Congress will need to improve its current final statutory language to eliminate inconsistent or contradictory language that benefits corporate donors and clarify Congressionally approved lingo into more tightly drafted legislation rather than loosely written, imprecise language.
With repeal of Chevron, Congress could be more conscientious and pay better attention to its final legislative product as, by its nature, ‘ambiguity’ is a mischievous unpredictable noun. The point is to establish a clear line without hedging their bets in firm support of American interests.
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In a related element, the American public has been aware of an existing Federal government dysfunction, a lack of leadership throughout the Federal establishment with an awareness of bipartisan corruption, exhibiting a funk and a disconnect among every-day Americans that is reflected in consistent public opinion polls.
a deep angst has continued to plague the country since JFK’s assassination, that of MLK and RFK, all unresolved and deeply disturbing as a lack of confidence in the 911 World Trade narrative began an incessant era of Forever Wars – all unsettled matters that have done little to improve the quality of American life. There has been a malaise afoot.
In 2023, 20% trusted the government about “most of the time” while only 6% see the Feds “careful with taxpayer money” as 8% describe the government as being “responsive to the needs of ordinary Americans. Today, 25% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents trust the federal government “most of the time” with Republicans and Republican leaners having a higher standard at 8%.
Taken to its nth degree, the Federal government’s current Administrative State is neither strong nor independent and is long overdue for a make-over as ‘big’ government acts only in the interests of itself. Reversal of Chevron does not mean elimination of Federal agencies but will force the government to be more responsive to over 300 million Americans, to be more efficient and more effective with a better use of its existing resources.
Renee Parsons served on the ACLU’s Florida State Board of Directors and as president of the ACLU Treasure Coast Chapter. She has been an elected public official in Colorado, staff in the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender, an environmental lobbyist for Friends of the Earth and a staff member of the US House of Representatives in Washington DC.