October 16, 2023 — The Supreme Court added a second layer to its examination of the inner workings of the federal government on Friday, agreeing to hear another challenge to a decades-old precedent governing agency power.
A Friday afternoon orders list from the court revealed the justices would be reviewing another challenge to Chevron USA v. Natural Resources Defense Council. The court already agreed to hear a challenge to the precedent, but Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was recused from the case.
The newly granted case is very similar to its predecessor, challenging the authority of the National Marine Fisheries Service to place federal observers on fishing vessels.
Citing the Declaration of Independence in their petition, the fisheries say they suffer similar grievances to those living under English rule.
“The people of New England famously rebelled against George III because he ‘erected’ ‘New Offices and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass’ them ‘and eat out their substance,’” John Vecchione, an attorney with the New Civil Liberties Alliance representing the fisheries, wrote. “Respondents have revived cause for similar grievance by promulgating a regulation that requires at-sea monitors (“ASMs”) to be paid for by the very fishing vessels forced to carry them.”