January 17, 2024 — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared divided over a bid to further limit the regulatory powers of federal agencies in a dispute involving a government-run program to monitor for overfishing of herring off New England’s coast.
The justices heard arguments in appeals by two fishing companies of lower court rulings allowing the National Marine Fisheries Service to require commercial fishermen to help fund the program. The companies – led by New Jersey-based Loper Bright Enterprises and Rhode Island-based Relentless Inc – have argued that Congress did not authorize the agency, part of the U.S. Commerce Department, to establish the program.
The companies have asked the court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, to rein in or overturn a precedent established in 1984 that calls for judges to defer to federal agency interpretation of U.S. laws deemed to be ambiguous, a doctrine called “Chevron deference.”
The questions posed by the justices did not reveal a clear majority willing to overturn the precedent. Some of the conservative justices seemed skeptical of the doctrine’s continuing force. Others signaled hesitation about reversing it. The court’s liberal justices appeared ready to preserve the doctrine’s deference to the expertise of agencies.