The Fisherman and SCOTUS: Deconstruction of the Administrative State

(The End of the Chevron Deference Case)

by Susan Snelling

On June 30, 2024, the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) issued a judgment that overturned the Chevron Deference case, when a fishing company sued the government for overstepping their bounds by charging an outrageous fee for government oversight of their company. (Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo). It would be helpful to take a step back and do a quick dive into Chevron and how it fueled the administrative state.

In 1984, SCOTUS decided in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., (a federal agency) 468 U.S. 837 that regulatory agencies (the federal bureaucracies) can determine their own rules when the law enacted by Congress is somewhat ambiguous or stated in another way, lacks a high degree of specificity. The reason for this is that bureaucrats were considered to be the experts and that judges should defer interpretation of the law to the agencies.

Simply stated, it was called the Chevron Deference case and it took power from the judiciary and Congress and gave it to bureaucrats. The agencies could decide the law meant whatever they wanted. This is part of the deep state or administrative state or the fourth branch of government. It is how the government has been able to get by with trampling on many of our freedoms. It destroyed many livelihoods and lives. It infringed on just about every area of our lives. The ramifications from this decision are far reaching. The left was all for the deference. It fit their agenda of permanent power and control  but it was against our Constitution and trampled on our inalienable rights.

In light of this recent decision, an explanation of the balance of powers and the fourth branch or administrative state is in order. The Founding Fathers designed the Republic with a separation of powers in three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. These branches are to operate as checks and balances to prevent constitutional abuses of power leading to tyranny.  This system of governance cannot be taken for granted and it requires a citizenry that is watchful. An unintended consequence of a lack of vigilance on the part of the American people to guard our liberty is the emergence of a fourth branch of government.

This fourth branch is the bureaucracies composed of departments and agencies in the federal government. In a House meeting in December of 2013, law professor Jonathan Turley noted to Congress that under the current president at the time, Obama, these federal agencies had become an independent branch of the government. It was worse under Obama and Biden because of their blatant disregard of the separation of powers and then you have the federal bureaucracy that is all too willing to ignore the Congress as well.

An imperial presidency makes the environment ripe for a powerful fourth branch of government to flourish, and especially when Congress gives its constitutional powers to these agencies and departments. According to Turley, at the time SCOTUS refused to look at separation of power issues while at the same time they tell these agencies that they can “define their own or interpret their own jurisdiction.” When Congress refuses to use their constitutional powers, they disregard the original intent of the Constitution. Of course that has now changed with the more conservative SCOTUS (due to President Trump’s appointees) doing the right thing and putting an end, or the beginning of the end, to the administrative state.

As an example of what a fourth branch of government looks like, one needs to look no further than the rules that flow from the regulatory agencies. These rules and regulations become as if they are laws. We have all read about these myriad abuses. The American people have to obey these rules or face prosecution. Joseph Postell writes in “From Administrative State to Constitutional Government:”

“Although our civics textbooks still describe a government where Congress makes laws, the President executes laws, and courts adjudicate disputes, this is not the way our government actually works. Today, bureaucrats make law, execute law, and adjudicate. Although the laws made by agencies are called rules, they carry the force of law.”

It’s important to maintain the separation of powers and as Turley also stated, this is something America needs to get back to now.This can begin to change now because of the recent SCOTUS judgment.The separation of powers was an important part of the Constitution to the Framers. In a letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, George Washington expressed his confidence in the Constitution and in the separation of powers. He wrote:

“1^st That the general Government is not invested with more powers than are indispensably necessary to perform [the] functions of a good Government; and, consequently, that no objection ought to be made against the quantity of Power delegated to it.”

“2ly That these Powers are so distributed among the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches, into which the general Government is arranged, that it can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, an Oligarchy, an Aristocracy, or any other despotic or oppressive form; so long as there shall remain any virtue in the body of the People.”

The mention of virtue comes up often in the writings of the Founding Fathers. They knew that it was central to a successful Republic. When there is virtue in the people, the right men and women are elected to office that will use their Constitutional authority depending on which branch they serve in or are appointed to and will not usurp the powers of the other branches. The kind of public servants that are chosen are a barometer for the condition of the people. Hopefully now with this SCOTUS judgment, Congress will stop passing off their powers to the bureaucracies as well as demand proper oversight of those agencies. We did not elect the bureaucrats. We elected our representatives. We have to PRAY and press forward to entirely end the administrative state. Judges matter. Elections matter. Virtue matters. Pray and vote wisely, righteously.