From an article in MeatingPlace by Frank Fuhrig on 6/28/2024
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling Friday overturning a 40-year-old doctrine giving wide deference to federal regulatory agencies has broad implications for USDA agencies regulating agriculture and food processing.
The decision was a major shift in administrative law and could impact regulations on the environment, healthcare and consumer protection.
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) immediately welcomed what it hailed as eventually reducing regulations that exceed statutory authorization.
“Cattle producers have experienced numerous instances of federal agencies enacting overreaching regulations on our farms and ranches, exceeding their authority granted by Congress,” NCBA President Mark Eisele said. “I am glad the Supreme Court is reining in these federal agencies and putting power back in the hands of those elected to represent us in Washington.”
NCBA chief counsel Mary-Thomas Hart said that the decision will be felt across “almost every regulation” that affects the beef industry. The Chevron doctrine led to “administrative agencies making many more rules than Congress ever really intended,” she said in NCBA’s “Beltway Beef” podcast.
The court heard arguments in January in the case of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which fishermen from New Jersey and Rhode Island challenged a maritime agency's interpretation of a 1976 law. The petitioners were challenging the 1984 Supreme Court decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which ordered lower courts to give wide latitude for agencies to interpret vague congressional legislation, a doctrine known as Chevron deference.
NCBA was a signatory to an amicus brief from business organizations in support of overturning Chevron deference. Other agriculture groups supporting that brief included the American Farm Bureau Federation, Agricultural Retailers Association, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, National Pork Producer’s Council and the North American Meat Institute.
Link to article HERE