On June 28, 2024, the United States Supreme Court overruled its landmark 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 467 U.S. 837, which created what is known as the “Chevron Doctrine.” The Supreme Court overruled this doctrine in two cases, Loper Bright Enterprise v. Raimondo and Relentless v.
Department of Commerce.
The Chevron Doctrine called for judicial deference to agencies in situations where the law is unclear. With the Court’s recent overrule, the court ruled that the Administrative Procedures Act requires courts to exercise their independent discretion in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority. This means that court may
have additional authority overruling federal agency action.
In another recent decision, "Corner Post," the Supreme Court ruled that the statute of limitations in challenging rules passed by federal agencies is not six years from the time the regulation was passed, but six years from the date of injury. This likely will increase the ability of challenges to federal rules to be brought.
The Chevron Doctrine, Corner Post and RFID
FTCLDF has received questions regarding how the Court’s recent decisions may impact the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) mandatory rule relating to electronic animal identification (RFID).
As most FTCLDF readers know,
APHIS enacted a rule requiring the use of RFID on any cattle or bison moving across state lines. Read more here.
There will certainly be legal challenges to the new rule. When considering the RFID rule, courts will no longer be required to defer to the APHIS interpretation of the federal law that APHIS is authorized to enforce.
The Corner Post decision means there will be more time for anyone harmed to challenge a regulatory action.
Important Note!
Please note that the Court's decision on Chevron does not necessarily curtail activities of government agencies. What the decision holds is that in a legal challenge, the courts will no longer grant deference to the agency’s interpretation of the law.
What You Can Do
While the Supreme Court decision may help in future litigation concerning mandatory RFID (electronic tagging in cattle and bison), there is still a chance to stop this agency rule.
Read our most recent Action Alert on the RFID issue, and the two separate legislative actions proposed to reverse the mandate. Take the suggested action steps.
