(The Center Square) — Louisiana Republicans and other groups praised a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that overturned a legal theory known as Chevron deference.
The more than 40-year-old legal theory, which gave federal regulators the benefit of the doubt when laws are ambiguous, was overturned by the court on June 28.
Marc Marie, a fellow for regulatory policy at Americans for Prosperity, told The Center Square the decision is great for small business owners because it requires agencies to have a statute or law in order to impose a rule or fees.
“By overturning Chevron deference, it really restores balance to our government and prevents overreach from government agencies,” Marie said. “It now puts the government defending the regulation and the plaintiff challenging it on even footing.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill supported the ruling, saying unelected agents shouldn’t have power over American businesses.
“The people’s representatives in Congress make law, not bureaucrats in Washington D.C. who have reigned over the lives of American citizens through burdensome rules and regulations,” Murrill said on X.
The case before the Supreme Court pertained to the National Marine Fisheries Service charging fishermen over $700 per day to host agency inspectors to ensure their compliance with regulations and laws. Marie believes this is one example of how Louisianans and their businesses will be affected by this ruling.
“The government can not tell a family of fishermen to pay the salaries of their government monitors without any basis in law,” Marie said.
James Baehr, the special counsel for the Pelican Institute, a Louisiana public policy organization, gave a couple other examples in Louisiana of agencies applying their power without judicial permission.
The requirement of certain devices on shrimp boats, the requirement of the COVID-19 vaccine for teachers and new guidelines for classifying employees of trucking companies are all cases the Pelican Center for Justice has taken in recent years.
Baehr told The Center Square this overruling of the Chevron deference theory returns control of business to its rightful owners.
“I think the agencies have grown in power because Congress, the courts and everybody else has been ceding their power because they didn’t want the work,” Baehr said.
