BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 5, 2024
Rather than agency experts, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court ruled last week that judges — who are trained in law, not science — should determine what Congress means when it directs agencies to take actions without specifying every technical detail. In reversing the Chevron doctrine, the court’s majority opinion said: “…agencies have no special competence in resolving statutory ambiguities. Courts do.” To say that agencies have no special competence, especially when it comes to highly technical details, has the potential to undermine thousands of federal rules. And it is just plain wrong. “The Supreme Court decision…is a disaster of scope that is difficult to describe because of its width and depth,” Forbes columnist Erik Sherman wrote last week. “It will affect everyone and everything, including consumers, corporations, the environment, and the rule of law.”