By Diana Powers
Florida Voter/ French Resident
On June 28th 2024, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) overturned a precedent with the Chevron Doctrine that protects the health and well-being of all Americans, laying us open to manifold assaults by vested interests to pollute our land, air, and water, and undermine safety, health, and environmental protections, and much more. Essentially, the Court has just stripped our entire regulatory structure of its role in supplying the expertise, science, and research that has been the rock-solid foundation for decision-making for many of our shared interests and the common good. They have replaced this with the opinion of the court, this court, in a massive power grab.
Laws passed by Congress and signed into law by the President are sometimes ambiguous. This may lead to court cases, wherein litigants dispute the true meaning and application of the law. In 1984, the Chevron Doctrine, or Chevron Deference (CD) emerged from such a case, establishing a precedent that has been followed since then. Basically, the CD calls upon the expertise and scientific knowledge housed in the relevant governmental agencies to determine the best reading of a statute. The Food and Drug Administration tells us what foods and medicines are safe. The Environmental Protection Agency tells us how clean should air and water be. Some 450 agencies covering all aspects of our lives are supposed to give us the best knowledge to create a well-functioning society.
At the top of each agency are the political positions appointed by the President. Underneath is the vast civil service with its experts and scientists, who stay in their jobs whatever political party comes into power. The far-right suspiciously refers to the latter as the “deep state.”
It is important to situate this ruling within the political landscape. We have already seen this Court run rough-shod over cherished precedent, against the will of the people, such as their overturning Roe v Wade. We have been shocked by the brazen overtures of influence by members of the billionaire class to influence the opinion of the court. This court has dismissed charges of ethics violations and arrogantly claimed that they can determine their own standards and judge their own compliance. Not only do these Justices have life-time tenure for their appointments, but they accept no oversight.
What this means is that if they were to make regulatory judgements in cases that involved the interests of the billionaires to whom they are beholden, we would be powerless to stop them. We can try to impeach them, but that is a long, arduous process with its own political hurdles. Mainly, we would be handed a fait accompli in each case.
These Justices have shown no restraint in their quest of exorbitant power. These MAGA Justices, three of the six of whom were appointed by Trump, have violated the promises they made to Congress to uphold precedent, and, specifically Roe v Wade. They have coopted policy-making. They have extended the kingdom over which they rule.
From other voices in MAGA world, we have heard cries for the dissolution of the administrative state, the so-called “deep state.” This is a revolutionary movement that seeks to overturn the American government. The anti-science roots of this movement run deep. If it is inconvenient for the business interests of the billionaire class to make changes to their business models (to protect the climate, for example) an easier move might be to wipe out the science of climate change.
The other political milestone looming over the political landscape is the nearly 900-page manifesto of the MAGA Republican Party known as Project 2025. This is the plan to deconstruct the administrative state as we know it, and replace the experts with the MAGA or Trump loyalists who gladly serve their master. Remember that Trump offered the Oil Industry CEOs to do away with all environmental regulation if they would give him a billion dollars. The common good would be sold to these powerful interests.
The sympathetic Justices have also ruled that pay-offs, or “gratuities,” as they call them, are perfectly legal for businesses to pay officials for their beneficial actions. Our SCOTUS is, apparently, open for business.
The Chevron Deference gave the experts the task of assessing and interpreting ambiguous parts of statutes that required such expert understanding to apply them, from labor regulations and safety standards to consumer protections and monetary policy. All these aspects of our lives are now up for grabs. Administrative Law textbooks will be rewritten. Those who seek to get rid of regulations are already choosing fake litigants with no “skin in the game,” no standing, to file cases with cherry-picked sympathetic judges, hinting to them to fail their cases so they can appeal to the SCOTUS. After 40 years, the CD is no longer there as a last line of defense. Overruled, now the Courts will decide. This ruling is opening the door wide for the entrance of Project 2025, the final nail in the coffin for the common good.
Overruling the Chevron Deference takes decision-making out of the hands of the agency experts and into the hands of the Justices, who will interpret statutes as they wish, informed by their own ignorance of complex issues. Project 2025 would cripple these agencies further, removing objective, scientific experts from the agencies altogether to be replaced by political cronies of the President. The first grabs power for the Judiciary, the second grabs power for the President. This is the MAGA vision of a government revolution. The civil service base of the agencies would now be reclassified as political appointees. Project 2025 is already preparing the loyalist personnel to replace thousands of experts.
In sum, our concerns have travelled from watching the SCOTUS disregard precedents that are the fruit of many years of political and social action and compromise. Next, we watched as they snubbed the requests from Congress for them to comply with the ethical standards required of all members of the Judiciary, such as revealing gifts and donations. Then they ruled that gratuities did not amount to bribery, again ignoring vast precedent. Then the overruling of Chevron places them in a position to rule and decide for the highest bidder. And if Trump wins, Project 2025, that we see on the horizon, will complete the stripping of science from policy-making. These rascals and rogues should not be allowed to further destroy this precious democracy, where the common good should prevail.
Some environmentalists have noted that placing the locus of statute interpretation within the courts could open the door for environmental litigants to try to redress some of the loopholes in environmental policy, especially loopholes and errors resulting from times when business interests dominated the choice of agency political appointees. This is an optimistic view, at least with the current majority in SCOTUS. It places great burdens on typically underfunded and overworked environmental NGOs, and it ignores the powerful vested interests that have already bought off the majority of this Court. It also ignores some of the vast repository of knowledge that our agencies harbor. Indeed, were Project 2025 to be implemented, these very archives are at risk.
The Biden Administration is now supporting SCOTUS reforms, with new ethical standards and term limits. This will require Democrats regaining the House, and finding 60 Senators to support it. It is not likely to be passed very soon, but it is an important signal.
It underscores how important it is to vote for Democrats up and down the ballot, in this most important election.