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Warren Bill Would Overturn Supreme Court Decision Gutting Federal Agency Power.
(www.commondreams.org)
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this post was submitted on 23 Jul 2024
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Regulations are "unconstitutional"? Hmmmmmmm 🤔 Is SCOTUS bound by anything? Seems like they can rule however they like.
I think their argument is more that the agencies aren't allowed to be the ones to say how a law is applied as far as regulations go. If a regulation is vague enough the EPA isn't allowed to clarify anymore, it needs to go to a (more than likely rubber stamp) court where the judges decide, instead of, you know, anyone who would actually have expertise... It's legally "reasonable" but practically insane.
Why aren't the bodies allowed to say how relevant laws are applied? Isn't the whole point behind regulatory bodies that the government will grant regulators certain powers with legislation?
I'm not a legal expert, but in Australia at least there are a bunch of regulators that work to legislation, but they totally come up with extra clarifications and rules themselves within the powers they've been granted, and you are obligated to follow those rules.
For example: the fair work commission in Australia sets the minimum wage every year, no legislation required. Employers can't just decide they're unreasonable and not follow them, unless they want to be taken to court (or go to jail, in certain states like Victoria).
Now, I have no idea what the laws are that give the US EPA their powers, but either SCOTUS is totally out of line here, or the legislation sucks.
The (bullshit) scotus argument is that congress can't grant decision powers to federal agencies cause hurrdurr constitution.
Basically, for ~40 years we've run on a SCOTUS decision referred to as the "Chevron Decision." What that did is direct federal courts to defer to agencies on interpretations of relevant laws and statutes, because federal courts were being bogged down by every. little. bit. of. minutiae. around the practical application of a bills intention."Agency says brown, interested party says black, BOOM LAWSUIT" is an exaggeration but not by much. Instead, Chevron gives agencies the room for experts in the field to draft appropriate regulations etc in service of congress' bills. "Agency says brown, interested party says black, well too bad the experts say brown is the best choice." Can't tie them up in court over everything.
Now, with Chevron overturned, Republicans can start tying everything they dont like up in court again. Plus, with the hyper conservative activist SCOTUS judges, now they can run any regulation or policy straight up the appeal ladder to have them all ruled "unconstitutional" with only the occasional less important burner case turned down in a halfass attempt to look "impartial"
Thanks for the explanation! And boy, does that sound broken.
Breaking the system is the goal of the federalist society (which selected them recent conservative group of judges in the SCOTUS, and many lower courts).
Exactly, it allowed Congress to get a say, but they had to override it.
SCOTUS is unchecked by the rest of the federal government. The only thing that would limit their power is a constitutional amendment, which requires 38 states to individually ratify it at the level of their state governments, not their federal congresspeople.
There is literally no way for congress to affect the supreme court once it has 9 justices, or contradict its rulings on laws they call "unconstitutional", short of impeaching supreme court justices or packing the court with more than 9 justices. Once enough of the court is full of fascists or enablers, it's EXTREMELY hard to escape fascism without a constitutional convention.
You could instruct the federal agencies to ignore court rulings, effectively undoing Marbury vrs Madison.
That's a constitutional crisis, but what is the court gonna do? Call the FBI? Send in the military?
You can ask the Cherokee people what the court does with an uncooperative federal government, but you won't find any in Georgia.
Maybe that's just fascism with our side in charge though.
Yeah unfortunately once fascism sets in there's literally no way to get rid of it without using more fascism or violence. And considering that fascism necessarily requires the threat of violence, that previous statement can be simplified to "Fascism can only be defeated with violence"
flipping open my Lockean theory of self-governance
Strictly speaking, the power of government is in its ability to achieve (relatively) peaceful compliance. The SCOTUS decision creates an opportunity for individuals to behave in defiance of the written law with a certain fearlessness. A President can go full Andrew Jackson and tell the judges to enforce that decision, but he's still got to command a bureaucracy full of people who can be swayed in the other direction.
What happens to a regulation that nobody is willing to enforce? What happens to a federal regulation that runs afoul of state law, in a district where municipal/state law enforcement will enthusiastically arrest and local DAs prosecute a federal agent?
I would say that's the real power of the SCOTUS. Opening the legal door for disobedience and negligence at the federal level, while state-level revolt occurs downstream.
In theory that was supposed to be the strength of SCOTUS, that being secure in their employment for life (or until retirement), they had no incentive to judge along party lines for fear of future prospects. However, we've seen that judges can still be both very partisan and entirely unqualified and we can now do nothing to remove them. Turns out bribery and threats still work on them