Listen to Ron Hays talk with NCBA Chief Counsel Mary-Thomas Hart about how the Chevron Deference Supreme Court Ruling relates to the beef cattle business.
The Chevron Deference is a concept born out of a Supreme Court Decision in 1984. The decision determined that if Congress passes statutory language that is ambiguous or vague, the federal administrative agencies have the right, or deference, to make any reasonable interpretation of that language. The result was a very swift and decisive increase in rulemakings generated from the administrative agencies, and also in the breadth of those rulemakings, which went against the original intentions of Congress.
“The concept of the Chevron Deference empowered administrative agencies, and unelected agency staff, to take on a lot of power and authority, in crafting federal policy,” Hart said.
The majority decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts put a stop to the Chevron Deference as the court acknowledged that in order to be sure that lower courts and administrative agencies would no longer feel that they could use the concept, they had to make a formal ruling.
Relating the Chevron Deference to the cattle industry may play a significant role in regulations. “The question we are going to be asking is how will this affect regulations that are already in the books,” Hart reasoned. “I’m excited and optimistic that we can, kind of, restore the balance of powers, but I don’t think it’s going to happen over night by any means. There are going to be some growing pains getting that legislative branch where it needs to be.”
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