The Supreme Court handed down some landmark decisions this term.
Now the way that unelected federal bureaucrats do business is about to change.
And Biden’s ATF is in big trouble after the Supreme Court dealt them this surprising setback.
Supreme Court strikes a big blow against the administrative state
The federal government has grown by leaps and bounds over the decades, along with the amount of regulations on the books. Congress often writes laws vague laws that are left open to interpretation. Whoever determines what a vague statute means has vast power.
A 1984 Supreme Court case called Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. put the power of defining laws into the hands of unelected bureaucrats in the administrative state. It created a doctrine known as the Chevron Deference. That deferred to bureaucrats in the administrative state’s interpretation when a federal law is unclear. In practice, that gave sweeping powers for the agencies to begin to use vague laws to push their agenda and create interpretations out of thin air.
“Under Chevron, a statutory ambiguity, no matter why it is there, becomes a license authorizing an agency to change positions as much as it likes. Chevron accordingly has undermined the very ‘rule of law’ values that stare decisis exists to secure,” Ed Whelan wrote.
This gave unelected bureaucrats the power to begin pursuing their own political agenda under the cover of the Chevron Deference. And that became a tool for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to try to push gun control by redefining the law to fit their agenda.
The Supreme Court struck the Chevron Deference in the case Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, et al. with a 6-3 ruling. In this case, a fishing business had to pay hefty fees to the National Marine Fisheries Service to pay for the federal inspectors that they hauled in their boats. But there was no federal law that authorized the fee. The Fisheries Service used the Chevron Deference to invent it.
“Today’s decision fixes the decades-long error of handing vague and broad powers to unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote about the decision. “The Supreme Court’s decision restores the Constitutional power to write the law to where it should be—with the elected representatives of the American people.”
The impact on the ATF of eliminating the Chevron Deference
The ATF used the Chevron Deference as cover to reinterpret federal law in their favor for gun grabs like determining that bump stocks are machine guns. Gun rights groups like the Firearms Policy Coalition and National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) filed amicus briefs in Loper Bright in support of overturning Chevron.
“ATF often expects Chevron deference in litigation, which is extraordinary given that the right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental constitutional right. Such enumerated rights are ‘[p]remised on mistrust of governmental power.’ Given that Second Amendment rights can be exercised only if individuals can lawfully obtain a firearm, it is astounding that the government would request or receive deference on laws regulating the exercise of such rights. But that is precisely what happens frequently with Chevron regarding federal firearms laws, often at the request of ATF,” the NSSF brief stated.
“A cottage industry consequently developed over almost a decade in full view of ATF. Then after two instances of the accessory being criminally misused, ATF reversed its interpretation, saying the accessory henceforth makes the pistol a rifle (or short barreled rifle). Once again, nothing but the politics changed,” The NSSF brief continued.
Striking down Chevron Deference opened the door to begin to rein in the power of the bureaucrats at the ATF and to put decisions about the law in the hands of Congress and the courts.
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