Convention of States in NE NJ holds monthly regional meetings in the classroom at the Guns For Hire Range/Training/Store. We are grateful, and thank Anthony Colandro and his staff for their continued support of Convention of States New Jersey.
On July 24, 2024, we discussed how the Supreme Court's Chevron decision on June 28, 2024 supports limiting the scope, power and jurisdiction of the federal government, which is one of the platforms of Convention of States Action (COSA).
Ed Black led us off with a discussion about Article V and how the Framers designed it to work. Article V offers the people a peaceful, lawful path to bypass Congress and empower the states to consider amendments to the U.S. Constitution proposed by an Article V convention.
Our guest speaker, Mr. Joe LoPorto, is freelance journalist and attorney who spoke about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent overruling of its earlier 1984 decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.
On June 28, 2024, in a 6-3 decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Dept. of Commerce, the Court ended its Chevron deference doctrine under which the courts had deferred for the last 40 years to federal administrative agency rulings and regulations if they were found to have any rational basis, even if an agency’s stated grounds for enforcing them are not the most logical ones.
Until now, federal agencies could adopt new or contradictory interpretations of their own regulations without meaningful judicial oversight. That state of affairs left many citizens in jeopardy because the rules were constantly changing. Citizens relying on a particular ruling in place for decades could be in danger of their actions being deemed unlawful by agencies re-interpreting their rules differently under successive administrations.
At issue in Loper and Relentless were regulations promulgated by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to oversee herring fishermen’s harvests that were challenged by New England and New Jersey citizens. The NMFS’s rules require regulated fishermen to pay $710 per day for federally-employed observers to ride along on their vessels to collect data on the fishermen, their work activities and police their hauls to keep them within agency-mandated limits.
Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts held that the Chevron deference doctrine conflicted with the federal Administrative Procedure Act (APA) passed in 1946 that requires the courts to review executive agency actions for constitutionality and due process considerations. The APA does not direct the courts to routinely defer to agencies as a matter of policy. The Court's majority further rejected the basic tenet of the Chevron deference doctrine: that agencies are better qualified than courts to make technical judgments on the subjects under their jurisdiction.
Concurring with the majority, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that Chevron not only ran afoul of the APA, but also conflicted with the fundamental doctrine of separation of powers by allowing the federal judiciary to abdicate its role of reviewing legislative and executive action for Constitutionality. That principle, the doctrine of “judicial review,” is not expressly stated in the Constitution. Rather, it was first established by Chief Justice John Marshall in his landmark decision, Marbury v. Madison (1804). Justice Thomas reasoned that the Chevron deference doctrine permitted the executive branch and its myriad 3-letter agencies to exercise power not given to them by the Constitution.
The federal courts had long relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s judge-made Chevron deference doctrine in some 18,000 cases. For that reason, the Roberts majority did not make their Loper/Relentless rulings retroactive. Doing so would have, in effect, reversed the Court’s prior Chevron-based decisions and created chaos for all the parties who have relied on them. The Loper and Relentless decisions will apply prospectively, increasing federal court oversight of the federal agencies that are sometime called “the fourth branch” of government.
During and after Mr. LoPorto’s presentation, we had a lively discussion about whether there is a relationship between the abolition of the Chevron deference doctrine and COSA’s mission of building an Article V Convention of the States.
Our NE NJ Regional Captain, Bob Nordin, reminded us that COSA’s mission is to implement structural changes in the balance of power between the states and federal government through an Article V convention.
Joe LoPorto agreed that merely increasing judicial oversight over the executive branch, while a positive step, is not a substitute for returning all three branches of the federal government to their proper Constitutional roles. That will require more self-reform by the federal judiciary, but most importantly, Constitutional reform by the people themselves to control excessive taxation and funding of the executive branch. Achieving those goals demands a self-educated, self-governing citizenry.
Convention of States Action (COSA) draws upon the authority of Article V of our Constitution as the basis of our work. COSA is the largest movement of self-directed activists in America. To learn about an Article V convention explore here: Convention of States Resource Webpage
Please join us in the work by clicking here: becoming a Volunteer Activist . When you fill out the application please complete the survey and then scroll to the bottom of the page to hit submit so your information will be saved. When we receive it a person in your area will reach out to you. Thank you for your patriotism.
