Commentary: Draining the Swamp Is Now a Job for Congress

Congress

Wading into the confusing abyss of administrative law, on June 28 the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 6-3 vote, overruled the much-criticized 1984 decision in Chevron, restoring the bedrock principle — commanded by both Article III of the Constitution and Section 706 the 1946 Administrative Procedure Act — that it is the province of courts, not administrative agency bureaucrats, to interpret federal laws. This may sound like an easy ruling, but the issue had long bedeviled the Supreme Court. Even Justice Antonin Scalia, an administrative law expert, supported Chevron prior to his death in 2016. In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, Chief Justice John Roberts sure-footedly dispatched Chevron.

If, as I wrote for The American Conservative in 2021, “Taming the administrative state is the issue of our time,” why did the Supreme Court unanimously (albeit with a bare six-member quorum) decide in Chevron to defer to administrative agencies interpretations of ambiguous statutes, and why did conservatives — at least initially — support the decision? In a word, politics. In 1984, the President in charge of the executive branch was Ronald Reagan, and the D.C. Circuit — where most administrative law cases are decided — was (and had been for decades) controlled by liberal activist judges. President Reagan’s deputy solicitor general, Paul Bator, argued the Chevron case, successfully urging the Court to overturn a D.C. Circuit decision (written by then-Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg) that had invalidated EPA regulations interpreting the Clean Air Act. Thus, in the beginning, “Chevron deference” meant deferring to Reagan’s agency heads and their de-regulatory agenda.

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White House Press Secretary: Biden Is ‘Moving Forward’ with His Campaign

Joe Biden Wisconsin

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that President Biden is “moving forward” with his presidential campaign amid the fallout from his debate performance against GOP challenger Donald Trump.

“Anything else that’s being reported is absolutely false,” she said at a White House press briefing.

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White House Blames ‘Misinformation’ for Transgender Day of Visibility Outrage

Karine Jean-Pierre

“It is actually unsurprising that politicians are seeking to divide and weaken our country with cruel, hateful, and dishonest rhetoric,” the White House press secretary said.

The White House is blaming “misinformation” for the outrage that ensued after it observed Transgender Day of Visibility, which fell on the same day as Easter this year.

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Conservatives Push to Stop Biden’s Open Border Policies with Funding Bill Before Friday Deadline

Speaker Mike Johnson

House conservatives are pushing for House Speaker Mike Johnson to stop President Biden’s “open border” policies with the federal funding bill that Congress has to pass before a Friday deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown.

Congress has passed six appropriations bills in the form of a “minibus” spending package to fund certain cabinet agencies but both the House and Senate still have to pass another package to fund the remaining agencies.

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