(PatriotPostNews.com) – A case being heard by the United States Supreme Court carries the possibility of overturning some of the federal government’s oversight privileges related to commercial fishing.
Beginning on January 17, the nation’s highest court will hear arguments from fishermen seeking to have an overfishing monitoring program revoked. Plaintiffs in the two related cases claim that the federal government overreached in its attempt to monitor herring fishermen on the coast of New England.
Fishing companies which brought about the cases specifically point to lack of congressional authorization for the National Marine Fisheries Service to regulate the amount of herring fishing takes place. Conservative justices on the Supreme Court—who currently hold a 6-3 majority—are expected to take the case as an opportunity to restrict the federal government from unnecessary overreach.
The companies have also requested that the court amend or revoke a 1984 precedent known as the “Chevron deference,” which turns the interpretation of federal laws from judges to government agencies. Conservatives have been fighting this precedent in an effort to limit the extensive authority of federal agencies to interpret laws, establish government regulations, and issue executive action.
However, should the 1984 decision be overturned, the ramifications would reach far beyond the fishing industry. Inhibiting government involvement in legal interpretations and regulations could extend into the fields of healthcare, gun control and environmental issues. Additionally, authority that had once been given to federal agencies would be given to judges.
A federal law established in 1976 is also at the center of the fishing cases, due to its requirement that federal observers attend herring boats for data collection and overfishing. In 2020, though, a new regulation determined that the law also required fishing companies to pay for the mandated data collector’s work, which amounts to hundreds of dollars per day.
Hence, the companies are asking that this interpretation be left up to judges instead of government regulators.
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