In two cases the Supreme Court is considering, herring fishermen in New Jersey and Rhode Island are challenging regulatory fees they say were never authorized by Congress. Critics of those lawsuits misleadingly complain that the sympathetic plaintiffs are "providing cover" for a corporate attempt to "disable and dismantle" environmental regulations.
These cases ask the justices to reconsider the Chevron doctrine, which requires judicial deference to an administrative agency's "reasonable" interpretation of an "ambiguous" statute. While big businesses might welcome the doctrine's demise, so should anyone who cares about due process, the rule of law, and an independent judiciary, which are especially important in protecting "the little guy" from overweening executive power.
