In 1984, a court much farther to the left than today's is to the right made arguably its worst 'social justice living document' ruling - they found that an agency controlled by the president could create new regulations that act as laws if those regulations were in the agency's "mandate." All a president had to do was broaden an agency's mandate, or have a Congressional law written poorly, and anything was possible.

The court case, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, was a giant win for anti-science activists like, obviously, Natural Resources Defense Council, who then helped allies in Congress write vague laws when their side was in the White House. The vague laws would then be interpreted by EPA or US Fish and Wildlife to mean whatever the president wanted them to mean.

It was an end-run around Congress. Chevron Deference is why 70% of Endangered Species Act listings were done by two Presidents, no science involved, it is why agencies were allowed to tell landowners they had to tear down a forest and put up another one for a frog that didn't even live in that state.



It was a hammer used by presidents but no one abused it like President Biden. Want trucks banned in 2023? He did it, using Chevron Deference. went a step too far when he used his Department of Commerce to force fishermen to carry government "observers" to try and find a way to levy fines on the fishers. Then the government forced the fishermen to pay the salaries of the observers, which added $700 a day to their expenses.

READ MORE: 

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All the fishermen wanted was to get Congress to either create a law saying that had to be done or apply such arbitrary laws to everyone. The Biden administration instead assumed Chevron Deference would protect them. They were wrong, and in knocking it down in this case, they have allowed it to be knocked down the next time he wants to use CDC to create rent control or use OSHA to force private companies - but not his government union employees - to get mandatory vaccines. Now he will have trouble declaring a man-made pond on a farm is a navigable Water of the United States and must be inspected using Federal Marshalls carrying assault weapons that Biden wants banned. 

Environmentalists and trial lawyers are going apoplectic over this, and in the 13 states they control, California, New York, et al., they should worry, because they can't prearrange an agreement with a federal agency and then have the costs shifted onto someone else.

Like that time environmentalists got the Obama EPA to declare that a river had too much water and the county had to pay $500 million.