June 28, 2024
For Immediate Release
Contact: Michael Marsh, President and CEO
(202) 629-9320
(Arlington, VA) Earlier today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that in the case of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo that overturns the Court’s Chevron doctrine. The National Council of Agricultural Employers (NCAE) celebrates this ruling which curtails the executive branch’s ability to subject the agricultural community to excessive, unjust government regulations.
“For the past 40 years,” stated Michael Marsh, President and CEO of NCAE, “America’s farmers and ranchers have endured federal agencies run amok. America’s agricultural employers operate every day within a dizzying web of government regulations. The H-2A temporary agricultural worker program, specifically, is one of the most heavily regulated areas of the American economy, with an ever-changing set of rules and agency interpretations, including three new regulations in the past two years, spanning everything from wages to seatbelts to what food to serve to employees. But today, the U.S. Supreme Court has restored balance to our Constitutional system and given courts back the role that the Framers intended them to have, what Alexander Hamilton called the “steady, upright and impartial administration of the laws,” independent from the political process.”
“Despite witnessing the negative impact Chevron inflicted on many industries, including agriculture,” explained Marsh, “Congress has not spoken on this subject for the past 40 years, and the courts have given federal agencies nearly limitless power to issue regulations and interpretations under the Chevron doctrine, ruling against employers’ challenges to the regulations imposed on them again and again. This broad ‘deference’ to agencies left agricultural employers caught in the middle while the political pendulum swings back and forth, with a series of Labor Secretaries enacting their own agendas.”
“The Court’s decision in Loper Bright Enterprises and Relentless has finally put an end to the ‘stacked deck’ of Chevron deference because, as Chief Justice Roberts wrote, ‘agencies have no special competence in resolving statutory ambiguities,” stated Marsh. “Courts do.”
“For the past 60 years, NCAE has advocated for the agricultural employer community including, when necessary, supporting lawsuits to challenge agency regulations. We hope that, based on the Court’s decision today, we will be able to make those challenges on a level playing field and show courts why the rules were illegal without the courts being required to defer to the agencies’ arguments under the now-dead Chevron standard.”
“This is a great result and a great day for agriculture.”
NCAE is the national trade association focusing on agricultural labor issues from the employer’s viewpoint.
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