By John Kruzel and Andrew Chung | SOURCE: THE GAZETTE
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court began hearing arguments on Wednesday in a dispute involving a government-run program to monitor for overfishing of herring off New England’s coast that gives its conservative majority a chance to further limit the regulatory powers of federal agencies.
The justices are weighing appeals by two fishing companies of lower court rulings allowing the National Marine Fisheries Service to require commercial fishermen to help fund the program. The companies – led by New Jersey-based Loper Bright Enterprises and Rhode Island-based Relentless Inc – have argued that Congress did not authorize the agency, part of the U.S. Commerce Department, to establish the program.
Arguments were ongoing.
The companies have asked the court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, to rein in or overturn a precedent established in 1984 that calls for judges to defer to federal agency interpretation of U.S. laws deemed to be ambiguous, a doctrine called “Chevron deference.”