Tag: Congressional Authority

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com An interesting case in Tennessee focuses on Congress delegating its legislative power to others – for decades. Not just to executive branch agencies, but in some situations to anyone at all. In Tennessee Riverkeeper v. City of Luttrell, an environmental group from another state (Alabama) sued the tiny town of Lutrell, population 1,000, over its wastewater treatment facility. Neither the federal EPA nor state environmental regulators had any problem with Lutrell. But in the Clean Water Act of 1972, Congress explicitly authorized “citizen suits,” whereby anyone can file suit to enforce the law. Like legalized vigilantes. Lutrell, the boyhood home of Chet Atkins, fought back, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether Congress h...