'Big blow to big government': Major SCOTUS decision strips power of 'faceless leviathan' of federal agencies

Republicans praised the decision, saying the previous rule gave 'unelected bureaucrats' too much power Brianna Herlihy / Fox News

 

The Supreme Court this term took a hammer to decades-old legal doctrine that largely saved executive branch agencies in legal disputes. Now, experts say Congress and the next president will have no choice but to work more closely together and stop relying on the "faceless leviathan" of federal agencies.

In a David vs. Goliath dispute, a group of fishermen sued a government agency that mandated the fishermen pay $700 for "at sea monitors," arguing that the rule is out of the bounds Congress set for the federal agency.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the fishermen in a 6-3 decision last month, and, in doing so, overruled what is known as the Chevron doctrine — a legal theory established in the 1980s that says if a federal regulation is challenged, the courts should defer to the agency’s interpretation of whether Congress had granted it authority to issue the rule, as long as the agency's interpretation is reasonable and Congress had not addressed the question directly. Read more and see video here.