Supreme Court Orders North Dakota Truck Stops Trucking, New Blow to Federal Rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme Court opened the door Monday to new, broad challenges to the rules long after they take effect, the third blow in a week to federal agencies.

The justices ruled 6-3 in favor of a North Dakota trucking station that wants to sue a gas station owner over a debit card fee rule that a federal appeals court in Washington upheld 10 years ago.

Federal law sets a six-year deadline for broad challenges to the rules. In this case, the Federal Reserve regulation that governs the fees that merchants must pay banks whenever a customer uses a debit card took effect in 2011.

The deadline for filing lawsuits in connection with this regulation expired in 2017.

Corner Post, a truck stop gas station in Watford City in western North Dakota, only opened in 2018.

But a federal appeals court rejected the appeal, saying it was filed too late.

The company appealed to the Supreme Court. The Biden administration has insisted that the court uphold the dismissal decision because otherwise government agencies would face endless challenges.

This decision may take on new meaning in light of the ruling issued last week, according to which overturned the 1984 Chevron decision this made it easier to comply with regulations across a wide swath of American life. The court too deprived the Securities and Exchange Commission one of the most important tools in the fight against securities fraud.

Supreme Court Justice John Roberts captured the dilemma the court faced when the Corner Post case was argued in February: Agencies can face repeated challenges “10 years later, 20 years later” and “have to kind of create the universe, you know, over and over again.”

On the other hand, Roberts said, “You have a person or entity that has been harmed by something the government is doing, and you say, well, that’s just too bad, you can’t do anything about it because other people have had six years to do something about it.”

The legal principle that everyone is entitled to their day in court, Roberts said, “doesn’t say unless someone else has had their day in court.”