Supreme Court Opens Door to Long-Delayed Challenges to Federal Regulations

Federal law sets a six-year deadline for broad challenges to regulations. The regulation in question, issued by the Federal Reserve, took effect in 2011, setting a deadline for lawsuits in 2017. However, Corner Post, a truck stop in Watford City, North Dakota, didn’t open until 2018. Despite this, a federal appeals court dismissed the challenge as being too late.
Corner Post appealed to the Supreme Court. The Biden administration urged the court to uphold the dismissal, arguing that without such a ruling, governmental agencies would be subject to endless challenges.
This decision gains additional significance following last week’s ruling that overturned the 1984 Chevron decision, which had made it easier to uphold regulations, and another ruling that stripped the Securities and Exchange Commission of a major tool to fight securities fraud.
During arguments in February, Chief Justice John Roberts highlighted the dilemma. He noted that agencies could face repeated challenges “10 years later, 20 years later,” requiring them to repeatedly defend their regulations. On the other hand, Roberts acknowledged the problem of denying an individual or entity the chance to challenge a regulation that harms them simply because others had a limited window to do so. The legal principle that everyone is entitled to their day in court, Roberts said, “doesn’t say unless somebody else had a day in court.”