US Supreme Court Gives Miners, Farmers New Chance to Overturn Rules

By Tom Hals

(Reuters) – Entities challenging federal rules affecting a range of industries including mining and agriculture were given a new chance on Tuesday to reverse the regulations as the U.S. Supreme Court applied a new standard of review to federal agencies’ powers.

Nine lower court rulings were overturned by the Supreme Court and sent back for further consideration in light of Friday’s decision to strike down the decades-old Chevron doctrine, which held that judges should defer to agencies’ interpretations of the rules.

The cases are the first in a series of rulings that aim to reassess the authority of federal regulators to rule everything from food and drugs to airlines and drinking water.

“This is going to have a broad impact that we’re going to feel for months and years to come,” said Loren Seehase, senior counsel at the conservative legal group Liberty Justice Center.

Friday’s ruling in the case known as Loper Bright does not mean any specific law will be repealed. Some experts caution against reading too much into its implications.

However, the ruling means that judges must make an independent assessment of whether a particular provision is lawful.

Before the Supreme Court overturned the 1984 Chevron precedent, justices were instructed to defer to the agency’s interpretation when the regulations were unclear.

The cases, which returned to lower courts Tuesday, included a 13-year-old dispute between South Dakota farmer Arlen Foster and Department of Agriculture regulators who determined that an eight-inch puddle on his property was a protected wetland.

Foster’s case hinged in part on the interpretation of the Swamp Control Act and the deference shown to regulators by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis last year.

“Our clients can now present their cases in court without having judges rule in favor of the government,” said Paige Gilliard, Foster’s attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation.

Other cases that made it to lower courts involved regulations governing coal mining, solar energy, immigration and whistleblower rewards for exposing tax fraud.

Supporters of the Chevron rollback said they expect the Loper Bright ruling will bolster other regulatory challenges in cases that have not yet reached the Supreme Court.

These include the so-called ESG investment principle, which allows trustees to take into account environmental, social and governance factors when assessing investments as part of a financial plan.

The trial court upheld that rule in September, applying the Chevron deference rule. Oral arguments in the appeal are due before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Tuesday, and both sides have already raised the Loper Bright ruling in their appeal.

Opponents argued that this meant ESG regulations should be repealed, but the Justice Department noted that the government had never cited Chevron in defense of those regulations.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; additional reporting by Nate Raymond and Dan Wiessner; editing by Noeleen Walder and Rod Nickel)