Supreme Court rules in favor of North Dakota truck stop, a blow to federal law

The Supreme Court on Monday opened the door to new, wide-ranging 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, a Federal Reserve regulation governing the fees that merchants must pay banks whenever customers use a debit card took effect in 2011.

The deadline for filing lawsuits under this regulation expired in 2017.

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

However, a federal appeals court dismissed the complaint, finding it was filed too late.

The company appealed to the Supreme Court. The Biden administration urged the court to leave the dismissal in place because otherwise government agencies would be exposed to endless challenges.

The decision could take on new significance in the wake of last week’s ruling that overturned a 1984 Chevron decision that made it easier to maintain regulation across much of American life. The court also stripped the Securities and Exchange Commission of a key tool for combating 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, “We have an individual or entity that is being wronged by government action, and we 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, “does not say that unless someone else has had their day in court.”

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