From CNN, “The Supreme Court agreed Monday to reconsider long held precedent and decide whether to significantly scale back on the power of federal agencies in a case that can impact everything from how the government addresses everything from climate change to public health to immigration. Conservative justices have long sought to rein in regulatory authority, arguing that Washington has too much control over American businesses and individual lives. The justices have been incrementally diminishing federal power but the new case would allow them to take a much broader stride. … Their action means they will reconsider a 1984 case – Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council – that sets forward factors to determine when courts should defer to a government agency’s interpretation of the law. Conservatives on the bench have cast a skeptical eye on the so-called Chevron deference, arguing that agencies are often too insulated from the usual checks and balances essential to the separation of powers.”
And so it begins! The utter destruction of the administrative state (and America). (See post titled Catastrophic.) Chevron is now on the chopping block, a la Roe. This is an immensely consequential case, for a cornerstone of how the government functions is about to be obliterated. And guess what? No one cares — as usual. Allow me to explain to you, plebeians. In short, the Chevron deference states that “when a legislative delegation to an administrative agency on a particular issue or question is not explicit but rather implicit, a court may not substitute its own interpretation of the statute for a reasonable interpretation made by the administrative agency.” In other words, the administrative state — through its expertise — is allowed to fill in the gaps of laws so they can run the f***ing country because, you know, Congress doesn’t (can’t) write laws to explicitly detail every function of the government in every situation at every moment — seen or unforeseen. Yet, this is what SCOTUS would expect the legislature to do — be clairvoyant. Remember, the super-majority of conservatives on this Court are extreme textualists when it comes to reading and interpreting the law. In their minds, if it’s not written, then it does not exist, despite the essence of the law being plain. Naturally, this approach to the law is generally absurd, but absurdity to RepubliKKKlans is part of the point.
So what? What’s the impact of overturning Chevron, you may ask? I should first reiterate that this is an opportunity to strike Chevron in total. Do not think for a second this SCOTUS will make the mistake of drip, drip weakening of the doctrine. Oh, no! This is their chance to rip out the rule — root and branch. And they will take it. Remember all those people who thought they would never overturn Roe? They are morons, as they are now for thinking the conservative justices have any interest in not fulfilling one of their wet dreams, given the possibility served up to them on a silver platter. Once overturned, the entire administrative state becomes fair game for lawsuits, and every regulation and rule becomes contested. Tell me, how does a country function when everything has to be litigated? Not to mention courts and SCOTUS — who, no doubt, are not experts in the various subject matters of government that will come before them — will be the final word on disagreements. How is that going to work out? I can hear people yelling now: The administrative state (aka the “deep state”) should be neutered. Look, f***tards! Government, just by its very nature of the society in which it is created, is large and complicated. It cannot be run without an expansive executive branch that is allowed to translate the broad contours of the law into the detailed minutia of action needed to enact the law and get sh*t done. That’s why it’s called the executive branch that executes the laws, which are often imperfectly written by the legislative branch. Interpretation is required by the second branch of government.
But whatever! No one cares. This is what people voted for when they elected traitor trump. Either people are too stupid or too apathetic about government, voting, and the society in which they live to the point that they elect f***tards like traitor trump, MAGA morons, evil evangelicals, and QAnon kooks. People get the government they deserve and desire — intentionally and unintentionally. People have no f***ing clue how bad things are going to get with this SCOTUS, but they’re about to find out, and by the time they realize what’s wrong, it will be too late. Oh, well. Welcome to stupid America! We’re just getting started on the road to the end! Don’t say I haven’t warned you!