No. of Recommendations: 2
If instead, the USSC intervenes and "clarifies" that Congress ABSOLUTELY has the right to delegate the creation of a rule governing the presence of lead or nanoplastics in water to an agency like the EPA but that agency enjoys zero assumption of being correct in any specific rule established, that simply moves the logjam from the House and Senate to hundreds of courtrooms across all 50 states, producing more chaos as different courts rule differently, generating MORE costs as firms attempt to track and comply with different rulings as they inevitably file lawsuits to reject said rulings.
I'm not sure that would be much of a change in terms of process. Invariably, any material change to regulations by an agency like EPA results in considerable litigation. And private parties fight over what statutes mean all the time as well, with neither party enjoying any kind of presumption of correctness. Litigation happens, conflicts in different circuits occur, etc. - but judges are always interpreting statutes, even very technical ones. One argument that's been levied against Chevron is that it hasn't materially reduced the amount of conflict and litigiousness around administrative rules.
Because half of infinity is still infinity and if an agency is given no assumption of correctness, corporations can not only argue that a specific LEVEL is arbitrary and capricious without justification, they can also file lawsuits objecting to the MEANS by which the level is measured, arguing the sampling process is inaccurate, subject to partisan interpretation, etc.
I think, again, this overstates the application of Chevron. Chevron deference creates a presumption in favor of agencies' interpretation of statutes. It does not protect agencies from arguments objecting to the means by which a level is appropriate or that the sampling process is inaccurate. Nor does Chevron protect agencies from arguments that a specific level (or any interpretation) is "arbitrary and capricious," because if something is arbitrary and capricious then it's outside of Chevron deference.
