Supreme Court’s decision on federal regulations started in Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Supreme Court decision to throw out 40-year-old precedent that gave power to federal agencies to create regulations started in Rhode Island.

Rhode Island’s case involved two fishing boats who were required to hire and pay federal monitors, and was combined with a similar case from New Jersey for the court’s decision.

The companies said they had no issue with the monitors being on the boats, but did take issue with having to pay them.

The Providence court that heard the case invoked a 1984 decision known as Chevron, which instructed lower courts to defer to federal agencies’ interpretations when laws passed by Congress were ambiguous.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling means that judges have the final decision on the interpretation of regulatory statutes, which will affect regulations for the environment, the workplace, and public health, among many others.

John Vecchione, the attorney representing the Rhode Island fishermen, said that the statute the Providence court invoked only dealt with “Alaskan and foreign” fishing.

“It didn’t say that you could do that in Rhode Island, and Congress was pretty specific, so we thought it was absolutely clear that the statute didn’t allow this,” he said. “And the government brought up Chevron. Well, once they brought up Chevron we were off to the races!”

Vecchione added that the case will return to the lower court, where the judge will decide whether charging for monitors is legal without the Chevron consideration.

Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey reacted to the decision, and said he would introduce legislation to restore the “policymaking freedom” federal agencies previously had.

“The activist, far-right justices have once again abandoned the Supreme Court’s bedrock commitment to precedent, overturning long-settled law just like they did two years ago with Roe v. Wade,” he said.