{"id":1563,"date":"2024-09-13T15:04:33","date_gmt":"2024-09-13T15:04:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/?p=1563"},"modified":"2025-10-26T04:46:27","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T04:46:27","slug":"the-loper-bright-ruling-a-revolution-in-federal-administration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/2024\/09\/13\/the-loper-bright-ruling-a-revolution-in-federal-administration\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cLoper Bright\u201d Ruling: A Revolution in Federal Administration?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><title>Center for Policy Studies Public Affairs Discussion Group &#8211; The \u201cLoper Bright\u201d Ruling: A Revolution in Federal Administration? With Victor B. Flatt, J.D.,  Coleman P. Burke Chair in Environmental Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.<\/title><\/p>\n<table align=\"center\" width=\"640\" style=\"padding:3px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"702\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" style=\"margin: -1.9px 2px 2px 2px;padding:5px\">\n<table style=\"padding:px\" align=\"center\" width=\"637\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"629\" colspan=\"3\" valign=\"top\" bgcolor=\"#ffffff\" style=\"margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px;text-align: center;font-size: 12px\">\n<p style=\"width: 100%;text-align: left;margin:                      3px 0px 0px;font-size: 24px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/238\/2024\/06\/07135207\/cas_logo_newsletters2.jpg\" alt=\"CAS\" longdesc=\"http:\/\/policy.case.edu\" height=\"100\" width=\"328\"><br \/><strong><font face=\"Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif\" color=\"#0a304e\">Center for Policy Studies<br \/>Public Affairs Discussion Group<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" valign=\"top\" bgcolor=\"#ffffff\" style=\"margin: -4px -4px -4px -4px;text-align: center;font-size: 0px\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<table style=\"margin: -1.9px 2px 2px 2px\" align=\"center\" width=\"640\">\n<tr>\n<td width=\"502\" valign=\"top\" style=\"padding: 3px\">\n<table width=\"627\">\n<tr>\n<td width=\"98%\" height=\"33\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" style=\"margin: 0px 2px 2px 2px;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 24px;padding: 1px\"><strong><font color=\"#0a304e\">The \u201cLoper Bright\u201d Ruling: A Revolution in Federal Administration?<\/font><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<table width=\"627\">\n<tr>\n<td width=\"70%\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\" style=\"margin: 0px 2px 2px 2px;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 14px;padding: 2px\"><img align=\"left\" src=\"https:\/\/artscimedia.case.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/238\/2024\/06\/10223115\/flatt_victor.jpg\" hspace=\"3\"><\/p>\n<p>                   <font color=\"#0a304e\"><strong>Victor B. Flatt, J.D. &#8211; Coleman P. Burke Chair in Environmental Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"70%\" valign=\"top\" bgcolor=\"FFFFFF\" style=\"margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 14px;padding: 2px\"><font color=\"#0a304e\"><strong>Friday September 13, 2024<br \/>\n\t12:30-1:30 p.m.<br \/>Meeting Both In-Person and by Zoom<br \/>\nDampeer Room, Second Floor of Kelvin Smith Library<\/strong><\/font><font size=\"3\" color=\"#990000\"><strong>*<\/strong><\/font><br \/>\n<font color=\"#0a304e\"><strong>Case Western Reserve University<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<p><font color=\"#0a304e\">Dear Colleagues:<\/font><\/p>\n<p>\t<font color=\"#0a304e\">On August 30 we began the 2024-2025 \u201cFriday Lunch\u201d discussions with our traditional Supreme Court review and preview, led by our excellent Professors Adler and Entin. But <strong>I asked them to give less attention than they otherwise would to one case<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>One reason is that the case, generally known as \u201cLoper Bright,\u201d raises fundamental questions about how our federal government will function in the future. As a political science professor who teaches about bureaucracy, I think that is a special topic in itself.<\/p>\n<p>The second reason is that the simple summary of the case is that it overturned the \u201cChevron Doctrine,\u201d and I had already heard <strong>Victor Flatt<\/strong> give an excellent presentation on this issue a couple of years ago. So I was extremely pleased when he agreed to talk about the implications and extent of the new ruling.<\/p>\n<p>\tThe basic stakes were stated in the Scotusblog<\/font> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/2024\/06\/supreme-court-strikes-down-chevron-curtailing-power-of-federal-agencies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><font color=\"#0a304e\"><u>report<\/u><\/font><\/a> <font color=\"#0a304e\">opinion analysis on June 28:<\/p>\n<p>\t&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cThe court ruled in <em>Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo<\/em> and <em>Relentless Inc. v. Department of Commerce<\/em> on Friday.\n\t<\/ul>\n<p>\n\t&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cIn a major ruling the Supreme Court\u2026 cut back sharply on the power of federal agencies to interpret the laws they administer and ruled that courts should rely on their own interpretation of ambiguous laws. The decision will likely have far-reaching effects across the country, from environmental regulation to healthcare costs.<br \/>\n\t&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cBy a vote of 6-3 the justices overruled their landmark 1984 decision in <em>Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council<\/em>, which gave rise to the doctrine known as the Chevron doctrine. Under that doctrine, if Congress has not directly addressed the question at the center of the dispute, a court was required to uphold the agency\u2019s interpretation of the statute as long as it was reasonable. But in a 35-page ruling by Chief Justice John Roberts, the justices rejected that doctrine, calling it \u2018fundamentally misguided.\u2019<br \/>\n\t&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cJustice Elena Kagan dissented, in an opinion joined by Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Kagan predicted that Friday\u2019s ruling \u2018will cause a massive shock to the legal system.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>\t&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The overview added that Chevron \u201cbecame one of the most important rulings on federal administrative law, cited by federal courts more than 18,000 times.\u201d  And, while the decision upheld a decision by the Reagan administration\u2019s EPA, and \u201cwas generally hailed by conservatives at the time, the ruling eventually became a target for those seeking to curtail the administrative state.\u201d <strong>The two cases combined in the decision were part of \u201ca conservative effort sometimes dubbed the \u2018war on the administrative state,\u2019 and the plaintiffs in both cases \u201cwere represented at no cost by conservative legal groups\u201d partially funded by Charles Koch<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>To a scholar of administration, the basic question is how to turn the often rather general directions in legislative language into operating rules applied by federal agencies in their work.  Agencies are the organizations that (a) know most about the details of the particular field and (b) know most about the practical issues of administration. The defense of Chevron most basically was that by stating a general principle of agency authority there would be much less litigation and agencies could do their work more easily than if they could be second-guessed about everything. Without it, many government operations could be crippled by litigation.  And that, of course, was the reason many conservatives wanted <em>Chevron<\/em> overturned.<\/p>\n<p>Now that has happened. But <strong>what might be suggested by the details of the decision?  Is this really the anti-government triumph it might seem?<\/strong> One thing to point out is that the Chief Justice based his opinion not on any constitutional principle but on an interpretation of other legislation, the Administrative Procedure Act. Does that matter? Is this, as Justice Gorsuch argued in a concurring decision, just a ruling that, \u201cgoing forward, federal courts\u201d and the Supreme Court will do \u201cexactly as it did before the mid-1980s\u2026 resolve cases and controversies without any systemic bias in the government\u2019s favor\u201d? Or does it mean, as one advocate put it, that \u201cindividual judges around the country should decide the best reading of a statute\u2026a recipe for chaos, as hundreds of federal judges \u2013 who lack the expertise of agency personnel \u2013 are certain to reach inconsistent results on the meaning of federal laws as applied to complex technical issues?\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>I am very much interested to hear from Professor Flatt about an issue that is central to my own understanding of federal government, and to how it will work in the future.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Best wishes for safety and security for you and yours,<\/p>\n<p>    Joe White<br \/>\n    Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies<\/font>\n  <\/p>\n<hr width=\"100%\" style=\"padding:0px\" \/>\n<h3><font color=\"#0a304e\">About Our Guest<\/font><\/h3>\n<p><font color=\"#0a304e\"><strong>Victor B. Flatt, J.D.<\/strong>, is the Coleman P. Burke Chair in Environmental Law and the Associate Director of the Burke Center for Environmental Law at Case Western University School of Law. He also holds an appointment as an Energy Fellow at the University of Houston.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Flatt is a recognized expert on environmental law, climate law, and energy law, and the intersection of these areas. Since 2019, he has created and taught the first law school courses in the country concerning how law relates to sustainability planning and ESG policies in corporations, offering the courses at UHLC, Vermont Law School, and Case Western University School of Law.<\/p>\n<p>His research focuses on environmental legislation and enforcement, with particular expertise in the Clean Air Act, NEPA, and Climate. He is co-author of a popular environmental law casebook, and has authored more than 50 law review articles, which have appeared in journals such as the <em>Notre Dame Law Review<\/em>, <em>Ecology Law Quarterly<\/em>, <em>The Ohio State Law Journal<\/em>, <em>Washington Law Review<\/em>, <em>Houston Law Review<\/em>, and the <em>Carolina Law Review<\/em>. Seven of his articles have been recognized as finalists or winner of the best environmental law review article of the year, and one was recognized by Vanderbilt University Law School and the Environmental Law Institute as one of the three best environmental articles of 2010, leading to a seminar and panel on the article in a congressional staff briefing.<\/p>\n<p>Professor Flatt received his B.A. in Chemistry and Math from Vanderbilt University where he was a Harold Stirling Vanderbilt Scholar, and his J.D. from Northwestern University, where he was a John Henry Wigmore Scholar. After graduating from Northwestern, Professor Flatt clerked for the Honorable Danny J. Boggs of the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td colspan=\"3\" valign=\"top\" bgcolor=\"#ffffff\" style=\"margin: -4px -4px -4px -4px;text-align: center;font-size: 0px\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<table style=\"margin: -4px 2px 2px 2px;padding: 0px\" align=\"center\" width=\"640\">\n<tr>\n<td style=\"margin-top: 0px;padding: 0px;font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size: 14px\">\n<p align=\"center\"> Visit the <a href=\"http:\/\/fridaylunch.case.edu\"><font color=\"#004480\">Public Affairs Discussion Group Web Site.<\/font><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"> Center for Policy Studies | Mather House<br \/>\n        111 | 11201 Euclid Avenue |<br \/>\n        Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7109 |&nbsp;Phone: 216.368.6730 |&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:padg@case.edu\"><font color=\"#004480\"><u>padg@case.edu<\/u><\/font><\/a> |<br \/>Part of the:&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.case.edu\/artsci\"><font color=\"#004480\"><u>College of Arts and Sciences<\/u><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">&copy; 2024 Case Western Reserve University |<br \/> Cleveland, Ohio<br \/>\n        44106 | 216.368.2000 |&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.case.edu\/legal.htm\"><font color=\"#004480\"><u>legal notice<\/u><\/font><\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Center for Policy Studies Public Affairs Discussion Group &#8211; The \u201cLoper Bright\u201d Ruling: A Revolution in Federal Administration? With Victor B. Flatt, J.D.,  Coleman P. Burke Chair in Environmental Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.<\/p>\n<p style=\"width: 100%;text-align: left;margin:                      3px 0px 0px;font-size: 24px\"><strong>Center for Policy StudiesPublic Affairs Discussion Group<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>                <strong>The \u201cLoper Bright\u201d Ruling: A Revolution in Federal Administration?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>                   <strong>Victor B. Flatt, J.D. &#8211; Coleman P. Burke Chair in Environmental Law at Case Western Reserve University School of Law<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Friday September 13, 2024<br \/>\n\t12:30-1:30 p.m.Meeting Both In-Person and by Zoom<br \/>\nDampeer Room,<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/2024\/09\/13\/the-loper-bright-ruling-a-revolution-in-federal-administration\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading&#8230; <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The \u201cLoper Bright\u201d Ruling: A Revolution in Federal Administration?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1563"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1641,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563\/revisions\/1641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsci.case.edu\/fridaylunch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}