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WHAT WILL PRESIDENT
TRUMP'S SUPREME COURT PICK
MEAN FOR BUSINESS?
Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald
Trump's choice to take the open Supreme Court
seat left by the late Antonin Scalia, has modeled
his career as a jurist on his late predecessor's.
at spells good news for American business
but bad news for independent administrative
agencies.
Gorsuch is well-known for his writing
on subjects including religious liberty and
euthanasia, less so for business law. Past rulings,
however, shed light on a history friendly to
business and suggest corporations may soon
have a friend on the Supreme Court.
Reports from the Wall Street Journal show
Gorsuch opposing class action lawsuits over
alleged violations of securities law, which he
referred to as "opportunistic shakedowns" by
lawyers. Other previous cases show Gorsuch
to be likely to force more consumers to resolve
disputes with companies through arbitration
rather than the court system.
Gorsuch's questioning of the "Chevron
deference" doesn't bode well for administrative
agencies like the Environmental Protection
Agency, Federal Communications
Commission, or the Consumer Finance
Protection Bureau. e Chevron deference
is considered a cornerstone of administrative
law which states when a given law or rule is
unclear, the courts should defer to the agency in
question, as they are presumably expert.
Critics of the concept, including Gorsuch,
argue it give too much power to administrative
agencies and shields them from proper judicial
oversight.
Gorsuch believes "broadly worded
enforcement statutes" have meanings that
can be understood from their texts without
interpretation.
As much as Gorsuch follows Scalia's
example, he differed in that Scalia
supported Chevron as "important for
maintaining the smooth functioning of the
administrative state," according to a Forbes
report.
Gorsuch is one of a small group of judges
beginning to question the constitutionality of
the power of and the deference to unelected
bureaucrats. Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C.
Circuit Court of Appeals wrote a decision last
year declaring the structure of the Consumer
Financial Protection Agency unconstitutional,
a decision leading to an ongoing court battle
involving several attorneys general and
Democratic lawmakers coming to the defense
of the CFPB.
The best
defense
for a better
neighborhood
Real People, Real Results
www.assero24.com/defense
