Brief of Professor Aditya Bamzai as Amicus Curiae in Support of Neither Party, Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce
Publisher
U.S.
Date
2024
This amicus brief was filed Nov 27 2023 in support of neither party in Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce. The Summary of Argument section reads as follows:
In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, this Court granted certiorari to consider whether to overrule the approach to judicial deference to agency interpretation associated with the decision in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.. Amicus filed a brief in that case and, as the Court is aware, the United States filed a brief setting forth its views . A portion of both briefs addressed the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act. Subsequently, the Court granted certiorari in this case.
In this brief, amicus sets forth at greater length the reasoning that supports his understanding of section 706 of the APA. Specifically, section 706 provides that “the reviewing court shall decide all relevant questions of law,” “interpret constitutional and statutory provisions” and “hold unlawful and set aside agency action . . . not in accordance with law.” Many have said that the approach announced in Chevron conflicts with section 706. Chevron concluded that, if “Congress has not directly addressed the precise question at issue,” “the court does not simply impose its own construction on the statute, as would be necessary in the absence of an administrative interpretation.” Rather, the second step of Chevron asks “whether the agency’s answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute,” even if that answer rejects the “best” interpretation.
At the same time, Chevron required courts to employ all the “traditional tools of statutory construction” to resolve ambiguities. That footnote is in some tension with other parts of Chevron, but it is consistent with the APA. Section 706 of the APA is best understood to establish a de novo standard of review for legal questions in the sense that a reviewing court should give statutory text the “best” reading possible, assuming one exists, using the traditional tools of construction. The Court should read Chevron and related cases in a manner consistent with the APA to establish a principled, consistent, and fair set of criteria governing when courts place weight on administrative agencies’ legal and policy determinations.
Citation
Aditya Bamzai, Brief of Professor Aditya Bamzai as Amicus Curiae in Support of Neither Party, Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, 603 U.S. ___ (2024).