The Debate Didn't Matter, but Chevron Did
In this article I discuss last night, the Supreme Court, and impacts of the Chevron ruling.
Supreme Court, No Sour Cream
Would you like some music with that?
When I first sat down to write this article, I came in very hot. To quote from my original draft: “American democracy, historically gripped by greasy-handed plutocrats hiding behind the petticoats of public figures, has begun choking out its last gasp.”
After some reflection, I’ve decided that this is an inaccurate statement.
American democracy was born with a six-pack plastic ring wrapped around its throat. The chokehold is intentional and systemic.
But I digress— the insidious nature of capital influence on policy is a subject fit more for a book, and that book has been written several times over with various syntheses. If you haven’t read one yet, I recommend The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein. Or, for a more brief overview, check out this article by Caitlin Johnstone.
Now, let’s make an effort to focus our collective displeasures (I boldly assume) on the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
By disturbingly consistent happenstance, major judgements were handed down June 27th 2024, while the media were busy spinning themselves up over something else. This time, it was Trump and Biden’s harrowing debate on CNN (I was at my desk, glaring my eyes scarlet and wishing for some claret).
Much of the current coverage around the Supreme Court decisions is on the Fischer v. United States ruling, in which the Supreme Court decided that Jan. 6th insurrectionists shouldn’t be charged with obstruction.
This fairly inane letter-of-the-law litigation asserts that simply engaging in the act of rioting inside the Capitol building didn’t constitute obstruction.
Frankly, I would typically care less about the belabored interpretation of the word, but as with the ruling on bump stock bans, the flogging of language particularities is a ripe avenue for partisan ruling.
In my (limited) opinion the decision is trite apologia for election deniers, an optics signal to those who might want to try for a second coup that the law might go easy on them again. Neato.
Lest we forget, while some rulings can look good on their face, many can have a similar chilling effect on ongoing protests over the United States’ complicity in genocide, as with the case settled just days ago which reaffirms the US’s right to ‘pressure’ social media companies to remove content they deem misinformation.
Of course, the language presented in the Fischer ruling focused on Covid-19 misinformation, but the legal implications reach far beyond actual misinformation and into the political (and no, covid is not a political issue, and yes covid just as dangerous as it ever was now in June 2024).
America Cooked
In truth, most of my ire rests with the Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Res. Def. Council decision. The Chevron doctrine, or deference, resulted from a 1984 ruling which required courts to defer to executive agencies when interpreting a statute that is unclear or regarding matters that are not expressly referenced in law.
In other words? It removes power from federal agencies like the EPA, Dept. of Labor, Dept. of the Interior and others by allowing lower courts to more easily challenge regulations and deny them outright. Another blow dealt to the EPA in so many years as climate catastrophe hangs over our necks like a guillotine— or worse, a heat dome.
Because this won’t end here. Under this Court, our freedoms and futures will continue to be taken. Adam Sobel writes about another case, West Virginia v Environmental Protection Agency (2022), in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:
“In the EPA ruling, the court’s majority argued that the Clean Air Act didn’t give the EPA the authority to make broad regulations limiting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Only Congress has that power, they argued.”
I’d love to say that the crumbs of decent rulings vindicated the Supreme Court, or at least contextualized it, but I can’t say that. I don’t want fucking crumbs.
America is cooked (we’re the meat, court’s the grill), democracy died a long time ago, state censorship is the new normal, and the fascist’s definition of law and order prevails.
Dear reader, I wish to impress upon you the deep pit of anxiety in my stomach that has tripled in size overnight.
I want to you to understand that the future is at stake, and that things like this matter, and if you can’t at least show up for the ‘little’ things, cry not for the necessity of revolution:
It comes as a consequence.