A U.S. District Court has upheld a rule requiring commercial fishers to pay for at-sea monitors, despite the case playing a role in the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the Chevron deference last year.
The Chevron deference is a longstanding judicial precedent that instructed courts to give federal agencies wide latitude in interpreting the laws passed by Congress. While the Supreme Court ruled in favor of two separate lawsuits brought by commercial fishermen in overturning the Chevron deference, the lower U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island has determined that the fishing regulation at the heart of one of those cases will remain in place.
The case of Relentless Inc. v. US Department of Commerce began in 2020, when Atlantic herring fishers filed suit against a federal regulation requiring commercial fishers to pay for at-sea monitors to observe their operations at sea. Claiming monitors can cost as much as USD 700 (EUR 640), fishers said the rule would be devastating to their bottom line.
While the fishers had little luck at the district court or the appeals court, in 2023 the Supreme Court announced that it would be taking up the case as part of a challenge to the Chevron deference alongside as similar case involving commercial fishers: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. In June 2024, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled in favor of the commercial fishers in both cases, overturning the Chevron deference.
“Federal officials usually ignore the well-grounded concerns American fishermen share about overregulation,” New England Fishermen's Stewardship Association CEO Jerry Leeman said in response. “We are grateful to the Supreme Court for bucking this trend. And, we are especially grateful to the fishermen-plaintiffs in Relentless and Loper Bright who have spent years fighting for their brother and sister fishermen everywhere.”
However, the Supreme Court only ruled on the question of the Chevron deference, remanding the cases back down to the appeals courts for reconsideration in light of the highest court’s opinion. The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit further remanded the cased down to the district court level.
Now, just over a year after the Supreme Court ruling, the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island has decided that the at-sea monitor rule should be upheld even without the Chevron deference.
In his ruling, Judge William E. Smith said rule reflected “reasoned decisionmaking” and that, as a norm, the government does not reimburse businesses for the cost of complying with federal regulations.
The Loper Bright Enterprises Inc v. Raimondo case may also be coming to a conclusion.
As first reported by Reuters, the U.S. Department of Justice has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to pause its consideration of the case as it works toward a settlement with the plaintiffs. Filed a day after the District Court of Rhode Island’s opinion, the Trump Administration’s legal request asks for an abeyance in the case with plans to report on the status of settlement negotiations within 90 days.
