New Jersey

Scarinci: Chevron Doctrine is Running on Empty – New Jersey Globe

Published

2 years ago

February 21, 2024

Scarinci: Chevron Doctrine is Running on Empty – New Jersey Globe

The Supreme Court is poised to dramatically shake up how courts decide legal challenges involving federal regulations. The Court recently heard oral arguments in two cases that ask the justices to abolish (or at least significantly alter) the so-called Chevron doctrine, which has served as a bedrock principle of administrative law for nearly four decades.

Why the Chevron Doctrine Matters

The term “Chevron Doctrine” refers to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which held that courts must defer to a federal agency’s reasonable interpretation of an ambiguous statute that the agency is charged with administering, even if they are inclined to rule another way. Chevron analysis typically involves a two-step process.

In step one, courts examine “whether Congress has directly spoken to the precise question at issue.” If so, “that is the end of the matter,” and courts must enforce the “unambiguously expressed intent of Congress.” Where there is statutory silence or ambiguity, however, step two requires courts to defer to a reasonable agency interpretation of the statutory text, even if the court would have otherwise reached a contrary conclusion.

Courts have relied on Chevron in holding up regulations related to the environment, financial markets, healthcare, and countless other issues. The rationale behind the doctrine is that Congress can’t possibly address every possible legal situation when drafting statutes, and federal agencies have the legal and technical expertise required to fill in the details. Proponents of Chevron also maintain that it prevents judges from substituting their personal policy preferences for agency interpretations.

While Chevron is one of the most cited cases by federal courts in administrative law disputes, it has steadily gained critics, including members of Congress, legal scholars, and Supreme Court justices. One of the most frequent criticisms is that the Chevron doctrine allows agencies to formulate policy under the guise of interpreting statutory ambiguities.

What Oral Arguments Revealed About the Fate of Chevron

The two cases before the Supreme Court, Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, involve a rule issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service requiring fishing vessels to pay for the costs of observers who monitor compliance with fishery management plans. In both cases, the federal appeals court cited Chevron in holding that the rule is a permissible exercise of the agency’s authority.

In appealing to the Supreme Court, the challengers expressly asked the Court to revisit Chevron. The specific question before the justices is “[w]hether the court should overrule Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, or at least clarify that statutory silence concerning controversial powers expressly but narrowly granted elsewhere in the statute does not constitute an ambiguity requiring deference to the agency.”

During oral arguments, several of the Court’s conservative justices appeared skeptical of the Chevron Doctrine, which is not surprising given that Justice Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch had already suggested that it should be overruled in prior decisions. This time around, they raised serious questions about the doctrine’s future, with Justice Gorsuch raising concerns that “Chevron is exploited against the individual and in favor of the government.” They were joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, who stated: “Chevron itself ushers in shocks to the system every four or eight years when a new administration comes in, whether it’s communications law or securities law or competition law or environmental law. It’s just a massive change that is at war with reliance.”

Not all of the justices appeared ready to completely end Chevron deference, with all members of the Court’s liberal minority expressing support for the doctrine. They specifically raised concerns that ending Chevron deference would require federal judges to make policy determinations on issues that they know little about.

Justice Elena Kagan used AI legislation as a hypothetical. “Congress knows that there are going to be gaps because Congress can hardly see a week in the future with respect to this subject, let alone a year or a decade,” Kagan said. She noted that Congress would arguably want those “who actually know about AI and are accountable to the political process to make decisions.” Meanwhile, courts don’t “even know what the questions are about AI, let alone the answers,” she continued.

Both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett were harder to read than their conservative colleagues, with Justice Barrett particularly concerned about the potential upheaval that could result from overruling the long-standing precedent. Justice Kagan raised similar concerns and specifically asked how the Court might “clarify and articulate the limits of Chevron deference without taking the drastic step of upending decades of settled precedent.”

What’s Next?

While oral arguments can reveal a lot about how a justice is inclined to rule, nothing is set in stone until the Court reaches a final decision. If a majority of justices don’t want to abolish Chevron in its entirely, it may survive in a weakened form.

In either event, federal agencies’ more “assertive” interpretations of federal regulations will certainly be more susceptible to legal challenges. Giving courts more leeway when considering regulatory challenges also significantly increases the risk that a rule is deemed valid by lower courts in one part of the country and invalid in another.

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New Jersey

63 mph wind was clocked during Friday’s storms. See top gusts in each N.J. county.

Published

11 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

63 mph wind was clocked during Friday’s storms. See top gusts in each N.J. county.

Trees were blown down. Electrical poles were snapped. And Christmas decorations went flying off lawns.

All thanks to Friday’s intense storms, which generated wind gusts as strong as 63 mph at the High Point Monument in Sussex County, 60 mph at Teterboro Airport in Bergen County and 60 mph in Belleville in Essex County.

Those were among the highest gusts clocked across the Garden State, according to the National Weather Service and the Rutgers NJ Weather Network.

Fierce gusts also were whipping down in South Jersey and along the Jersey Shore, and triggered more than 40,000 power outages across the state Friday afternoon and Friday evening.

Here’s a look at the highest wind gusts reported in each of New Jersey’s 21 counties on Friday:

Atlantic County

52 mph at Atlantic City International Airport
51 mph in Forsythe
48 mph at Atlantic City Marina
47 mph in Brigantine
45 mph in Pleasantville
44 mph in Pleasantville Point

Bergen County

56 mph at Teterboro Airport
47 mph in Lyndhurst

Burlington County

52 mph at McGuire AFB
48 mph at Coyle Field
47 mph at South Jersey Regional Airport
46 mph in Moorestown
41 mph in Tabernacle
40 mph in Silas Little
40 mph in Medford Village

Camden County

52 mph in Pennsauken
41 mph in Blue Anchor

Cape May County

50 mph in Avalon
49 mph in Cape May
49 mph in Cape May Harbor
46 mph in Wildwood
46 mph in Ocean City
42 mph in Woodbine
41 mph at Woodbine Municipal Airport
40 mph in North Wildwood

Cumberland County

48 mph in Fortescue
47 mph in Upper Deerfield
45 mph in Millville
44 mph in Greenwich
39 mph in Vineland

Essex County

60 mph in Belleville
59 mph at Newark Liberty Airport
45 mph in Caldwell

Gloucester County

60 mph in Logan Twp.
45 mph at Kingsway Regional H.S.
42 mph in West Deptford
41 mph in South Harrison

Hudson County

41 mph in Bayonne
40 mph in Jersey City

Hunterdon County

47 mph in Pittstown
44 mph in Teetertown
40 mph in Milford

Mercer County

52 mph at Trenton Mercer Airport
48 mph in Hopewell Twp.
44 mph in Woodsville
43 mph in Ewing

Middlesex County

51 mph in Perth Amboy
47 mph in Carteret
47 mph in Deans (South Brunswick)
42 mph in East Brunswick
40 mph in New Brunswick

Monmouth County

56 mph in Sea Bright
56 mph in Keansburg
54 mph in Sea Girt
51 mph in Monmouth
46 mph in Cream Ridge
43 mph in Millstone Twp.
43 mph in Oceanport

Morris County

49 mph in Pompton Plains
46 mph in Morristown
41 mph at Pequannock Twp. High School
40 mph in Randolph

Ocean County

57 mph in Mantoloking
55 mph in Surf City
54 mph in Harvey Cedars
53 mph in Beach Haven
52 mph in Toms River
50 mph in North Beach Haven
49 mph in Berkeley Twp.
49 mph in Seaside Heights
49 mph at Rutgers
48 mph in Seaside Park
47 mph at Trixies Landing
46 mph in Tuckerton
46 mph in North Beach
43 mph in South Seaside Park

Passaic County

44 mph in Charlotteburg
30 mph in Little Falls

Salem County

52 mph in Lower Alloways Creek
44 mph in Mannington Twp.

Somerset County

47 mph in Franklin Twp.
44 mph in Somerville
41 mph in Hillsborough
41 mph in Manville

Sussex County

63 mph at High Point Monument
50 mph in Hardyston Twp.
41 mph in Sussex

Union County

59 mph at Newark Liberty Airport
49 mph in Linden

Warren County

47 mph in Stewartsville
40 mph in Blairstown
39 mph in Hackettstown

Current weather radar

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New Jersey

Noesen’s Power Play Goal Pushes Devils Past Mammoth | GAME STORY | New Jersey Devils

Published

23 hours ago

December 20, 2025

Press Room

Noesen’s Power Play Goal Pushes Devils Past Mammoth | GAME STORY | New Jersey Devils

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – The Devils spent much of the night against the Utah Mammoth searching for answers on the power play, watching chances come and go, starting the game 0-for-4 with the man-advantage. That frustration finally broke when Stefan Noesen planted himself in the crease and finished in tight on Karel Vejmelka to give New Jersey the breakthrough they desperately needed.

“Great road win,” Brett Pesce said. “Didn’t have our best, myself included, felt like I hadn’t played in two months,” Brett Pesce said. “You know what, we got a win, we grinded it out, good teams find ways to get to two points.”

Noesen’s conversion provided a much-needed release on an ailing power play, and the timing made it even more significant. Not only did it snap the drought, but it also handed the Devils their first lead of the night against the Mammoth, one they would hang on to win 2-1 in Utah.

Not to be outdone, Jacob Markstrom was rock solid, allowing just a single goal to Utah, in the first period. As the Devils tried to find their footing in the game, with failed power play opportunities, and Utah pressing hard, Markstrom held the fort.

“This one is on him tonight,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We don’t get the opportunity to hang around in the game and have big moments like we did in the third with the penalty kill and power play, if not for Marky and how held us in. We were outplayed for long stretches of the game, but it’s going to happen from time to time.”

The Devils had a gut-check moment at the end of the third period, when Dawson Mercer took a penalty in the dying minutes of the game and the Mammoth pulled their goalie for a 6-on-4. New Jersey came up with the clears and the blocks to hang on for the victory.

The Devils weren’t going to be denied the opportunity for a win, as Connor Brown explained:

“Marky deserved the win at that point, it was a bit scrambly, maybe a bit more scrambly than we would have liked but they got two extra guys on the ice, so it was nice to gut one out.”

Utah opened the game scoring with a first-period power-play goal by Daniil But, before Connor Brown tied the game in the second period, his second goal in as many games and his third in four.

“I’m playing my brand of hockey,” Brown said. “I’m being empowered a little more, playing a little more minutes than typically have over the last couple of years and it’s leading into a little bit more confidence, little bit more plays, so just kind of running with it.”

The Devils have started to find some more stride in their game and are winning four of their last six, including two straight on the two-game road trip through Vegas and Utah.

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New Jersey

NJ corrections officer charged with sexually assaulting prison inmates

Published

1 day ago

December 19, 2025

Press Room

NJ corrections officer charged with sexually assaulting prison inmates

Staff report
| MyCentralJersey.com

A Piscataway man who works as a New Jersey Department of Corrections officer in the state’s prison for sex offenders has been charged with sexually assaulting two inmates.

Anthony Nelson, 37, was charged with sexually assaulting the inmates at the Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in the Avenel section of Woodbridge, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced.

Nelson was arrested without incident on Dec. 15 and charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact, Ciccone said.

The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office was alerted by New Jersey Department of Corrections Special Investigations Division on Dec. 1 that two inmates reported they were sexually assaulted by a correctional police officer over that past weekend, the prosecutor said.

An investigation led by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit along with the New Jersey Department of Corrections Special Investigations Division determined that Nelson allegedly sexually assaulted two inmates under his supervision, the prosecutor said.

Nelson was lodged at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center awaiting a preliminary hearing before a Superior Court judge.

The investigation is active and ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact Detectives Christopher Van Eerde or Tammy Colonna at 732-745-3300 or Investigator Sean Smith at 856-812-3310.

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