• TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Here’s my understanding as a layman, please correct me if I’m wrong.

    SCOTUS could block the creation of a law if it was deemed unconstitutional, but even with a conservative SCOTUS, it’s unlikely they would in this case. As in many cases, SCOTUS didn’t overturn a law here, but rather changed their decision on the interpretation of the law, specifically the Administrative Procedure Act. If congress passes a law that explicitly delegates certain powers to agencies, or codifies regulations that had previously been defined by an agency, that would be harder to fight since the APA, as far as I can tell, does not prohibit it. Warren’s bill is basically saying “if we can’t implicitly delegate power to agencies to create regulations, we should at least be forced to quickly review suggested regulations to prevent them from getting stuck in congress.”

    Again, this is just my understanding as a layman. IANAL

    • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
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      4 months ago

      There was the Voting Rights Act case, Shelby County v. Holder. A case in which SCOTUS struck a provision in the Voting Rights Act as they declared it was unconstitutional. If you can declare a provision unconstitutional, what would stop SCOTUS from declaring an entire law unconstitutional?

      We’ve already seen a SCOTUS decide it can do anything it wants.

      • TheHarpyEagle@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Again, they can, but it’s less likely. It really depends on how much the genuine threat of civil unrest and violence compares against whatever benefit they get from voting a certain way (which, in perfect world, would be nothing).

        Truthfully I don’t think this particular ruling was incorrect or outside the reasonable extent of their powers. Do I think the timing of it was motivated by corporate and political greed? Absolutely. It’s abundantly clear that the decision, popular among conservatives, was meant to serve as a Trump “win” based on the justices he put in place (again, disturbingly contrary to the intended purpose of the SCOTUS). It’s also a potentially dangerous decision to make without any time allotted to get critical regulations codified by congress.

        That all being said, while I in no way trust in the impartiality of the current SCOTUS, I do think repealing a law without fairly universal bipartisan support is a decent bit more extreme than what they did here. I think there needs to be a balance between genuine, concerning possibilities and doom-and-gloom panic.