In its new red tape-cutting decision, the Supreme Court took steps to rein in the so-called administrative state and reaffirm the separation of powers doctrine. The idea behind the doctrine is to discourage the concentration of power and make sure there are checks and balances.Critics of the administrative state claim that in-house adjudications carried out by agencies are unfair because the tribunals, unlike regular courts, lack fixed evidentiary rules, allowing the agencies to function as prosecutor, judge, and jury. They argue that the tribunals are unconstitutional because they are not politically accountable.
The litigants challenging the agencies argued they should be able to contest the way the tribunals are constituted in federal courts without first having to launch a lengthy, expensive challenge within the administrative system.
But the Biden administration argued that challengers may only proceed to court after losing in potentially expensive, protracted agency proceedings.
The new ruling encompasses two cases: Axon Enterprise Inc. v. FTC, court file 21-86, and SEC v. Cochran, court file 21-1239.
On April 14, the Supreme Court ruled (pdf) unanimously against the agencies. The court’s opinion was written by Justice Elena Kagan. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not join the court’s opinion; instead, he concurred in the judgment of the court but filed a separate opinion explaining his reasons for supporting the end result.