SCOTUS Agrees To Hear Case That May Ultimately Undermine ATF Power

By Tom Knighton

One of the biggest problems with the ATF isn’t that they enforce the law. I mean, they exist explicitly for that purpose, so that’s kind of what they’re supposed to be doing.

No, the biggest problem is that in addition to enforcing those rules, they also get to make them up as the go. They’re also tasked by Congress to interpret the law and create regulatory policies on the subject that they then get to turn around and enforce.

It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to see all the many ways this creates problems.

Then top it off with the fact that the courts have taken a hands-off approach to this known as the Auer and Chevron deference, and you have a disaster in the making.

However, it seems there’s a chance that those days are numbered.

Recently, there has been a push from some quarters to reconsider Auer deference, Chevron deference, and other aspects of the modern administrative law state, and overturn them as being inherently unconstitutional; specifically, that such deference to bureaucratic decisions violates the required Separation of Powers.

Were that to happen, the current administrative state would be rocked to its core. …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms